Allen P., Neil B. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Maximus the Confessor

Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2015. — 624 p. — (Oxford Handbooks). — ISBN: 978-0-199-67383-4.Maximus the Confessor (c.580-662) has become one of the most discussed figures in contemporary patristic studies. This is partly due to the relatively recent discovery and critical edition of his works in various genres, including On the Ascetic Life, Four Centuries on Charity, Two Centuries on Theology and the Incarnation, On the 'Our Father', two separate Books of Difficulties, addressed to John and to Thomas, Questions and Doubts, Questions to Thalassius, Mystagogy and the Short Theological and Polemical Works. The impact of these works reached far beyond the Greek East, with his involvement in the western resistance to imperial heresy, notably at the Lateran Synod in 649. Together with Pope Martin I (649-53 CE), Maximus the Confessor and his circle were the most vocal opponents of Constantinople's introduction of the doctrine of monothelitism. This dispute over the number of wills in Christ became a contest between the imperial government and church of Constantinople on the one hand, and the bishop of Rome in concert with eastern monks such as Maximus, John Moschus, and Sophronius, on the other, over the right to define orthodoxy. An understanding of the difficult relations between church and state in this troubled period at the close of Late Antiquity is necessary for a full appreciation of Maximus' contribution to this controversy. The editors of this volume aim to provide the political and historical background to Maximus' activities, as well as a summary of his achievements in the spheres of theology and philosophy, especially neo-Platonism and AristotelianismPauline Allen is Director of the Centre for Early Christian Studies at Australian Catholic University, Brisbane.
Bronwen Neil is Assistant Director of the Centre for Early Christian Studies at Australian Catholic University (Brisbane).Life and times of Maximus the Confessor / Pauline Allen
A new date-list of the works of Maximus the Confessor / Marek Jankowiak and Phil Booth
Byzantium in the seventh century / Walter E. Kaegi
Maximus, a cautious neo-Chalcedonian / Cyril Hovorun
Classical philosophical influences: Aristotle and Platonism / Marius Portaru
The foundation of Origenist metaphysics / Pascal Mueller-Jourdan
The ascetic tradition / Marcus Plested
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor / Ysabel de Andia
Mindset ([gnómé]) in John Chrysostom / Raymond J. Laird
Augustine on the will / Johannes Börjesson
Divine providence and the gnomic will before Maximus / Bronwen Neil
Exegesis of scripture / Paul M. Blowers
Maximus the Confessor's use of literary genres / Peter van Deun
Passions, ascesis, and the virtues / Demetrios Bathrellos
Christocentric cosmology / Torstein T. Tollefsen
Eschatology in Maximus the Confessor / Andreas Andreopoulos
The mode of deification / Jean-Claude Larchet
Spiritual anthropology in Ambiguum 7 / Adam G. Cooper
Mapping reality within the experience of holiness / Doru Costache
Christian life and praxis: the Centuries on love / George C. Berthold
Liturgy as cosmic transformation / Thomas Cattoi
The Georgian tradition on Maximus the Confessor / Lela Khoperia
Maximus' heritage in Russia and Ukraine / Grigory Benevich
The impact of Maximus the Confessor on John Scottus Eriugena / Catherine Kavanagh
Maximus the Confessor's influence and reception in Byzantine and modern Orthodoxy / Andrew Louth
The theology of the will / Ian A. McFarland
Maximus and modern psychology / Michael Bakker
Maximus the Confessor and ecumenism / A. Edward Siecienski
Reception of Maximian thought in the modern era / Joshua Lollar