Phronema is a transliteration of the Greek word φρόνημα, which has the meanings of "mind", "spirit", "thought", "purpose", "will", and can have either a positive meaning ("high spirit", "resolution", "pride") or a bad sense ("presumption", "arrogance").[ Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon: φρόνημα]
In the New Testament, the word is used four times in Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans: twice with "τῆς σαρκός" (of the flesh) and twice with "τοῦ πνεύματος" (of the spirit): "for the mind of the flesh is death, and the mind of the Spirit – life and peace; because the mind of the flesh is enmity to God ... and He who is searching the hearts hath known what is the mind of the Spirit" (Romans 8:6-
27).
Eastern Orthodox theology
The term
phronema is used in
Eastern Orthodox theology for one particular
mindset or
outlook – the
Eastern Orthodox mind.
[The appeal to Tradition was actually an appeal to the mind of the Church, her phronema. It was a method to discover and ascertain the faith as it had been always held, from the very beginning: semper creditum. The permanence of Christian belief was the most conspicuous sign and token of its truth: no innovations For. On Church and Tradition. An Eastern Orthodox View by Archpriest George Florovsky (1893-1979) [2]] The attaining of
phronema in this sense is a matter of practicing the correct faith (
orthodoxia) in the correct manner (
orthopraxis). Attaining
phronema is regarded as the first step toward
theosis, the state of
glorification.
Phronema is also the name of the official annual review of St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College, Sydney, Australia. It presents articles and book reviews from Orthodox and non-Orthodox on topics with central reference to theology, Church history and Orthodoxy.[
Phronema, volume 23, 2008]
Use by John Henry Newman
The term was used by John Henry Newman in an article published in 1859 under the title "On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine". He said that the
consensus of the faithful is to be regarded as "a sort of instinct, or
phronēma, deep in the bosom of the mystical body of Christ".
[ John Henry Newman, On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine (Rambler, July 1859)]
Use by Ernst Haeckel
The term was used by
Ernst Haeckel in his book
The Wonders of Life[ Ernst Haeckel, The Wonders of Life: A Popular Study of Biological Philosophy (London, 1904, Watts & Co.)] where (p. 342) the phronema is the name given to a part of the cortex, as “the real organ of mind”.
See also
- People
