Michelle Coetzee focuses on the underlying causes of the filioque impasse, which remains one of the greatest obstacles to the re-establishment of communion between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics. She argues that there has been a great deal of misunderstanding of the positions of each tradition by the other, partly due to the fact that East and West imbue certain key words, such as ‘person’ and ‘unity’, with different meanings. Underlying this difficulty is the problem of divergent approaches to theology, leading to differing responses to the Church’s interaction with ancient Hellenic philosophy back in the fourth century and consequently to divergent expositions of the Trinity. Against this backdrop, Coetzee sets about clearing up some of the misunderstandings. But choices still need to be made and, in Coetzee’s view, these must ultimately be made on the basis of approach to theology and truth criteria.
MichelleCoetzee
Michelle Coetzee is a doctoral student at St Augustine College in Victory Park, Johannesburg, South Africa. She holds a Performers Diploma in Speech and Drama from the University of Cape Town, a B.Th (cum laude) from the University of South Africa and an M.Phil. Theology (cum laude) from St Augustine College. A former actress and award-winning playwright, she now supports herself by working as a sub-editor at a Johannesburg newspaper.