Gregory Palamas and the Making of Palamism in the Modern Age, 2019
The nature of divine–human communion was the central issue in the hesychast controversy. This rai... more The nature of divine–human communion was the central issue in the hesychast controversy. This raises the question of the nature of divine grace. Basing his discussion on Dionysius the Areopagite, Palamas argues that grace is both the giver and the gift, both essence and energy, for Scripture (Joel 3:1, LXX) says that God will pour out from his Spirit, making a distinction between the pourer and the poured. Palamas’ discussions of how grace is appropriated focus on the vision of light, the meaning of enhypostatic existence, and the nature of symbols. He argues that if grace is merely created, as Akindynos maintained, we could have no communion with God, because we would have nothing bridging the ontological divide between the Creator and the creature.
International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 2021
The ecclesial communities that separated themselves from the Orthodox Church of the Roman Empire ... more The ecclesial communities that separated themselves from the Orthodox Church of the Roman Empire in the aftermath of the Fourth Ecumenical Council (the Council of Chalcedon of 451) are known today as the Oriental Orthodox or Non-Chalcedonian Churches. They comprise the Coptic Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Apostolic Armenian, and Tewahedo Ethiopian Churches. Attempts to reunite them to the imperial Church were abandoned in the mid-sixth century and were only resumed unofficially in 1964 and then officially in 1985. The Official Consultation was suspended in 1994 after a strong protest from the Holy Community of Mount Athos concerning the theological implications of the Agreed Statements and has only recently been resumed. The issues discussed in the two books under review include the compatibility of different understandings of the key terms of Christology, the role of contextual theology, and the non-negotiability of the status of ecumenical councils. Both books make important contribu...
Gregory Palamas and the Making of Palamism in the Modern Age, 2019
Akindynos’ negative assessment of Palamas’ character has been influential, particularly through i... more Akindynos’ negative assessment of Palamas’ character has been influential, particularly through its strong endorsement by Juan Nadal. Palamas knew how to use social networks and construct arguments to demolish his opponents. In assessing his character, however, the rhetorical conventions of dialectics need to be taken into account. Philosophically Palamas is important for his understanding of participation, his modification of certain Aristotelian categories, and his use of enhypostasia to posit activities or energies of the divine essence that are real, not notional, but have no independent existence apart from the essence. Theologically he maintains that deification is not the perfection of rational nature but the transformation of the believer, who becomes ‘uncreated by grace’ by partaking of the divine mode of existence. The greatest obstacle to the reception of Palamas is perhaps that by his essence–energies distinction he attempts to solve a problem that Western theologians do...
Gregory Palamas and the Making of Palamism in the Modern Age, 2019
This chapter considers the treatment of Palamas in recent debates. A major obstacle to his recept... more This chapter considers the treatment of Palamas in recent debates. A major obstacle to his reception is the polemical use made of him by Palamites and anti-Palamites. The methodologies adopted by modern scholars include the expository, the problematic, the antithetical, and the comparative. The problematic method has been the most fruitful, as used by Torstein Tollefsen (who presents the energeiai as the pluralization of the divine unity), Manuel Sumares (who discusses the capacity of creatures to receive divinity), Stelios Ramfos (who highlights the importance of notion of enhypostasia), and Christos Yannaras (who argues that essence and energy are both modes of existence). Recent colloquia have shown the difficulty of demonstrating compatibility between Palamas and the Western intellectual tradition, but Nikolaos Loudovikos argues ably for ‘contiguity’ between Aquinas and Palamas.
The Christian ascetics who went out into the Egyptian desert in the fourth and fifth centuries ha... more The Christian ascetics who went out into the Egyptian desert in the fourth and fifth centuries have been the subject of a number of valuable works in recent years. These range from learned monographs to personal reflection on the spiritual significance of their lives and sayings. David Keller’s book adopts a fresh approach. Arising from the practical experience of a group of people who met regularly for six months in 2003 to study the desert elders, it seeks to interpret their wisdom in the context of our modern daily lives. The book’s chapters have grown out of the author’s presentations at those meetings. The first three contain some useful discussions of the world of the desert elders, setting it in its historical context. But the book is not simply an exercise in historical theology. It is about our struggle as human beings to find and live authentic lives. To achieve this requires solitude as well as community. We need the support of others, but we also need to withdraw to a life of inner transformation, to let go of the ‘false self’ that locks us into an isolated and sterile individualism. In setting out this programme the author has found much inspiration in the works of Eastern Orthodox writers, particularly Stelios Ramfos, whose powerful study, Like a Pelican in the Wilderness, was published by Holy Cross Orthodox Press in 2000. From Ramfos’s book he takes the themes and headings of many of his chapters – the cell, patience, praxis, labour, silence and humility – exploring with the help of his insights the different facets of the inward journey. This journey confronts us with two kinds of desert. There is the empty wasteland we create for ourselves by our egoism and insensitivity. There is also an inner stillness, an oasis, awaiting our discovery where we can encounter God and ourselves. Keller acknowledges the obstacles to a modern spirituality but invites us to overcome them and make the journey into our own hearts. He is to be congratulated on opening up a world often seen as accessible only to monastics and professional theologians. This is a rewarding book on which to meditate and ponder.
