Edward A. Siecienski
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195372045
- eISBN:
- 9780199777297
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195372045.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The first reference we have to a theological debate concerning the filioque is found in Maximus the Confessor’s Letter to Marinus, written in the mid-seventh century. Maximus, a Greek living in the ...
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The first reference we have to a theological debate concerning the filioque is found in Maximus the Confessor’s Letter to Marinus, written in the mid-seventh century. Maximus, a Greek living in the West, understood why many Easterners might have objected to the Latin view, and goes out of his way to interpret the Western teaching in light of traditional Eastern trinitarian theology. The Holy Spirit, he wrote, proceeds (ejkporeuvesqai) from the Father (who alone is cause within the godhead), but flows forth (proi>evnai) from the Son. Not only is Maximus a rare example of irenicism in the (increasingly hostile) debates between East and West, but he is also the first to offer a solution to the problem—a solution that centuries later remains our best hope of resolving this troublesome ecumenical issue.Less
The first reference we have to a theological debate concerning the filioque is found in Maximus the Confessor’s Letter to Marinus, written in the mid-seventh century. Maximus, a Greek living in the West, understood why many Easterners might have objected to the Latin view, and goes out of his way to interpret the Western teaching in light of traditional Eastern trinitarian theology. The Holy Spirit, he wrote, proceeds (ejkporeuvesqai) from the Father (who alone is cause within the godhead), but flows forth (proi>evnai) from the Son. Not only is Maximus a rare example of irenicism in the (increasingly hostile) debates between East and West, but he is also the first to offer a solution to the problem—a solution that centuries later remains our best hope of resolving this troublesome ecumenical issue.
J. Kameron Carter
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195152791
- eISBN:
- 9780199870578
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195152791.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
The vision of Maximus the Confessor, a 7th‐century monk‐theologian, is an unexpected resource, the chapter argues, for reconceiving the very task of theology given its tyrannical performance inside ...
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The vision of Maximus the Confessor, a 7th‐century monk‐theologian, is an unexpected resource, the chapter argues, for reconceiving the very task of theology given its tyrannical performance inside of whiteness. At the heart of Maximus's Christology is an exegetical practice that reads scripture against rather than with the grain of the social order, and an ethical practice that refuses self‐love or the logic of possession and ownership, which is central to the colonialist orientation of modernity's racial imagination of whiteness. This orientation of a theological ethics of dispossession (to speak in Maximian terms) is what makes Israel a nonracial people (to speak in contemporary terms). Understanding the person and work of Jesus as triangulated between Abraham, Moses, and the Prophets, Maximus's Christology roots itself in the covenantal‐nonracial story of Jewish existence. Maximus's Christological argument, which is an anticolonialist argument, therefore fittingly culminates this book's argument.Less
The vision of Maximus the Confessor, a 7th‐century monk‐theologian, is an unexpected resource, the chapter argues, for reconceiving the very task of theology given its tyrannical performance inside of whiteness. At the heart of Maximus's Christology is an exegetical practice that reads scripture against rather than with the grain of the social order, and an ethical practice that refuses self‐love or the logic of possession and ownership, which is central to the colonialist orientation of modernity's racial imagination of whiteness. This orientation of a theological ethics of dispossession (to speak in Maximian terms) is what makes Israel a nonracial people (to speak in contemporary terms). Understanding the person and work of Jesus as triangulated between Abraham, Moses, and the Prophets, Maximus's Christology roots itself in the covenantal‐nonracial story of Jewish existence. Maximus's Christological argument, which is an anticolonialist argument, therefore fittingly culminates this book's argument.
Marcus Plested
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199267798
- eISBN:
- 9780191602139
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199267790.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
The final chapter looks at the palpable Macarian dimension of the great Byzantine synthesis of Maximus the Confessor. Maximus is shown to have integrated into his teaching a number of key themes and ...
