PURIFICATION BY ATHEISM

This article by Olivier Clément offers a theological and historical analysis of contemporary atheism in Europe, viewed not as a simple negation of faith, but as a revealer of the shortcomings of Western Christianity. The author distinguishes three successive forms of atheism — antitheism, indifference, and mystical atheism — before exploring their theological roots: a coercive conception of God, the Anselmian doctrine of redemption, the exile of God from the cosmos, and the scholastic rationalization of theology. In response to these deviations, Clément defends an Orthodox answer grounded in the theology of divine energies, the hesychast tradition, and renewed Palamism. The main contribution of the article is to show that modern atheism calls the Orthodox Church to purify and deepen its own faith, by offering a vision of deification, Trinitarian freedom, and cosmic transfiguration as a credible alternative to secularization.