Thomas O'Loughlin is a scholar who is well aware of these pitfalls; and his book can be broad... more Thomas O'Loughlin is a scholar who is well aware of these pitfalls; and his book can be broadly recommended as a clear and sensible introduction to the subject. He is particularly good on what is perhaps the one area in which early Irish Christianity did have something original to contribute: the development of a nuanced theology of penance and post-baptismal sin. Yet even he presses the evidence beyond what it can reasonably be held to support. Thus, citing an extract from an early Irish missal he argues that it will have 'formed the spirituality' of the communities whose priests made use of it (p. 71). But does he really believe that a missal has so great an influence? And what evidence is there for so widespread a claim? Similarly he detects a corporate social concern for the poor in an early Irish sermon which he helpfully translates: no such concern is evident to this reviewer (see p. 124). And to suggest that the phrase 'the kingdom of this world is like a shadow on the water' (from another early Irish sermon) reveals 'a sacramental view of [the] cosmos' pp. 126-7) is surely nonsense: it simply reveals, as the context makes clear, a firmly depreciatory view of this world by contrast with the next.
Abbreviations Part 1 Introduction Early life The Church of Alexandria in 385 Expansion of the Chu... more Abbreviations Part 1 Introduction Early life The Church of Alexandria in 385 Expansion of the Church in Egypt The Destruction of the Serapeum The 'Christianization of space' Relations with other Churches The Melitian Schism The Bostra Dispute Mediation in Palestine The Election and Consecration of John Chrysostom The Origenist Controversy The Synod of The Oak Last Years Theophilus as a Theologian Theophilus' Legacy Part II Texts General Introduction to the Texts The Earlier Festal Letters Homilies Introduction Homily on the Mystical Supper Sermon on Death and Judgement Sermon on Providence Sermon on the Woman Suffering from a Flow of Blood Sermon on the text 'Jesus went about all Galilee' Homily on the Crucifixion and the Good Thief Homily on Repentance and Self-control Ecclesiastical legislation Introduction Letter to the Emperor Theodosius Prologue to the Easter Table Announcement on the holy Theophany falling on a Sunday Memorandum to Ammon regarding Lycopolis Ruling on 'the Pure' To Bishop Agathon To Bishop Menas The Origenist Controversy Introduction First Synodal Letter Second Synodal Letter to the Bishops of Palestine and Cyprus Letters to the Origenist monks Sixteenth Festal Letter (401) Seventeenth Festal Letter (402) Letter written at Constantinople Nineteenth Festal Letter (404) Tractate on Isaiah 6: 1-7 Notes Bibliography Texts and Translations Secondary Works Index
Gregory Palamas and the Making of Palamism in the Modern Age
This chapter examines the new directions taken since Meyendorff’s work in four fields: the editio... more This chapter examines the new directions taken since Meyendorff’s work in four fields: the edition of texts, historical research, philosophical investigation, and theological analysis. Ettore Perrella has made Palamas’ texts more widely available. Antonio Rigo and Ioannis Polemis have made fundamental contributions to our historical understanding. Much work has been done by scholars such as Demetracopoulos, Erismann, and Tollefsen on the philosophical structures of Palamas’ thinking. Our understanding of his theological perspective has been deepened by the work of, among others, Radović, Lison, and Yangazoglou. It is argued that a more nuanced Palamas has emerged from these studies, which has enabled us to understand better the context in which Palamas conducted his debates and the nature of the challenges facing him.
Gregory Palamas and the Making of Palamism in the Modern Age, 2019
The nature of divine–human communion was the central issue in the hesychast controversy. This rai... more The nature of divine–human communion was the central issue in the hesychast controversy. This raises the question of the nature of divine grace. Basing his discussion on Dionysius the Areopagite, Palamas argues that grace is both the giver and the gift, both essence and energy, for Scripture (Joel 3:1, LXX) says that God will pour out from his Spirit, making a distinction between the pourer and the poured. Palamas’ discussions of how grace is appropriated focus on the vision of light, the meaning of enhypostatic existence, and the nature of symbols. He argues that if grace is merely created, as Akindynos maintained, we could have no communion with God, because we would have nothing bridging the ontological divide between the Creator and the creature.