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The final chapter looks at the palpable Macarian dimension of the great Byzantine synthesis of Maximus the Confessor. Maximus is shown to have integrated into his teaching a number of key themes and concepts inherited from the Macarian legacy. The Macarian legacy plays a key role in Maximus’ theological and spiritual vision and is indeed essential to an understanding of that vision. Maximus’ creative appropriation of that legacy confirms and seals its place at the heart of the Eastern Christian tradition.Less
The final chapter looks at the palpable Macarian dimension of the great Byzantine synthesis of Maximus the Confessor. Maximus is shown to have integrated into his teaching a number of key themes and concepts inherited from the Macarian legacy. The Macarian legacy plays a key role in Maximus’ theological and spiritual vision and is indeed essential to an understanding of that vision. Maximus’ creative appropriation of that legacy confirms and seals its place at the heart of the Eastern Christian tradition.
Brock Bingaman
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195390261
- eISBN:
- 9780199932931
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195390261.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter explores the manner of the transformation of the fallen passions in the Fathers of the Philokalia.
This chapter explores the manner of the transformation of the fallen passions in the Fathers of the Philokalia.
Edward Siecienski
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195372045
- eISBN:
- 9780199777297
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195372045.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Among the issues that have divided Eastern and Western Christians throughout the centuries, few have had as long and interesting a history as the question of the filioque—i.e., whether the Holy ...
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Among the issues that have divided Eastern and Western Christians throughout the centuries, few have had as long and interesting a history as the question of the filioque—i.e., whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father “and the Son” as the West came to profess, or from the Father alone, as the East has traditionally maintained. For over a millennium Christendom’s greatest minds have addressed and debated the question (sometimes in rather polemical terms), all in the belief that the theological issues at stake were central to an orthodox understanding of the trinitarian God. The history of the filioque is also one of the most interesting stories in all of Christendom, filled with characters and events that would make even the best dramatists envious, and thus a story worth telling. The Filioque: History of a Doctrinal Controversy is the first complete English language history of the filioque written in over a century. Beginning with the biblical material and ending with recent agreements on the place and meaning of the filioque, this book traces the history of the doctrine and the controversy that has surrounded it. There are chapters on the Greek and Latin fathers, the ninth century debates, the late medieval era, the Councils of Lyons and Ferrara-Florence, and the post Florentine period, with a separate chapter dedicated to the twentieth and twenty-first century theologians and dialogues that have come closer than ever to solving this thorny, and of yet, unresolved, ecumenical problem.Less
Among the issues that have divided Eastern and Western Christians throughout the centuries, few have had as long and interesting a history as the question of the filioque—i.e., whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father “and the Son” as the West came to profess, or from the Father alone, as the East has traditionally maintained. For over a millennium Christendom’s greatest minds have addressed and debated the question (sometimes in rather polemical terms), all in the belief that the theological issues at stake were central to an orthodox understanding of the trinitarian God. The history of the filioque is also one of the most interesting stories in all of Christendom, filled with characters and events that would make even the best dramatists envious, and thus a story worth telling. The Filioque: History of a Doctrinal Controversy is the first complete English language history of the filioque written in over a century. Beginning with the biblical material and ending with recent agreements on the place and meaning of the filioque, this book traces the history of the doctrine and the controversy that has surrounded it. There are chapters on the Greek and Latin fathers, the ninth century debates, the late medieval era, the Councils of Lyons and Ferrara-Florence, and the post Florentine period, with a separate chapter dedicated to the twentieth and twenty-first century theologians and dialogues that have come closer than ever to solving this thorny, and of yet, unresolved, ecumenical problem.
J. P. Williams
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198269991
- eISBN:
- 9780191683855
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269991.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, World Religions
This chapter presents a reading of Maximus the Confessor's apophatic theology based on a broad spectrum of his writings. It focuses on three texts that offer slightly different versions of a ...
