Beatnik Christianity Creates Room for the Eastern Orthodox View of Theosis

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Protestant theology dating all the way back to the 16th century contains a strong, unnatural break between justification and sanctification. Paul writes about salvation in the past, present, and future tense. You were saved. You’re being saved. You will be saved. It’s a salvific process, not a salvific moment. The Reformers were right that the process begins exclusively by grace through faith, but it’s not a clean hand-off from justification to sanctification. It’s an ongoing process. Salvation isn’t a reward for works, but those who are saved must perform good and faithful works.

There’s a reason Luther toyed with stripping James from the biblical canon: his deficient theology had no room for a complicated view of faith. Faith in James’ Jewish mindset was never merely an interior experience. Faith and action are intrinsically tied together. You believe what you do and do what you believe. This is what Luther failed to grasp. A person doesn’t “get saved” as a one and done event. Salvation is an unfolding process of transformation. Instead of a sequential, one-time justification followed by ongoing sanctification, it’s a cyclical infinity loop of divinization.

Humanity is unique among creation in having been lovingly made in God’s image, so think of the salvation process as a mirror being cleaned to again receive and reflect divine energies. Protestants tend to place a strong doctrinal emphases upon phases–initial justification, ongoing sanctification, eventual glorification–but for Eastern Christians that’s too forensic and systematic. Instead these doctrines are, to whatever degree they’re even differentiated, perceived as pieces of the mysterious salvation puzzle. It’s a whole other non-linear, spiritual schema. It’s a Möbius strip.

For the Eastern Orthodox, the ongoing salvation process is called theosis. Theopedia describes theosis as “the understanding that human beings can have real union with God, and become like God to such a degree that we participate in the divine nature.” That bit in 2 Peter 1:4 about participating in the divine nature? That’s theosis.1 Like an old married couple who’ve grown to think, sound, and look alike, God desires to be so close to us that we begin to take on God’s own nature. This is achieved through synergistic cooperation between Creator and creation.2

The original beatniks looked to the Far East for spiritual insight. There was some degree of ancient Christian influence upon the Beat Generation as Jack Kerouac was nominally Catholic, but to the best of my knowledge they never really looked into Eastern Orthodoxy. In terms of a countercultural expression of Christianity today, there needs to be room for diverse perspectives on hotly contested issue like salvation. Clearly my own theology leans heavily into theosis, but I’m hesitant to prescribe it for others. All I’d insist upon is there’s room for non-Western views.