Editorial (03/08/08)

Circumincession and the Lord of the Dance

Q: Your comments on the “Lord of the Dance” are fascinating (cf. article, Shiva for the Introit). I had not realized the non-Christian inspirational origin of that song by its Quaker composer. The term “circumincession” is used in Western Catholic theology as a (finitely poor) way to “describe” the personal relations in the Trinity (three of the four infinite Relations spoken of by St Thomas Aquinas. The counterpart term in Eastern Catholic theology is “perichoresis,” literally, the “dancing about.” I would like to see your comments on this Eastern term in the context of your (well-taken) criticisms of dancing as it is used in the song being discussed.

A: N., in Christ,

            Thanks for the note. I have St. John of Damascus' works, who first use this term, perichoresis, to discuss the divine mutual indwelling of the Persons of the Trinity. Unfortunately, I don't own the Greek. (I guess I could say, I'm hoping for someone to give me that as a Christmas gift one day... but that's a long shot.)

            The /o/ here makes a difference: if it is a short /o/ ("o-micron") or long /o/ ("o-mega"), the etymology would be different. The short /o/ would evidently be the Greek "choir" in root, and the long /o/ would be an “area.”

            The “perichooresis” (with two /o/'s I intend to express the omega) is the “area around about a place, around a region” (cf. Mt 8:5, Acts 14:6, and other places in the OT).

            I have read a Protestant, or perhaps a Protestant-minded Catholic, criticize Catholicism for teaching “perichooresis” as the poor man failed to see what "around a region" could have to do with “circumincession.” This is a classic case of sophistry: one word to mean another in debate. So here is an example of why the omicron/omega question is important. I say "Protestant," by the way, not because I think all Protestants are sophists (I do not think that) , but because the article in question was drafted with the evident finality of criticizing Catholic theology qua Catholic.

            As it is not defined, to my knowledge - please correct me if I am wrong - in any of the Councils, all of whose documents I own in original languages and translation, I can't “look it up” in the Conciliar documents, whether it is an omicron or omega.

            Yet I think it is safe to assume that it is the omicron.

            That assumed, the “perichoresis” isn't only a “dancing around,” but a “participating in the choir,” particularly as a religious act, or even simply to “practice” a thing or be “versed” in it. Reducing the word to dancing doesn't hit the essence of the word, nor explain why the Church Father St. John of Damascus, completely outside of the context of dancing, uses this word (cf. De Fide Orthodoxa, 1.8). I think the expression points at mutual indwelling, and not dancing around, and that such was the intention of the wordsmith who forged the Trinitarian word.

           I therefore find both circumincession and perichoresis as equally good as they are deficient. What words, N., could possibly express ANYTHING in the Trinity in an adequate way? Yet the etymologies of both, properly understood, are adequate taking into account the limitations of human understanding.

            Lastly, it should be noted that definitions of words are not concluded from the etymology. The etymology serves to see what type of inspiration filled the mind of the author when forging the word; but it does not provide a definition of the word. A shining example of the discrepancy between definition and etymology is the word hippopotamus, “hippo" horse and “potamos” river. I see very little horse in a beast like that. The wordsmith in that case perhaps should have been duly flogged after publicizing his new term.