4 Responses to “Essays And Articles”

1. pggreenman, on September 10th, 2006 at 3:53 pm Said:

   Mr. Larison,
   I’m intrigued by your call in “Imagining Conservatism” to replace “conceptions of
   agency connected with notions of autonomy, self-interest and choice” with “a morality rooted in asceticism, festivity…[and] communion.” Where can I read more about this contrast? I’m especially interested in the alternating rhythms of ascetism and festivity that we find in the Church year and within which, you seem to suggest, we can discern on a daily basis the true ground of our humanity.

   peter.greenman@gmail.com

2. pggreenman, on September 10th, 2006 at 3:58 pm Said:

   Mr. Larison,
   I’m intrigued by your call in “Imagining Conservatism” for replacing “notions of autonomy, self-interest and choice” with “a morality rooted
   in asceticism, festivity… [and] communion.” Where can I read more about this contrast? I’m interested specifically in the alternating rhythms of fasting and feasting that we find in the Church year and within which we can discern, you seem to suggest, the true ground of our humanity.

   Thanks,
   Peter Greenman
   peter.greenman@gmail.com

3. Daniel Larison, on September 10th, 2006 at 4:06 pm Said:

   On these themes I recommend Christos Yannaras’ Freedom of Morality, Metropolitan John Zizioulas’ Being As Communion and Josef Pieper’s In Tune With The World (his study of festivity). ISI’s new multi-contributor volume The Self also has some important articles contrasing modern, postmodern and what they tentatively call “transmodern” selves; some of the contributors draw on Zizioulas’ work. Zizioulas makes an important distinction between what he calls the “biological hypostasis,” the self-interested self, and the “ecclesial hypostasis,” which is a person existing in communion as part of an ecclesial relationship. I believe the rhythms of fasting and feasting connect us to the rhythms of the created order and remind man of his true nature in relationship to God; that he is not a merely material being or an autonomous being, but one who is bound up the annual cycle of fasts and feasts as a member of a community, in this case the community of the Church and one who is bound, through the fasts and feasts, to the entire history and life of the Church and to salvation history as a whole. He comes to understand his place in the cosmos through these observances.

   Furthermore, fasts help to weaken and diminish self-will and the strength of the “biological hypostasis”; asceticism helps to curb the choosing will of the self and reinforces the willingness to obey the will of God, through which the fullness of our nature can be realised. Feasts then have us celebrate and rejoice, but not celebrate ourselves–instead, we celebrate Him Who has fashioned us and given our lives their purpose. I am mixing and matching between the several sources I have listed above, but you should find much that is very edifying in those volumes.

4. pggreenman, on September 10th, 2006 at 6:14 pm Said:

   Thank you.

   Peter Greenman

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