Orthodoxy is Not Intellectual

What are some of the best reasons for saying that “Orthodoxy is not intellectual”?

“Seeking to know God strictly via our intellect may be likened to watching a televised symphony with the sound muted. While our eyes may be able to detect certain truths about the symphony—it’s size, location, conductor, etc.—we would still be missing out on the most important aspects of that symphony’s energies. We would be studying the symphony, but we would be doing so with the wrong sense-organ. So it is when we pursue God with our intellect alone.”

“Like a road sign with arrows, pointing out the great chasm that lies just ahead, the intellect serves as a guide, keeping our feet on the path toward theosis. But mentally appropriating the sign is not the same as experiencing the vast chasm itself. When we finally reach the chasm, and our stomach flutters as we lean ever-so-slightly over the edge, there is no room left for road signs. Our mouth is stopped in awe, and our intellect is dumbfounded, as our entire being is enraptured and swallowed up by something which is far beyond our power to either grasp or explain.”

“Text-based apologetics is relatively easy, since it merely requires the creative combinations of words, concepts, and logic. Moving to existentially-based apologetics is much more difficult, because the character of the apologist suddenly becomes an issue, as does the relationship between the interlocutors. Speaking the truth is one thing. Living the truth is another.”

http://theorthodoxlife.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/orthodoxy-is-not-intellectual/ (via Joseph M. Gleason) http://theorthodoxlife.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/orthodoxy-is-not-intellectual/

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