Найти книгу: "Confessor"

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 (????) and gnomi (?????) concepts and their crucial place in the cognitive structure, leading to knowledge of God as Goodness and of God as Truth.

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.