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This chapter presents a reading of Maximus the Confessor's apophatic theology based on a broad spectrum of his writings. It focuses on three texts that offer slightly different versions of a distinction between two ways of approaching the divine. First, in a celebrated passage from the tenth of the Ambigua, Maximus divides theology into two ‘universal modes’: one that ‘goes first, is simple, and does not refer to the divine as cause’ , and another that is ‘secondary and composite, gleaning a faint indication of the divine from its effects’. Several Dionysian themes are reprised: the uncertain tension between apophasis and silence, and the connection between kataphasis and the divine as Cause. In the paradoxical suggestion that, while affirmations about the divine drawn from its effects may have some value, the ‘true’ affirmations are derived from apophasis, one is reminded of the obverse link made by Dionysius in the fourth Letter: that ‘every affirmation regarding Jesus’ love for humanity has the force of a negation pointing towards transcendence’.Less
This chapter presents a reading of Maximus the Confessor's apophatic theology based on a broad spectrum of his writings. It focuses on three texts that offer slightly different versions of a distinction between two ways of approaching the divine. First, in a celebrated passage from the tenth of the Ambigua, Maximus divides theology into two ‘universal modes’: one that ‘goes first, is simple, and does not refer to the divine as cause’ , and another that is ‘secondary and composite, gleaning a faint indication of the divine from its effects’. Several Dionysian themes are reprised: the uncertain tension between apophasis and silence, and the connection between kataphasis and the divine as Cause. In the paradoxical suggestion that, while affirmations about the divine drawn from its effects may have some value, the ‘true’ affirmations are derived from apophasis, one is reminded of the obverse link made by Dionysius in the fourth Letter: that ‘every affirmation regarding Jesus’ love for humanity has the force of a negation pointing towards transcendence’.
Norman Russell
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199205974
- eISBN:
- 9780191695636
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199205974.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter examines the monastic synthesis, looking at Evagrius Ponticus, the Macarian writings, Diadochus of Photice, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Maximus the Confessor. Deification entered the ...
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This chapter examines the monastic synthesis, looking at Evagrius Ponticus, the Macarian writings, Diadochus of Photice, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Maximus the Confessor. Deification entered the Byzantine tradition through Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor. For Dionysus, theosis was primarily the attaining of unity and likeness. Deification is the condition of the saved, which begins with baptism and is nurtured by participation in the holy synaxis, by reception of the Eucharist, and by opening the mind to divine illumination. For Maximus, it was not the problem of oneness and multiplicity that was central, but how a mortal human being can participate in a transcendent God. He took up the Gregorian and Dionysian approach but supplied a major corrective, for Dionysius has little to say about the Incarnation.Less
This chapter examines the monastic synthesis, looking at Evagrius Ponticus, the Macarian writings, Diadochus of Photice, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Maximus the Confessor. Deification entered the Byzantine tradition through Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor. For Dionysus, theosis was primarily the attaining of unity and likeness. Deification is the condition of the saved, which begins with baptism and is nurtured by participation in the holy synaxis, by reception of the Eucharist, and by opening the mind to divine illumination. For Maximus, it was not the problem of oneness and multiplicity that was central, but how a mortal human being can participate in a transcendent God. He took up the Gregorian and Dionysian approach but supplied a major corrective, for Dionysius has little to say about the Incarnation.
J. P. Williams
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198269991
- eISBN:
- 9780191683855
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269991.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, World Religions
The classical texts of Christianity and Zen Buddhism contain resources with potent appeal to contemporary spirituality. The ‘apophatic’, or ‘negative’, may offer a means to integrate the conservation ...
