| Abstract: | Baptist–Orthodox discussions could take the shape of a continuous and constructive dialogue if their historical understandings of the Bible are investigated based on their specific perspectives on doctrine. Concretely, the idea of theosis, present in Greek Patristics and later used by the Eastern Orthodox Church as deification, can be investigated by Baptists in at least three distinct ways: as Christification, as participation, or as perichoresis. All these are prevalent in the works of contemporary Baptist theologians such as Dongsun Cho (United States), Paul Fiddes (United Kingdom), and Emil Barto? (Romania). Based on the foundation provided by theosis and its range of interpretations, the Baptist–Orthodox dialogue can be further strengthened by a series of common concerns such as apologetics, evangelism, politics, economics, social work, and education. |
