Roman Rogowski's Christology in the Context of Mysticism

Bogdan Ferdek

Abstract

Typically, mysticism is separated from dogma. Dogma gives theoretical knowledge, while mysticism gives experience of the reality about which the dogma speaks. Roman Rogowski tries to connect these two separate ways of talking about reality. On the basis of the event from above on Mount Tabor Rogowski lays the foundations for mystical Christology. For the three Apostles: Peter, James and
John, Mount Tabor was an experience of Christological dogma: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). This experience gave the Apostles an experimental knowledge of Christ. Rogowski’s mystical Christology concretizes the thesis of the Orthodox theologian Vladimir Nikolaievich Lossky: there is no Christology without mysticism, and mysticism is the pinnacle of Christology. From the formal side, Rogowski’s mystical Christology does not take the form of a theological treatise in the strict sense. It is close to narrative theology, which is a collection of stories about topics related to faith. Rogowski not only laid the foundations for mystical Christology based on the historical saving significance of mountains, but also showed the importance of mountains for man as a homo viator. For Rogowski, a man who is the image of God wanders around the mountains that God sustains in existence. The mountains are the frame or screen of God revealing himself, because in the act of creation by the One who is Mystery, they received something of His mystery. This mystery of the mountains suggests to the mind the existence of God, and the fear and fascination caused by the mountains make one feel God. This mountain mysticism, however, is only a foreground of the mysticism that the three Apostles: Peter, James and John, experienced on Mount Tabor.