Andrew Louth - Syriac Christian Church
Andrew Louth - Syriac Christian Church Andrew Louth - Syriac Christian Church
CONTENTS Preface vi Abbreviations viii 1 Introduction LIFE AND TIMES 3 2 THE SOURCES OF MAXIMUS’ THEOLOGY 19 3 MAXIMUS’ SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY 33 4 THE DOCTRINE OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST 47 5 COSMIC THEOLOGY 61 Texts GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE TEXTS 77 LETTER 2: ON LOVE 81 DIFFICULTY 10 91 DIFFICULTY 41 153 DIFFICULTY 71 161 DIFFICULTY 1 167 DIFFICULTY 5 169 OPUSCULE 7 179 OPUSCULE 3 191 Notes 197 Bibliography 219 Index 227
PREFACE This volume is intended to provide an introduction to the theological thinking of Saint Maximus the Confessor. I stress ‘thinking’, rather than just ‘thought’, as there is already a host of introductions to his thought. Maximus himself provided such introductions—notably his Centuries on Love and his Centuries on Theology and the Incarnate Dispensation of the Son of God. In these works Maximus presents his thoughts in pithy form as a series of propositions, or at best brief paragraphs. They have been very popular, and both of them are available in two different English translations. More recently others have provided introductions to Maximus’ thought, or aspects of it: most famously and influentially, the great Swiss Catholic theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar (Balthasar 1961, originally published in 1941). There is even an introduction to other people’s thinking about Maximus (Nichols 1993). But what has been lacking so far has been an introduction to Maximus’ thinking: and it is my hope that this book will help fill that gap. If it does, it will do that by providing, for the first time in English (or in many cases for any Western language save Latin and Romanian), translations of some of Maximus’ major theological treatises, drawn especially from his two collections of Ambigua, or Difficulties, in which Maximus does not simply present his conclusions, but displays a theological mind, drawing on Scripture and all that is meant in Orthodox Christianity by Tradition—the Fathers, the Councils, spiritual experience—and bringing this to bear on our understanding of God’s engagement with humankind, an engagement summed up in his assuming humanity itself in the Incarnation and overcoming the brokenness of fallen humankind in his death and resurrection. But the contrast between Maximus in his major treatises and in his condensed summaries is not at all that between ‘theology’ and ‘spirituality’ (despite the fact that the condensed summaries found a place in that great compendium of Orthodox spirituality, the Philokalia of St Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St Makarios of Corinth), for, as we shall see, even in
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CONTENTS<br />
Preface vi<br />
Abbreviations viii<br />
1<br />
Introduction<br />
LIFE AND TIMES 3<br />
2 THE SOURCES OF MAXIMUS’ THEOLOGY 19<br />
3 MAXIMUS’ SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY 33<br />
4 THE DOCTRINE OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST 47<br />
5 COSMIC THEOLOGY 61<br />
Texts<br />
GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE TEXTS 77<br />
LETTER 2: ON LOVE 81<br />
DIFFICULTY 10 91<br />
DIFFICULTY 41 153<br />
DIFFICULTY 71 161<br />
DIFFICULTY 1 167<br />
DIFFICULTY 5 169<br />
OPUSCULE 7 179<br />
OPUSCULE 3 191<br />
Notes 197<br />
Bibliography 219<br />
Index 227
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