Deification (Spiritual Ascent)
The lifelong climb toward God's likeness, through prayer, virtue, and grace
Here deification is viewed as a lived spiritual ascent: the gradual transformation of a person into God's likeness through grace, the practice of virtue, and union with him. Drawing on Maximus the Confessor and the Philokalia, it frames the same reality as the doctrine of theosis but in experiential terms, as the goal of the spiritual life. It is central to Eastern Christian spirituality, where traditions place differing emphasis on it.
How it traveled
- Internal ConsolationZwolle · 1471explains
- Seventeen Occasional SermonsNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- Five Sermons. On Different OccasionsNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
Key passages(20)
Five Sermons. On Different Occasions · Jonathan Edwards
Seventeen Occasional Sermons · Jonathan Edwards
An Invitation to Holy Communion · Thomas à Kempis
Seven Sermons. On Important Subjects · Jonathan Edwards
Seventeen Occasional Sermons · Jonathan Edwards
Homilies on Second Corinthians · John Chrysostom
Internal Consolation · Thomas à Kempis
On the Soul and the Resurrection · Gregory of Nyssa
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen · Gregory of Nazianzus
The Letters · Basil of Caesarea
The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults · John Cassian
City of God · Augustine of Hippo
Five Sermons. On Different Occasions · Jonathan Edwards
Internal Consolation · Thomas à Kempis
Narrative of Surprising Conversions · Jonathan Edwards
Narrative of Surprising Conversions · Jonathan Edwards
On the Making of Man · Gregory of Nyssa
On the Morals of the Catholic Church · Augustine of Hippo
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X · John Cassian