Terminology Tuesday: Perichoresis

PERICHORESIS is the interpenetration or co-indwelling of each member of the Triune God. 

PERICHORESIS (Gk. πειχώρησις). A term in Neoplatonic anthropology that was used to explain how the soul was intimately united to the body without being confused with it; by means of analogy, Gregory of Nazianzus applied it to the union of the two natures in Jesus Christ (Ep. 101; Or. 38,13). In this sense, it was reused by Byzantine authors who saw in the human composite an analogy of the incarnation (Lampe 1077ff.). *Maximus the Confessor developed the concept to explain the unity of the person against the monothelites (Bausenhart 173), using the example of a piece of iron placed in a fire, an example Origen had used to illustrate the union of the soul with the Logos. Following the thought of ps.-Cyril (PG 77, 1144B, 1163B), *John of Damascus adopted the term perichoresis in an analogous sense for the inseparable, but not confused, union of the three divine persons (Expos. 8; 14; 49). Thanks to the Latin translation of John of Damascus’s Expositio made by Burgundio of Pisa, scholastic theology also received the idea under the Latin term circumincessio.
B. Studer, Die theologische Arbeitsweise des Johannes von Damaskus, Ettal 1956, 112–113; G.L. Prestige, Dio nel pensiero dei Padri, It. tr. Bologna 1969, 297–305; H.A. Wolfson, The Philosophy of the Church Fathers, Cambridge, MA 1964 (It. tr. Brescia 1978), 418–428; P. Stemmer, Perichorese: HWP 7 (1989) 255–259; G. Bausenhart, “In allem uns gleich ausser der Sünde.” Studien zum Beitrag des Maximus des Bekenners zur altkirchlichen Christologie, Mainz 1992; G. Greshake, Perichorese: LTK3 8, 31–32. (bibl.); E. Durand, La périchorèse des personnes divines, Paris 2005 (see also Lateranum 72 [2006] 553–575).
B. STUDER

Studer, B. (2014). Perichoresis. In A. Di Berardino & J. Hoover (Eds.), J. T. Papa, E. A. Koenke, & E. E. Hewett (Trans.), Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity (Vol. 3, p. 143). Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic; InterVarsity Press.

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Mark A. Lester has been a dedicated movie reviewer since the age of 13, from the classics of the golden age to the blockbusters of the 21st century. He currently lives in the western suburbs of Chicago.

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