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The classical texts of Christianity and Zen Buddhism contain resources with potent appeal to contemporary spirituality. The ‘apophatic’, or ‘negative’, may offer a means to integrate the conservation of traditional religious practices and beliefs with an openness to experience beyond the limits of doctrine and of rational thought. This book argues for a new understanding of what is meant by apophatic theology, supported by extensive analysis of the texts of Dionysius the Areopagite, St Maximus the Confessor, and Zen Master Dogen. It demonstrates how an apophatic spirituality might inform personal and communal spiritual development, and sketches out the contribution it can offer to modern debate on theology and postmodernism, entropy, and interfaith dialogue, and to development of an active theological commitment to humanity.Less
The classical texts of Christianity and Zen Buddhism contain resources with potent appeal to contemporary spirituality. The ‘apophatic’, or ‘negative’, may offer a means to integrate the conservation of traditional religious practices and beliefs with an openness to experience beyond the limits of doctrine and of rational thought. This book argues for a new understanding of what is meant by apophatic theology, supported by extensive analysis of the texts of Dionysius the Areopagite, St Maximus the Confessor, and Zen Master Dogen. It demonstrates how an apophatic spirituality might inform personal and communal spiritual development, and sketches out the contribution it can offer to modern debate on theology and postmodernism, entropy, and interfaith dialogue, and to development of an active theological commitment to humanity.
John J. O’Meara
- Published in print:
- 1988
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198266747
- eISBN:
- 9780191683084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198266747.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Édouard Jeauneau in a stimulating article, ‘Jean Scot Érigène et le grec’, addresses himself to the three following questions: what motives and impulsions influenced Eriugena to translate the works ...
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Édouard Jeauneau in a stimulating article, ‘Jean Scot Érigène et le grec’, addresses himself to the three following questions: what motives and impulsions influenced Eriugena to translate the works that he did translate? What were the ‘tools’ that he employed in this work? What was original about this enterprise? This chapter briefly discusses these matters before looking at the authors whom Eriugena did choose to translate: Pseudo–Dionysius, Maximus the Confessor, Gregory of Nyssa, and Epiphanius.Less
Édouard Jeauneau in a stimulating article, ‘Jean Scot Érigène et le grec’, addresses himself to the three following questions: what motives and impulsions influenced Eriugena to translate the works that he did translate? What were the ‘tools’ that he employed in this work? What was original about this enterprise? This chapter briefly discusses these matters before looking at the authors whom Eriugena did choose to translate: Pseudo–Dionysius, Maximus the Confessor, Gregory of Nyssa, and Epiphanius.
Johannes Zachhuber
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- July 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198859956
- eISBN:
- 9780191892370
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198859956.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter discusses the philosophical contributions of Maximus Confessor and John of Damascus. Confronted with dramatic political and cultural ruptures, they both produced remarkable philosophical ...
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This chapter discusses the philosophical contributions of Maximus Confessor and John of Damascus. Confronted with dramatic political and cultural ruptures, they both produced remarkable philosophical syntheses. Both emerge from this analysis as representatives of Chalcedonian philosophy but in rather different ways. Maximus represents the most radical attempt to return to the spirit of the original Cappadocian theory. He leaves largely unaddressed the conceptual conundrums that caused the various philosophical innovations among his immediate predecessors and instead sought to develop a system on Cappadocian foundations, read through the spectacles of ps.-Dionysius the Areopagite. The Damascene, by contrast, is a more natural end-point of the transformation of Cappadocian philosophy in the service of Christology. His thought is radically centred on the concept of hypostasis as pure existence and, as such, the ontological basis of all other being. In John of Damascus, Patristic philosophy comes close to introducing a duality of essence and existence.Less
This chapter discusses the philosophical contributions of Maximus Confessor and John of Damascus. Confronted with dramatic political and cultural ruptures, they both produced remarkable philosophical syntheses. Both emerge from this analysis as representatives of Chalcedonian philosophy but in rather different ways. Maximus represents the most radical attempt to return to the spirit of the original Cappadocian theory. He leaves largely unaddressed the conceptual conundrums that caused the various philosophical innovations among his immediate predecessors and instead sought to develop a system on Cappadocian foundations, read through the spectacles of ps.-Dionysius the Areopagite. The Damascene, by contrast, is a more natural end-point of the transformation of Cappadocian philosophy in the service of Christology. His thought is radically centred on the concept of hypostasis as pure existence and, as such, the ontological basis of all other being. In John of Damascus, Patristic philosophy comes close to introducing a duality of essence and existence.
