Christos Yannaras


Christos Yannaras was a Greek philosopher, Eastern Orthodox theologian and author of more than 50 books which have been translated into many languages. He was a professor emeritus of philosophy at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens.

Biography

Yannaras was born in Athens. He studied theology at the University of Athens and philosophy at the University of Bonn and the University of Paris. He received a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Theology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He held also a Ph.D of the Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines at the Sorbonne-University of Paris IV. He had been a visiting professor at the universities of Paris, Geneva, Lausanne and Crete. He was Professor of Philosophy at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens, from 1982 to 2002. He was an elected member of the Hellenic Authors' Society and International Academy of Human Sciences.
He held honorary doctorates from the University of Belgrade, St. Vladimir's Seminary in New York, Hellenic College Holy Cross, New Georgian University in Poti and National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. In 2019 Ecumenical Patriarch awarded him the Offikion of Archon Grand Rhetor of the Holy Great Church of Christ.
The main volume of Yannaras' work represents a long course on study and research of the differences between the Greek and Western European philosophy and tradition, differences that are not limited to the level of theory only but also define a praxis.
Christos Yannaras appears in the video "" directed in 2017 by French artist Youssef Tabti. Over the course of 40 minutes, C. Yannaras shares his views on freedom of expression and democracy, as they were experienced in ancient Athens and as we know them today.
Yannaras died in the island of Kythira on 24 August 2024, at the age of 89.

Selected bibliography

In English
  • The Freedom of Morality, New York, 1984
  • Elements of Faith, Edinburgh, 1991
  • On the Absence and Unknowability of God: Heidegger and the Areopagite, London
  • Postmodern Metaphysics, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2004
  • Variations on the Song of Songs, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2005
  • Orthodoxy and the West, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2006
  • Person and Eros, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2008
  • The Meaning of Reality: Essays on Existence and Communion, Eros and History. Sebastian Press, 2011
  • Relational Ontology, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2011
  • The Enigma of Evil, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2012
  • Against Religion: The Alienation of the Ecclesial Event, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2013
Online texts
*
  • Athens, February 1975. Translated from the Greek by the Rev. Peter Chamberas
  • Read the chapter "Cantus Firmus" from the "Variations of the song of songs" or
  • in Greek

Book reviews

  • , a review of the book published afterwards under the title Person and Eros by Rowan Williams in the journal Sobornost, No. 6, Winter 1972, pp. 415–430
  • by Nicholas Franck