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    STUDIA THEOLOGIA%20CATHOLICA - Issue no. 4 / 2007  
         
  Article:   BETWEEN WORD AND SILENCE. EPHREM THE SYRIAN’S THEOLOGICAL VISION AND THE QUESTION OF KNOWING GOD.

Authors:  CARMEN FOTESCU. 		 
       
         
  Abstract:   Between Word and Silence. Ephrem the Syrian’s Theological Vision and the Question of Knowing God. The present article is a limited attempt to explore Ephrem the Syrian’s vision on the foundation and raison d’être of theology itself. The title, Between Word and Silence. Ephrem the Syrian’s Theological Vision and the Question of Knowing God already defines the two fundamental poles that characterize theology, according to Ephrem. As speech about God, theology is rooted first and foremost in the divine revelation imparted to man who, in an attitude of faith, follows in God’s steps, seeks to decode the unveiling of his mystery and to incarnate it in words. On the other hand, as part of his strong polemics with the heretic groups of his day (from the Arians to the Manicheans and the Bardaisanites), Ephrem emphasizes again and again man’s right attitude in front of God, not the shameless scrutinizing of the Arians, forcing the divine reality into the limited human rationalistic categories, nor the denying and distorting Manichean image of God, but faith, coupled with love and prayer, all making possible an interiorized knowledge of God.
   Theology, according to Ephrem, is to reveal in itself two counterpart movements, God’s descending movement in revelation and man’s ascending movement in silent contemplation of the divine mystery. It is, therefore, best defined as a hermeneutical exercise of an experience of encounter with God, who unveils himself to man and prompts him into speaking about him. 		 
         
     
         
         
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