Întrebarea cu privire la sensul vieții ca prilej de a ne întâlni cu noi înșine, cu Dumnezeu, și cu semenii. Analiza unor reflecții filosofice din perspectiva teologiei ortodoxe
The question of the meaning of life as an opportunity to encounter ourselves, God, and our fellow human beings. Analysis of philosophical reflections from the perspective of Orthodox theology

Author(s): Ciprian Apostol
Subject(s): Philosophy, Special Branches of Philosophy, Theology and Religion, Comparative Studies of Religion, Philosophy of Religion
Published by: Editura Doxologia
Keywords: meaning of life; indifference to life; philosophical interrogation; sceptical attitude; Christian interrogation; threefold-meetin;
Summary/Abstract: Today, when questioning the meaning of life, we identify certain attitudes. In the following lines, I propose to specify some of these attitudes, which I will later analyse from a theological point of view, highlighting the specifics of Christian thought regarding the aforementioned question. On the one hand, the inspiration for such an approach came after reading the first part of the last paper published by the Member of the Romanian Academy Ștefan Afloroaei, Despre simțul vieții [‘On the meaning of life’], entitled, „Din nou întrebarea cu privire la sensul vieții” [‘Again the question of the meaning of life’], in particular, the chapter, „Un reflex al acestui timp: chestionarea sceptică a întrebării” [‘A Reflection of This Time: The Sceptical Questioning of the Question’]. We have identified some arguments on which such an attitude of the authors is based, such as: David E. Cooper, John Wisdom, Kai Nielsen, Tim. J. Mawson, Constantin Noica, Jean Grondin. On the other hand, in the theological reflections we had as source of inspiration, first of all, an explanatory note of Father Dumitru Stăniloae to the apology of Saint Athanasius the Great regarding the fact that Christ asked questions humanly, highlighting at the same time that He humbled Himself by becoming a Man to such an extent that He assumed all that was proper to this nature, including the question of asking questions, but not the sin that entered into this nature through disobedience. The explanatory note (in which Father Stăniloae deepens what does the fact of asking ourselves questions represents from a theological point of view, together with another text from the Homilies and speeches of Saint Basil the Great) is in fact the foundation of the theological reflections I develop in these pages on the question of the meaning of life. At the end of this study, I will conclude that, from a theological point of view, the question of the meaning of life provides an opportunity to meet ourselves, God, and others.

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