Niels Christian Hvidt
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195314472
- eISBN:
- 9780199785346
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195314472.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Revelation is complete with Christ but does not come to a close with him. There is a deep unity between the Christ event and its unfolding through the action of the Holy Spirit in the life of the ...
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Revelation is complete with Christ but does not come to a close with him. There is a deep unity between the Christ event and its unfolding through the action of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church. In this sense, Christianity is not a final but a preliminary stage between Christ's first and his last coming. This recognition is important for the understanding of the concept of tradition. Tradition should not be seen in the sense of traditional, but signifies a living reality in which Christ continues to unfold and actualize his truth in every new generation. Prophecy is one of the realizations of this dynamic actualization process. In fact, most of the instances in which revelation is actualized through time (Scripture, Magisterium, theology, dogma, pious traditions, liturgy) have been inspired by prophecy.Less
Revelation is complete with Christ but does not come to a close with him. There is a deep unity between the Christ event and its unfolding through the action of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church. In this sense, Christianity is not a final but a preliminary stage between Christ's first and his last coming. This recognition is important for the understanding of the concept of tradition. Tradition should not be seen in the sense of traditional, but signifies a living reality in which Christ continues to unfold and actualize his truth in every new generation. Prophecy is one of the realizations of this dynamic actualization process. In fact, most of the instances in which revelation is actualized through time (Scripture, Magisterium, theology, dogma, pious traditions, liturgy) have been inspired by prophecy.
Paul M. Blowers
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199660414
- eISBN:
- 9780191745980
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199660414.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Theology
The opening phrase of Genesis, “in the beginning,” launched a fertile tradition of christological and/or temporal interpretations of the “beginning.” Christian exegetes argued that the ontological ...
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The opening phrase of Genesis, “in the beginning,” launched a fertile tradition of christological and/or temporal interpretations of the “beginning.” Christian exegetes argued that the ontological foundation of creation was already bound up with the Word who was “in the beginning” with God (John 1:1), the same Word who would remain in the end (Rev. 22:13); on the other hand, they aimed to answer historic Greco-Roman claims about the eternity of the world. Within the analysis of the “beginning” some patristic theologians—including Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, and Maximus the Confessor, profiled here in detail—developed theories concerning “double” phases of the creation of the universe. This chapter also revisits the different reasonings behind the enduring principle of creation ex nihilo: its representation of divine omnipotence; its effectiveness in refuting the eternity of matter; and its utility in opposing the pagan cosmological axiom that “nothing comes from nothing.”Less
The opening phrase of Genesis, “in the beginning,” launched a fertile tradition of christological and/or temporal interpretations of the “beginning.” Christian exegetes argued that the ontological foundation of creation was already bound up with the Word who was “in the beginning” with God (John 1:1), the same Word who would remain in the end (Rev. 22:13); on the other hand, they aimed to answer historic Greco-Roman claims about the eternity of the world. Within the analysis of the “beginning” some patristic theologians—including Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, and Maximus the Confessor, profiled here in detail—developed theories concerning “double” phases of the creation of the universe. This chapter also revisits the different reasonings behind the enduring principle of creation ex nihilo: its representation of divine omnipotence; its effectiveness in refuting the eternity of matter; and its utility in opposing the pagan cosmological axiom that “nothing comes from nothing.”
Alexis Torrance
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- October 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198845294
- eISBN:
- 9780191880568
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198845294.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
The idea of perpetual progress or epektasis has become a popular way to characterize the Byzantine and Orthodox approach to eschatology, whereby the human being forever stretches out in an unending ...
