Review in Vigiliae Christianae: Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil, The Oxford Handbook of Maximus the Confessor (original) (raw)
Related papers
Maximus the Confessor's Ambiguum 7 has long been considered the anchor of a substantial refutation of Origenist cosmology and teleology, with Maximus still seeking to rehabilitate the ascetical "gospel" of Origen. Yet in commenting on Gregory Nazianzen's Oration 14 in Ambiguum 7, Maximus acknowledges that Gregory is dealing less with the scheme of human origins per se than with the miseries attending life in the body, which opens up the whole question of how embodied, passible human existence is the frontier of human salvation and deification. I argue that for Maximus human desire in all its cosmological and psychosomatic complexity-both as a register of creaturely passibility and affectivity, and as integral to the definition of human volition and freedom-is central to the subtle dialectic of activity and passivity in the creaturely transitus to deification. The morally malleable character of desire and the passions, and their ambiguous but ultimately purposive status within the economy of human transformation, decisively manifest the divine resourcefulness in fulfilling the mystery of deification-especially in view of Christ's use of human passibility in inaugurating the new eschatological "mode" (tropos) of human nature. In his engagement of Gregory of Nyssa, in particular, Maximus develops a sophisticated dialectics and therapeutics of desire that integrates important perspectives of the Confessor's anthropology, christology, eschatology, and asceticism.
Union and Distinction in the Thought of St. Maximus the Confessor. By MELCHISEDEC TÖRÖNEN
The Journal of Theological Studies , 2008
REVIEWS examination of the eucharist piece by piece, enabling the scholar to examine the similarities and differences between different sources. Considerable attention is given to Roman and eastern influences: the widespread borrowing across the Mediterranean and beyond is ample testimony to Christian travel and curiosity. Smyth is less convincing when he tries to establish the ancient roots of this liturgical family. As he shows, some of the material may indeed pre-date Nicene Christianity, even in the eucharistie prayers, which are, in virtually all the manuscripts, structured around the comparatively late Sanctus and institution narrative. However, links to remarks in Cyprian are tinged with optimism, to say nothing about the claims of continuity with Justin or even the Didache. But Smyth has ably demonstrated the rich seam of evidence for the liturgy of Gaul and Spain, of considerable importance in itself and also for understanding the Roman rite which somehow is taken for granted as the standard western rite but in other ways could be seen as a hybrid between eastern and Gallican traditions.
The Priesthood in Maximus the Confessor
Studia Patristica 75, 2017
Based on some of Maximus’ writings this article describes how the Confessor understood the ministerial priesthood of the New Testament: its differences with the pagan and the old testament priesthood; its being based on the mistery of Christ through the imprinting of God’s seal into the soul of the priest; its task of gathering together the God’s people, attracting this people to its own virtue. These teachings of the Byzantine monk are considered from the perspective of the relationship between Christian sacramental rites and spiritual struggle and progress, in order to underline how both dimensions converge.
Theologische Review, 2023
Luke Steven's recent monograph Imitation, Knowledge, and the Task of Christology in Maximus the Confessor is a revised doctoral diss. supervised by Sarah Coakley at the Uni of Cambridge. The author develops a certain 'likeness epistemology', arguing that for Maximus the Confessor the knowledge of God is the result of the achieved likeness of God. S. promises to offer a new route in approaching Maximus' Christology, which is focused on Maximus' notion of imitation and restricted to the rhetorical tools, which Maximus employs in his letters. In the first chap., S. demonstrates that the knowing-by-likeness methodology is not Maximus' invention, but it is deeply rooted in previous pagan Greek, and also Christian tradition. S. skilfully presents how authors such as, Clement and Alexandria, Origen, Athanasius of Alexandria and the Cappadocian fathers successfully combined ancient like-by-like optical theory, mediated through Aristotle, with enigmatic or allegorical exegesis. In the second chap., the author argues that Maximus adopted this method from Gregory Nazianzen, to whom he dedicated most of his Difficulties. However, according to S., Maximus went a step further than Gregory developing his 'likeness epistemology' in three main directions, namely 'knowing by love', 'knowing by virtue' and 'unknowing by likeness'. Thus, a human being knows God through love and virtue, because God is the love and virtue per se, but also by human desire for God that captures something of the divine transcended reality. The third chap. is dedicated to the theme of deification as process of attaining the likeness with God. practice of Christology in his letters. The fourth chap. is focused on the topic of praise and persuasion as rhetorical devices employed by Maximus in his letters. S. analyses two letters of Maximus, the 2 nd letter on love to John the Cubicularius and the 2nd letter to Thomas.