ABSTRACT
Following a brief explication of the historical trends in Christianity that led to the separation of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, Chapter 3 compares and contrasts Eastern and Western Christianity and details unique aspects of the Eastern Orthodox Church that are relevant to both the topic of anthropology and to dialogue with Lacanian psychoanalysis, which is the overall topic of the book. Included in this chapter are discussions of the distinction between God’s essence (nature) and energies (activities); perspectives on salvation and soteriology (the reconciliation of God and humanity); the creation of humanity; the rupture between God and humanity (referred to in Christianity as the fall); the process of salvation; Apophaticism (an attitude of mind that resists foreclosed notions about God and instead relies on experience through communing with God’s energies); the freedom of God with respect to creation and humanity; and the centrality of human sexuality to human existence.