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The idea of perpetual progress or epektasis has become a popular way to characterize the Byzantine and Orthodox approach to eschatology, whereby the human being forever stretches out in an unending ascent into God. Gregory of Nyssa is taken as the chief architect of this approach, but Maximus the Confessor is also frequently marshalled to the same cause. This chapter questions the applicability of epektasis to the theology of Maximus, and further challenges the hegemony of this idea as a general shorthand for the Byzantine and Orthodox view of eschatology. Without denying its presence as a component of Byzantine eschatological discourse, the far more prevalent interest in rest/stasis is brought out through an examination of Maximus’s eschatology. This is connected with the view that what is true of Christ’s humanity becomes true of the humanity of the saints by grace, and Christ’s enthroned humanity is no longer subject to growth or progress.Less
The idea of perpetual progress or epektasis has become a popular way to characterize the Byzantine and Orthodox approach to eschatology, whereby the human being forever stretches out in an unending ascent into God. Gregory of Nyssa is taken as the chief architect of this approach, but Maximus the Confessor is also frequently marshalled to the same cause. This chapter questions the applicability of epektasis to the theology of Maximus, and further challenges the hegemony of this idea as a general shorthand for the Byzantine and Orthodox view of eschatology. Without denying its presence as a component of Byzantine eschatological discourse, the far more prevalent interest in rest/stasis is brought out through an examination of Maximus’s eschatology. This is connected with the view that what is true of Christ’s humanity becomes true of the humanity of the saints by grace, and Christ’s enthroned humanity is no longer subject to growth or progress.
Torstein Theodor Tollefsen
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199605965
- eISBN:
- 9780191738227
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199605965.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Religion in the Ancient World
The chapter describes doctrines of Trinitarian generation in Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Maximus the Confessor. The treatment of Gregory of Nyssa dwells on his arguments against ...
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The chapter describes doctrines of Trinitarian generation in Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Maximus the Confessor. The treatment of Gregory of Nyssa dwells on his arguments against Eunomius. Trinitarian generation is described as an internal activity of the Godhead. It is stressed that the three thinkers clearly see that one ventures to create appropriate models to accommodate human understanding to what in itself transcends reason.Less
The chapter describes doctrines of Trinitarian generation in Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Maximus the Confessor. The treatment of Gregory of Nyssa dwells on his arguments against Eunomius. Trinitarian generation is described as an internal activity of the Godhead. It is stressed that the three thinkers clearly see that one ventures to create appropriate models to accommodate human understanding to what in itself transcends reason.
Torstein Theodor Tollefsen
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199605965
- eISBN:
- 9780191738227
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199605965.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Religion in the Ancient World
The chapter describes the doctrines of creation or of the external activity of God, in Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Maximus the Confessor. The author questions whether Dionysius ...
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The chapter describes the doctrines of creation or of the external activity of God, in Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Maximus the Confessor. The author questions whether Dionysius has an orthodox doctrine of creation. The section on Maximus raises the question of whether he could have been acquainted with the philosophy of John Philoponus, who played an important role in the Christian critique of Neoplatonist doctrines of creation. The Christian view is that the cosmos is the result of a definite divine will to create, and that it had its beginning a definite number of time units ago. The chapter also discusses how the three thinkers viewed the participation of created beings in the divine activity.Less
The chapter describes the doctrines of creation or of the external activity of God, in Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Maximus the Confessor. The author questions whether Dionysius has an orthodox doctrine of creation. The section on Maximus raises the question of whether he could have been acquainted with the philosophy of John Philoponus, who played an important role in the Christian critique of Neoplatonist doctrines of creation. The Christian view is that the cosmos is the result of a definite divine will to create, and that it had its beginning a definite number of time units ago. The chapter also discusses how the three thinkers viewed the participation of created beings in the divine activity.
