The Oxford Handbook of Maximus the Confessor
Edited by Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil
Oxford University Press, 2015.
The Oxford Handbook of Maximus the Confessor is the most recent in the Oxford Handbooks series, and as usual, provides readers with original essays on the latest research by experts in the field--in this case, Maximus the Confessor.
This volume, edited by Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil (both serving at the Centre for Early Christian Studies - ACU, Brisbane), features 29 contributors, including a few of my favourite Maximus scholars (Louth, Hovorun and Andreopoulos, to name a few). These volumes can be pricey ($150 US) but in this particular case, lovers of Maximus will be loathe to return it to the library reference shelf.
The book is divided into four parts:
I. HISTORICAL SETTING
This part includes four essays, setting Maximus in his historical (political and theological) context. Chapter 2 stands out with a brand new date-list so that readers can scan a thoroughly annotated bibliography of Maximus works in chronological order. Chapter four, written by Archimandrite Cyril, was especially precise in describing Maximus' 'cautious Neo-Chalcedonian' position among the Fathers.
II. THEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL INFLUENCES
Seven chapters unpacked the theological/philosophical backstory to Maximus, ranging from the Greek philosophies of Plato/Aristotle to Origen, Pseudo-Dionysius, John Chrysostom and even Augustine. Patristics scholars and faculty members are likely to find this section both verifies and falsifies some of what we've suspected and even taught on Maximus in our courses. I'm glad for such a serious upgrade to my own education, especially as I believe Maximus work on the natural and the gnomic will (including his own commentary on Nazianzus) hold keys that Western theology has completely overlooked. We need Maximus to walk us through the Garden of Gethsemane and show us its crucial importance in the drama of redemption. These essays 'go there.'
III. WORKS AND THOUGHT
Among these ten chapters, those which have struck me thus far include studies on his "Exegesis of Scripture" (Paul Blowers), "Christocentric Cosmology" (T.T. Tollefsen), "Eschatology in Maximus the Confesso," (Andreas Andreopoulos), "The Mode of Deification" (J-C Larchet), "Spiritual Anthropology in Ambiguum 7" (Adam Cooper), and Thomas Cattoi's "Liturgy as Cosmic Transformation." The chapter on eschatology is an excellent sample of how this text moves discussions forward, because it lays out convincingly Maximus' understanding of apokatastasis and the limits thereof, even after the healing of the will. I sincerely wanted to know how he conceived a 'freed will' while avoiding universalism determinism. The chapter seems to have laid that to rest for me, but I'll leave readers to discover why.
IV. RECEPTION
I have not yet read all these chapters (it's a 600 page reference book!), but the final eight essays explore Maximus' impact on those movements, regions and individuals who followed him, from Byzantium and Russia to Modern Psychology and Ecumenism. From my first browse of the handbook, I searched out what Fr. Andrew Louth would say, and he looks at the Confessor's influence in Byzantine and Modern Orthodoxy. The book is rounded out by Joshua Lollar's "Reception of Maximian Thought in the Modern Era," which brings me to my final points of reflection.
REFLECTION
I've become increasingly convinced the postmodern believers in a post-Christian world require some serious theological patrons in whom we can anchor our faith. For my money, neither Augustine nor the great Reformers are suitable to the task. Among those to whom we might look, Maximus is one who rises to the top, especially in this era where the gnomic will has actually been elevated supreme in the toxic voluntarism of Calvin's image of God as pure will and the secularized politics of the 'triumph of the will' under the euphemism 'freedom.' Such conceptions of God and configurations of society have us swirling in culture wars of the left-right spectrum (the whole spectrum owned by the one delusion) and the clash of civilizations that baptize it in their religions. If we're to find a mentor in Maximus, this Handbook serves as a solid commentary on the primary sources.
Ya, Wednesday night bible study must have made ppl tear their hair out
Tollefson , Bradshaw and Bathrellos illume him well on YouTube
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2JknJ_Hpvak
Posted by: Jeff | December 18, 2015 at 05:04 PM