Becoming God!? Salvation in Catholicism
I’m very excited to be able to join Dustin Quick on his show, Holy Smokes, tonight to talk about theosis! He is bringing an understanding of Old Testament temple theology into the discussion and I hope to contribute something about theosis and the liturgy, specifically the pope’s new Apostolic Letter, Desiderio Desideravi.
Mostly though, I think we may end up just gushing about how amazing this idea is.
Here’s the intro that Dustin wrote:
JOIN US LIVE, TONIGHT (Thursday) at 7 PM EST, on Holy Smokes!
St Athanasius, a pillar of orthodox Catholic Christianity, and a fierce champion of the Trinity and the Incarnation, once wrote, “God became man so that man might become God.”
At first glance, this statement seems at least scandalous; and at worst, outright blasphemous. Don’t New Age philosophies and Mormonism teach this “preposterous” idea of salvation?
As Paul Fahey demonstrates - popular assumptions, misunderstandings, and knee-jerk reactions notwithstanding - theosis (also called deification and divinization), far from being a blasphemous heresy, is at the very beating heart of the Christian message. Indeed, it is the work of Christ, in and through His Church, to make us “partakers of the divine nature,” as St Peter tells us in the Scripture.
If you want to know what it truly means to be “saved,” you won’t want to miss this episode!