Torstein Theodor Tollefsen
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199605965
- eISBN:
- 9780191738227
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199605965.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Religion in the Ancient World
In this chapter the Incarnation is treated as a primary instance of divine external activity. Focus is on the divine activity in relation to human activity in the ontology of the God-man ...
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In this chapter the Incarnation is treated as a primary instance of divine external activity. Focus is on the divine activity in relation to human activity in the ontology of the God-man (communicatio idiomatum) according to Gregory of Nyssa and Maximus the Confessor. The activity of the divine nature in the humanity of Christ is considered as an act of participation. Special attention is given to Maximus’ ontological analysis of essence and activity, which is applicable both on the ontology of the Incarnation and on the doctrine of deification of human beings.Less
In this chapter the Incarnation is treated as a primary instance of divine external activity. Focus is on the divine activity in relation to human activity in the ontology of the God-man (communicatio idiomatum) according to Gregory of Nyssa and Maximus the Confessor. The activity of the divine nature in the humanity of Christ is considered as an act of participation. Special attention is given to Maximus’ ontological analysis of essence and activity, which is applicable both on the ontology of the Incarnation and on the doctrine of deification of human beings.
Torstein Theodor Tollefsen
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199605965
- eISBN:
- 9780191738227
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199605965.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Religion in the Ancient World
The chapter investigates the doctrine of deification in Gregory of Nyssa and Maximus the Confessor. Gregory understands virtue as a mimetic activity. He considers deification as an act of ...
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The chapter investigates the doctrine of deification in Gregory of Nyssa and Maximus the Confessor. Gregory understands virtue as a mimetic activity. He considers deification as an act of participation in divine activity present within the recipient, not in a created gift of grace. Maximus the Confessor teaches spiritual development in three stages that culminates in deification, of which Maximus has a rather strong or radical view. Participation is distinctly understood as the presence of divine activity in the recipient, in such a way that human activities may be executed in a divine mode. According to Maximus, man transcends the natural limits of his being because of the active presence of God’s transforming grace.Less
The chapter investigates the doctrine of deification in Gregory of Nyssa and Maximus the Confessor. Gregory understands virtue as a mimetic activity. He considers deification as an act of participation in divine activity present within the recipient, not in a created gift of grace. Maximus the Confessor teaches spiritual development in three stages that culminates in deification, of which Maximus has a rather strong or radical view. Participation is distinctly understood as the presence of divine activity in the recipient, in such a way that human activities may be executed in a divine mode. According to Maximus, man transcends the natural limits of his being because of the active presence of God’s transforming grace.
J. P. Williams
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198269991
- eISBN:
- 9780191683855
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269991.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, World Religions
This concluding chapter collates the similarities and differences between the Zen Buddhist and patristic Christian traditions of apophasis. It is now generally agreed that one cannot simply take the ...
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This concluding chapter collates the similarities and differences between the Zen Buddhist and patristic Christian traditions of apophasis. It is now generally agreed that one cannot simply take the fact that two apophatic traditions make statements that may be translated one into another as evidence that their statements carry the same meaning, nor the fact that two traditions recommend the same courses of action in analogous circumstances as proof that their participants ‘do the same things’. Buddhist and Christian forms of monasticism, asceticism, spiritual master/disciple relations, and so on cannot simply be identified since the character of each is profoundly affected by very dissimilar historical and cultural circumstances, and each plays a different role in relation to other elements of practice and to the community of non-practitioners. With the application of nondualism to ontological questions, we approach one of the thorniest issues in any attempt to establish a common ground between Buddhism and Christianity. This book has considered the views of Dogen, Maximus the Confessor, and Dionysius on apophasis.Less
This concluding chapter collates the similarities and differences between the Zen Buddhist and patristic Christian traditions of apophasis. It is now generally agreed that one cannot simply take the fact that two apophatic traditions make statements that may be translated one into another as evidence that their statements carry the same meaning, nor the fact that two traditions recommend the same courses of action in analogous circumstances as proof that their participants ‘do the same things’. Buddhist and Christian forms of monasticism, asceticism, spiritual master/disciple relations, and so on cannot simply be identified since the character of each is profoundly affected by very dissimilar historical and cultural circumstances, and each plays a different role in relation to other elements of practice and to the community of non-practitioners. With the application of nondualism to ontological questions, we approach one of the thorniest issues in any attempt to establish a common ground between Buddhism and Christianity. This book has considered the views of Dogen, Maximus the Confessor, and Dionysius on apophasis.
