The Quarterly Journal of St. Philaret’s Institute

The article examines the nature of theological language by analogy with philosophical and linguistic ideas about language. Its basic parameters stand out — language as a system and language as a function; general definition and specification of individual values are proposed. The main material is the historical and theological concepts of two contemporaries who are close to each other in their views and in the field of scientific specialization — Archpriest Georges Florovsky and Cardinal Jean Daniélou. Both played prominent roles in reinterpreting and transforming theological methodology in their confessional traditions; both managed to generalize the main directions and trends of their environment in the form of theological programs, which became quite widely known among contemporaries and descendants. Florovsky has elaborated a program of neopatristic synthesis, Daniélou — a program of ressourcement theology. The most important element in both cases was the issue of updating the language of theology, which was resolved by each of the authors in different ways. The theoretical constructions of Florovsky and detailed historical research of Daniélou make it possible to characterize their concepts as alternative — singular in Florovsky and plural in Daniélou. A content analysis shows that the similarity of the initial positions of both authors receives a difference in their chosen strategies, mainly theoretical-dogmatic in Florovsky and practical-missionary in Daniélou. The key character for solving the issue of language turns out to be the historical and theological problem of Christian Hellenism, understood and evaluated by both authors in different ways.