Human Knowledge According to Saint Maximus the Confessor

Human Knowledge According to Saint Maximus the Confessor PDF

Author: Nevena Dimitrova

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2016-10-12

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1532608500

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This book is dedicated to the synergic process of divine-human communion in the humanly possible knowledge of God, according to Saint Maximus the Confessor. These various types of knowledge play an important, but as yet unexplored role in Maximus the Confessor's teaching on God, which in many respects appears to be a synthesis and culmination of the Greek patristic tradition and the antecedent of ancient pre-Christian and Christian philosophy. Focus on this problem brings forth the major issues of Maximus' psychology: the "soul-body" relationship and a detailed examination of the cognitive capacities of the soul, including the perception of the senses, rational activity, and operations of the mind. The indivisibility of the gnoseological issues from medieval man is traced in an examination of the cognitive levels within the trichotomic structure of practical philosophy, natural contemplation, and theology. The two methods--both affirmative (cataphatic) and negative (apophatic)--demonstrate the two rational discourses in human knowledge of God. Special attention is given to the understanding of hexis (ἕξις) and gnomi (γνώμη) concepts and their crucial place in the cognitive structure, leading to knowledge of God as Goodness and of God as Truth.

Human Knowledge According to Saint Maximus the Confessor

Human Knowledge According to Saint Maximus the Confessor PDF

Author: Nevena Dimitrova

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2016-10-12

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1625645740

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book is dedicated to the synergic process of divine-human communion in the humanly possible knowledge of God, according to Saint Maximus the Confessor. These various types of knowledge play an important, but as yet unexplored role in Maximus the Confessor's teaching on God, which in many respects appears to be a synthesis and culmination of the Greek patristic tradition and the antecedent of ancient pre-Christian and Christian philosophy. Focus on this problem brings forth the major issues of Maximus' psychology: the "soul-body" relationship and a detailed examination of the cognitive capacities of the soul, including the perception of the senses, rational activity, and operations of the mind. The indivisibility of the gnoseological issues from medieval man is traced in an examination of the cognitive levels within the trichotomic structure of practical philosophy, natural contemplation, and theology. The two methods--both affirmative (cataphatic) and negative (apophatic)--demonstrate the two rational discourses in human knowledge of God. Special attention is given to the understanding of hexis (ἕξις) and gnomi (γνώμη) concepts and their crucial place in the cognitive structure, leading to knowledge of God as Goodness and of God as Truth.

St. Maximus the Confessor's "Questions and Doubts"

St. Maximus the Confessor's

Author: Saint Maximus the Confessor

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2021-08-15

Total Pages: 175

ISBN-13: 150175534X

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Despina D. Prassas's translation of the Quaestiones et Dubia presents for the first time in English one of the Confessor's most significant contributions to early Christian biblical interpretation. Maximus the Confessor (580–662) was a monk whose writings focused on ascetical interpretations of biblical and patristic works. For his refusal to accept the Monothelite position supported by Emperor Constans II, he was tried as a heretic, his right hand was cut off, and his tongue was cut out. In his work, Maximus the Confessor brings together the patristic exegetical aporiai tradition and the spiritual-pedagogical tradition of monastic questions and responses. The overarching theme is the importance of the ascetical life. For Maximus, askesis is a lifelong endeavor that consists of the struggle and discipline to maintain control over the passions. One engages in the ascetical life by taking part in both theoria (contemplation) and praxis (action). To convey this teaching, Maximus uses a number of pedagogical tools including allegory, etymology, number symbolism, and military terminology. Prassas provides a rich historical and contextual background in her introduction to help ground and familiarize the reader with this work.

The Doors of the Sea

The Doors of the Sea PDF

Author: David Bentley Hart

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2011-03-15

Total Pages: 120

ISBN-13: 0802866867

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As news reports of the horrific December 2004 tsunami in Asia reached the rest of the world, commentators were quick to seize upon the disaster as proof of either God s power or God s nonexistence, asking over and over, How could a good and loving God if such exists allow such suffering? In The Doors of the Sea David Bentley Hart speaks at once to those skeptical of Christian faith and to those who use their Christian faith to rationalize senseless human suffering. He calls both to recognize in the worst catastrophes not the providential will of God but rather the ongoing struggle between the rebellious powers that enslave the world and the God who loves it wholly.

Union and Distinction in the Thought of St Maximus the Confessor

Union and Distinction in the Thought of St Maximus the Confessor PDF

Author: Melchisedec Törönen

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2007-01-11

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0191537853

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Union and Distinction in the Thought of St Maximus the Confessor presents the writings of a key figure in Byzantine theology in the light of the themes of unity and diversity. The principle of simultaneous union and distinction forms the core of Maximus' thought, pervading every area of his theology. It can be summarized as: Things united remain distinct and without confusion in an inseparable union. As Melchisedec Törönen shows, this master theme also resonates in contemporary theological and philosophical discussions.

Maximus the Confessor

Maximus the Confessor PDF

Author: Andrew Louth

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2005-08-18

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 1134814909

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St Maximus the Confessor, the greatest of Byzantine theologians, lived through the most catastrophic period the Byzantine Empire was to experience before the Crusades. This book introduces the reader to the times and upheavals during which Maximus lived. It discusses his cosmic vision of humanity and the role of the church. The study makes available a selection of Maximus' theological treaties many of them translated for the first time. The translations are accompanied by a lucid and informed introduction.

Maximus Confessor

Maximus Confessor PDF

Author: Saint Maximus (Confessor)

Publisher: Paulist Press

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780809126590

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This volume includes a translation of four spiritual treatises of Maximus the Confessor (c. 580-662), plus an account of his trial. Included are The Four Hundred Chapters of Love, Commentary on the Lord's Prayer, Chapters on Knowledge, The Church's Mystagogy, and Trial of Maximus.

The Christocentric Cosmology of St Maximus the Confessor

The Christocentric Cosmology of St Maximus the Confessor PDF

Author: Torstein Tollefsen

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2008-08-07

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 0191608068

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St. Maximus the Confessor (580-662), was a major Byzantine thinker, a theologian and philosopher. He developed a philosophical theology in which the doctrine of God, creation, the cosmic order, and salvation is integrated in a unified conception of reality. Christ, the divine Logos, is the centre of the principles (the logoi ) according to which the cosmos is created, and in accordance with which it shall convert to its divine source. Torstein Tollefsen treats Maximus' thought from a philosophical point of view, and discusses similar thought patterns in pagan Neoplatonism. The study focuses on Maximus' doctrine of creation, in which he denies the possibility of eternal coexistence of uncreated divinity and created and limited being. Tollefsen shows that by the logoi God institutes an ordered cosmos in which separate entities of different species are ontologically interrelated, with man as the centre of the created world. The book also investigates Maximus' teaching of God's activities or energies, and shows how participation in these energies is conceived according to the divine principles of the logoi. An extensive discussion of the complex topic of participation is provided.

On the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ

On the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ PDF

Author: Saint Maximus (Confessor)

Publisher: RSM Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9780881412499

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This volume provides translations from St. Maximus' two main collections of theological reflections - his Ambigua (or Difficulties) and his Questions to Thalassius - plus one of his Christological opuscula, previously unavailable in English. The translations are accompanied by notes. --from back cover.