Christos Yannaras

Christos Yannaras (; also Giannaras; ; 10 April 1935 – 24 August 2024) was a Greek philosopher, Eastern Orthodox theologian and author of more than 50 books which have been translated into many languages. He was a professor emeritus of philosophy at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens.

Biography

Yannaras was born in Athens. He studied theology at the University of Athens and philosophy at the University of Bonn (Germany) and the University of Paris (France). He received a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Theology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece). He held also a Ph.D of the Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines at the Sorbonne-University of Paris IV. He had been a visiting professor at the universities of Paris (the Catholic Faculty), Geneva, Lausanne and Crete. He was Professor of Philosophy at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens, from 1982 to 2002. He was an elected member of the Hellenic Authors' Society and International Academy of Human Sciences (Brussels).

He held honorary doctorates (''honoris causa'') from the University of Belgrade, St. Vladimir's Seminary in New York, Hellenic College Holy Cross, New Georgian University in Poti and National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. In 2019 Ecumenical Patriarch awarded him the ''Offikion of Archon Grand Rhetor of the Holy Great Church of Christ.''

The main volume of Yannaras' work represents a long course on study and research of the differences between the Greek and Western European philosophy and tradition, differences that are not limited to the level of theory only but also define a praxis (mode of life).

Christos Yannaras appears in the video
Rhetoric-Hill of the Pnix
directed in 2017 by French artist Youssef Tabti. Over the course of 40 minutes, C. Yannaras shares his views on freedom of expression and democracy, as they were experienced in ancient Athens and as we know them today.

Yannaras died in the island of Kythira on 24 August 2024, at the age of 89.

Selected bibliography

In English
*''The Freedom of Morality'', New York (SVS Press), 1984 ()
*''Elements of Faith'', Edinburgh (T&T Clark), 1991 ()
*''On the Absence and Unknowability of God: Heidegger and the Areopagite'', London (Continuum, 2005) ()
*''Postmodern Metaphysics'', Holy Cross Orthodox Press (Brookline, MA), 2004 (
table of contents
*''Variations on the Song of Songs'', Holy Cross Orthodox Press (Brookline, MA), 2005 ()
*''Orthodoxy and the West'', Holy Cross Orthodox Press (Brookline, MA), 2006 ()
*''Person and Eros'', Holy Cross Orthodox Press (Brookline, MA), 2008 ()
*''The Meaning of Reality: Essays on Existence and Communion, Eros and History''. Sebastian Press (Los Angeles), 2011 ()
*''Relational Ontology'', Holy Cross Orthodox Press (Brookline, MA), 2011 ()
*''The Enigma of Evil'', Holy Cross Orthodox Press (Brookline, MA), 2012 ()
*''Against Religion: The Alienation of the Ecclesial Event'', Holy Cross Orthodox Press (Brookline, MA), 2013 ()

Online texts
"Pietism as an Ecclesiological Heresy"
(Chapter 8 of The Freedom of Morality)

(Chapter 12 of The Freedom of Morality)
"The inhuman character of human rights"
(synopsis in English of the homonymous Greek book, published by Domos, Athens 1998)
Yannaras' lecture on "Human rights and the Orthodox Church""Towards a New Ecumenism"


(St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly, 27:1 (1983), pp. 53–56)

Athens, February 1975. Translated from the Greek by the Rev. Peter Chamberas
*Read the chapter "Cantus Firmus" from the "Variations of the song of songs
in Greek"
o
in EnglishFirst chapter of the author's book ''Orthodoxy and West in Modern Greece''
(in Greek)
Collection of numerous articles
in Greek

References

Further reading

* Grigoropoulou, Evaggelia (2008):
The early development of the thought of Christos Yannaras.
' Doctoral thesis, Durham University.
* Payne, Daniel P. (2006):'
The revival of political hesychasm in Greek Orthodox thought: a study of the hesychast basis of the thought of John S. Romanides and Christos Yannaras
''. Doctoral thesis, Baylor University.
* Williams, Rowan
The Theology of Personhood: A Study of the Thought of Christos Yannaras
from ”Sobornost” 6 (Winter 1972), pp. 415–430.
* Mitralexis, Sotiris
Person, Eros, Critical Ontology: An Attempt to Recapitulate Christos Yannaras’ Philosophy
from ”Sobornost” 34:1 (2012), pp. 33–40.
* Louth, Andrew
Some Recent Works by Christos Yannaras in English Translation
from “Modern Theology”, 25:2 (2009), pp. 329–340.
* Russell, Norman
Modern Greek Theologians and the Greek Fathers
from “Philosophy & Theology” 18,1 (2006): pp. 77–92.
* Papagiannopoulos, Ilias
Re-appraising the subject and the social in western philosophy and in contemporary orthodox thought
from “Studies in East European Thought” 58:4 (2006), pp. 299–330.

Book reviews

"The Theology of personhood, a study of the thought of Christos Yannaras"
a review of the book published afterwards under the title ''Person and Eros'' by Rowan Williams (a former Archbishop of Canterbury) in the journal ''Sobornost'', No. 6, Winter 1972, pp. 415–430


by Nicholas Franck

External links

* Christos Yannaras - OrthodoxWiki

Christos Yannaras - Biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yannaras, Christos
1935 births
2024 deaths
Eastern Orthodox writers
Eastern Orthodox theologians
Greek theologians
20th-century Greek philosophers
Eastern Orthodox philosophers
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki alumni
University of Bonn alumni
University of Paris alumni
Academic staff of Panteion University
Writers from Athens
21st-century Greek philosophers