Principles of Orthodox Hermeneutics

This article is the continuation of a series devoted to the principles of Orthodox hermeneutics, written by the theologian Paul Evdokimov. It adopts a critical and comparative approach, examining post-Bultmannian Protestant exegetical currents and their major representatives: Ebeling, Moltmann, Pannenberg, Tillich and Cullmann. The central idea is that each of these theologies formulates partial truths — concerning divine transcendence, existential decision or the immanence of God in the world — but that heresy consists precisely in elevating the partial to the absolute. The theological contribution of the article lies in the systematic juxtaposition of these positions with the Orthodox patristic perspective: only the Church, as a collegial subject animated by the Holy Spirit since Pentecost, constitutes the legitimate and continuous framework for the reading of Scripture, beyond all individual subjectivism or any arbitrary boundary within Tradition.