Maximus the Confessor as a European Philosopher: 25 (Veritas)

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The study of Maximus the Confessor's thought has flourished in recent years: international conferences, publications and articles, new critical editions and translations mark a torrent of interest in the work and influence of perhaps the most sublime of the Byzantine Church Fathers. It has been repeatedly stated that the Confessor's thought is of eminently philosophical interest. However, no dedicated collective scholarly engagement with Maximus the Confessor as a philosopher has taken place--and this volume attempts to start such a discussion. Apart from Maximus' relevance and importance for philosophy in general, a second question arises: should towering figures of Byzantine philosophy like Maximus the Confessor be included in an overview of the European history of philosophy, or rather excluded from it--as is the case today with most histories of European philosophy? Maximus' philosophy challenges our understanding of what European philosophy is. In this volume, we begin to address these issues and examine numerous aspects of Maximus' philosophy--thereby also stressing the interdisciplinary character of Maximian studies. Contents List of Contributors Editorial Note on Abbreviations List of Abbreviations Introduction PART I. FIRST PHILOSOPHY: ONTOLOGY/METAPHYSICS 1. “Eschatological Teleology,” “Free Dialectic,” “Metaphysics of the Resurrection”: The Three Antinomies That Make Maximus an Alter 2. A Metaphysics of Holomerism 3. Being Moved: St. Maximus between Anaxagoras and Kierkegaard 4. The System of Relations as a Pattern of Historicity in the Metaphysics of St. Maximos the Confessor 5. An Introduction to Aristotle’s Theory of Motion as a Precursor to Maximus’ Understanding of Motion 6. Maximus’ Theory of Motion: Motion κατὰ φύσιν, Returning Motion, Motion παρὰ φύσιν PART II. EPISTEMOLOGY: KNOWLEDGE, APOPHATICISM, AND LANGUAGE 7. “A Greater and More Hidden Word”: Maximos the Confessor and the Nature of Language 8. Both Mere Man and Naked God: The Incarnational Logic of Apophasis in St. Maximus the Confessor 9. Roots of Scientific Objectivity in the Quaestiones ad Thalassium 10. The Theo-Phenomenology of Negation in Maximus the Confessor between Negative Theology and Apophaticism PART III. ANTHROPOLOGY: HUMAN NATURE, ETHICS, AND THE WILL 11. St. Maximos’ Distinction between λόγος and τρόπος and the Ontology of the Person 12. The Conceptual Apparatus of Maximus the Confessor and Contemporary Anthropology 13. The Face of the Soul, the Face of God: Maximus the Confessor and πρόσωπον 14. The Philosophical Basis of Maximus’ Concept of Sexes: The Reasons and Purposes of the Distinction between Man and Woman 15. Analogical Ecstasis: Maximus the Confessor, Plotinus, Heidegger, and Lacan PART IV. MAXIMUS IN DIALOGUE: FROM ANTIQUITY TO CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT 16. Man as Co-creator: Reflections on the Theological Insights of St. Maximus the Confessor within a Contemporary Interdisciplinary 17. Αὐτεξούσιος Activity as Assent or Co-actuality? Compatibilism, Natural Law, and the Maximian Synthesis 18. Creation Anticipated: Maximian Reverberations in Bonaventure’s Exemplarism 19. The Oneness of God as Unity of Persons in the Thought of St. Maximus the Confessor 20. Seeking Maximus the Confessor’s Philosophical Sources: Maximus the Confessor and Al-Farabi on Representation and Imagination Appendix: Philosophy and Theology—the Byzantine Model Index