Andrew Louth
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823251445
- eISBN:
- 9780823252909
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823251445.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter does not simply expound the teaching of St. Maximus the Confessor, for the subject—Man and Cosmos—is not some arcane bit of teaching from late antiquity, like, for instance, St. ...
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This chapter does not simply expound the teaching of St. Maximus the Confessor, for the subject—Man and Cosmos—is not some arcane bit of teaching from late antiquity, like, for instance, St. Maximus's understanding of the links between the passions and the various internal organs of the human body though even with such teaching we may have more to learn than we might think at first sight. Rather, the subject of Man and the Cosmos is still something of deep concern, perhaps even more so now that man seems to have some purchase over the earth, at least, so that the question of his responsibility for the world has become a pressing issue. The chapter takes a look at these concerns in the context of the thought of St. Maximus the Confessor in detail.Less
This chapter does not simply expound the teaching of St. Maximus the Confessor, for the subject—Man and Cosmos—is not some arcane bit of teaching from late antiquity, like, for instance, St. Maximus's understanding of the links between the passions and the various internal organs of the human body though even with such teaching we may have more to learn than we might think at first sight. Rather, the subject of Man and the Cosmos is still something of deep concern, perhaps even more so now that man seems to have some purchase over the earth, at least, so that the question of his responsibility for the world has become a pressing issue. The chapter takes a look at these concerns in the context of the thought of St. Maximus the Confessor in detail.
Brian E. Daley, SJ
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- February 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780199281336
- eISBN:
- 9780191746925
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199281336.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
The Council of Chalcedon’s definition of the terms in which Nicene orthodoxy should conceive of Christ’s person remained controversial. Leontius of Byzantium argued for the correctness of the ...
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The Council of Chalcedon’s definition of the terms in which Nicene orthodoxy should conceive of Christ’s person remained controversial. Leontius of Byzantium argued for the correctness of the Council’s formulation, especially against the arguments of Severus of Antioch, but suggested that more than academic issues were at stake: the debate concerned the lived, permanently dialectical unity between God and humanity. In the mid-seventh century, imperially sponsored efforts to lessen the perceived impact of Chalcedonian language by stressing that Christ’s two natures were activated by “a single, theandric energy,” also remained without effect: largely because of the monk Maximus “the Confessor”, who argued that two complete spheres of activity and two wills remained evident in Christ’s life. Maximus’s position was ratified at the Lateran Synod and at the Third Council of Constantinople. The eighth-century Palestinian monk John of Damascus incorporated these arguments into his own influential synthesis of orthodox theology.Less
The Council of Chalcedon’s definition of the terms in which Nicene orthodoxy should conceive of Christ’s person remained controversial. Leontius of Byzantium argued for the correctness of the Council’s formulation, especially against the arguments of Severus of Antioch, but suggested that more than academic issues were at stake: the debate concerned the lived, permanently dialectical unity between God and humanity. In the mid-seventh century, imperially sponsored efforts to lessen the perceived impact of Chalcedonian language by stressing that Christ’s two natures were activated by “a single, theandric energy,” also remained without effect: largely because of the monk Maximus “the Confessor”, who argued that two complete spheres of activity and two wills remained evident in Christ’s life. Maximus’s position was ratified at the Lateran Synod and at the Third Council of Constantinople. The eighth-century Palestinian monk John of Damascus incorporated these arguments into his own influential synthesis of orthodox theology.
