Can
humans know God? Can created beings approach the Uncreated? The concept
of God and questions about our ability to know him are central to this
book. Eastern Orthodox theology distinguishes between knowing God as he
is (his divine essence) and as he presents himself (through his
energies), and thus it both negates and affirms the basic question: man
cannot know God in his essence, but may know him through his energies.
Henny Fiska Hagg investigates this earliest stage of Christian negative
(apophatic) theology, as well as the beginnings of the distinction
between essence and energies, focusing on Clement of Alexandria in the
late second century. Clement's theological, social, religious, and
philosophical milieu is also considered, as is his indebtedness to
Middle Platonism and its concept of God.
