That we might become God

[Peace]

Are any folks out there on the internet familiar with the idea of theosis (also referred to as divinization or deification)?

I have been making my way through a book on the Trinity called "The One Thing Is Three: How the Most Holy Trinity Explains Everything". I have not finished the book yet but the author talks about God being a "Communion of Love" between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and that God offers us to become "adopted sons" of God and participate in that communion. When a person is adopted as a son of God he is deified, in a sense.

The idea is touched upon briefly in the Catechsim:

460 The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature":⁷⁸ "For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God."⁷⁹ "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God."⁸⁰ "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."⁸¹

 I was kind of shocked when I read the above passage. It sounds a bit Mormon doesn't it? Becoming God? Come on now. If it were not in the Catechism I would have probably have seen that statement and thought to myself "Heresy!" I suppose the answer is that you are not supposed to take the "become God" line too literally . . .

But it is a pretty interesting concept and one that I was not very familiar with at all until I started to look into recently. It is not something that was covered during RCIA and is not something that I have ever heard a homily about. Why?

I have not been able to find out a whole lot about it, but it would seem to tie in pretty well with the idea of infused grace.

If anyone is interested in the topic, here is a small amount of info that I was able to dig up on the internet:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01148a.htm

http://www.cuf.org/2006/01/so-that-we-might-become-god-understanding-catechism-no-460/

 

[bardegaulois]

St Irenaeus of Lyon... I love Irenaeus, and frankly think we read the Greek Fathers all too rarely.

When I was a young man and just beginning to study theology and philosophy, I of course read the New Testament before even touching the Catechism or the Fathers. Of course, this idea permeates St John's Gospel and is quite explicitly stated a number of times by SS Paul and Peter. There's nothing heretical about this at all. In fact it's a beautiful idea, that we can come to unity with the fullness of the Godhead. That's the very idea that roused me from the spiritual lethargy of my youth.