1 John, Revised and Extended: On Docetism and Resurrection

In 1 John: On Docetism and Resurrection (2016), the author elucidated the fundamental principles driving the modern order. The latter works according to a novel form of salvation, an ontology unto dissolution that the author recognizes as a new manifestation of the ancient heresy of docetism. The modern heresy turns on faith in the Christ-Idol, an idolatry hidden for centuries beneath the cover of Western Christianity. Its theological solution requires renewed engagement with the Trinitarian love, understanding that love as a function of mutual life-giving between the divine persons. The revised and extended version of 1 John assumes the undoing of Western society under the docetic ethos, seeking theological foundations for the society that might follow. It details the meaning of various aspects of docetic (modern) society through a Johannine lens, explaining these aspects as forms of oppression. The author counters these through the Eastern Orthodox focus on the inner life over the external one, the spiritual world over the physical, and the proper appreciation of hierarchy as opposed to docetic equality.

L. Daniel Cantey Jr. teaches religion and philosophy at Bethel University in McKenzie, Tennessee. He earned his doctorate at Emory University and his master's in theology from Yale Divinity School. Prior to graduate study he served as an officer in the US Army, including participation in the invasion of Iraq (2003). Mr. Cantey converted to Eastern Orthodoxy from Protestantism in 2013.