International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 2021
The ecclesial communities that separated themselves from the Orthodox Church of the Roman Empire ... more The ecclesial communities that separated themselves from the Orthodox Church of the Roman Empire in the aftermath of the Fourth Ecumenical Council (the Council of Chalcedon of 451) are known today as the Oriental Orthodox or Non-Chalcedonian Churches. They comprise the Coptic Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Apostolic Armenian, and Tewahedo Ethiopian Churches. Attempts to reunite them to the imperial Church were abandoned in the mid-sixth century and were only resumed unofficially in 1964 and then officially in 1985. The Official Consultation was suspended in 1994 after a strong protest from the Holy Community of Mount Athos concerning the theological implications of the Agreed Statements and has only recently been resumed. The issues discussed in the two books under review include the compatibility of different understandings of the key terms of Christology, the role of contextual theology, and the non-negotiability of the status of ecumenical councils. Both books make important contribu...
Gregory Palamas and the Making of Palamism in the Modern Age, 2019
Akindynos’ negative assessment of Palamas’ character has been influential, particularly through i... more Akindynos’ negative assessment of Palamas’ character has been influential, particularly through its strong endorsement by Juan Nadal. Palamas knew how to use social networks and construct arguments to demolish his opponents. In assessing his character, however, the rhetorical conventions of dialectics need to be taken into account. Philosophically Palamas is important for his understanding of participation, his modification of certain Aristotelian categories, and his use of enhypostasia to posit activities or energies of the divine essence that are real, not notional, but have no independent existence apart from the essence. Theologically he maintains that deification is not the perfection of rational nature but the transformation of the believer, who becomes ‘uncreated by grace’ by partaking of the divine mode of existence. The greatest obstacle to the reception of Palamas is perhaps that by his essence–energies distinction he attempts to solve a problem that Western theologians do...
Gregory Palamas and the Making of Palamism in the Modern Age, 2019
This chapter considers the treatment of Palamas in recent debates. A major obstacle to his recept... more This chapter considers the treatment of Palamas in recent debates. A major obstacle to his reception is the polemical use made of him by Palamites and anti-Palamites. The methodologies adopted by modern scholars include the expository, the problematic, the antithetical, and the comparative. The problematic method has been the most fruitful, as used by Torstein Tollefsen (who presents the energeiai as the pluralization of the divine unity), Manuel Sumares (who discusses the capacity of creatures to receive divinity), Stelios Ramfos (who highlights the importance of notion of enhypostasia), and Christos Yannaras (who argues that essence and energy are both modes of existence). Recent colloquia have shown the difficulty of demonstrating compatibility between Palamas and the Western intellectual tradition, but Nikolaos Loudovikos argues ably for ‘contiguity’ between Aquinas and Palamas.
The Christian ascetics who went out into the Egyptian desert in the fourth and fifth centuries ha... more The Christian ascetics who went out into the Egyptian desert in the fourth and fifth centuries have been the subject of a number of valuable works in recent years. These range from learned monographs to personal reflection on the spiritual significance of their lives and sayings. David Keller’s book adopts a fresh approach. Arising from the practical experience of a group of people who met regularly for six months in 2003 to study the desert elders, it seeks to interpret their wisdom in the context of our modern daily lives. The book’s chapters have grown out of the author’s presentations at those meetings. The first three contain some useful discussions of the world of the desert elders, setting it in its historical context. But the book is not simply an exercise in historical theology. It is about our struggle as human beings to find and live authentic lives. To achieve this requires solitude as well as community. We need the support of others, but we also need to withdraw to a life of inner transformation, to let go of the ‘false self’ that locks us into an isolated and sterile individualism. In setting out this programme the author has found much inspiration in the works of Eastern Orthodox writers, particularly Stelios Ramfos, whose powerful study, Like a Pelican in the Wilderness, was published by Holy Cross Orthodox Press in 2000. From Ramfos’s book he takes the themes and headings of many of his chapters – the cell, patience, praxis, labour, silence and humility – exploring with the help of his insights the different facets of the inward journey. This journey confronts us with two kinds of desert. There is the empty wasteland we create for ourselves by our egoism and insensitivity. There is also an inner stillness, an oasis, awaiting our discovery where we can encounter God and ourselves. Keller acknowledges the obstacles to a modern spirituality but invites us to overcome them and make the journey into our own hearts. He is to be congratulated on opening up a world often seen as accessible only to monastics and professional theologians. This is a rewarding book on which to meditate and ponder.
Thomas O'Loughlin is a scholar who is well aware of these pitfalls; and his book can be broad... more Thomas O'Loughlin is a scholar who is well aware of these pitfalls; and his book can be broadly recommended as a clear and sensible introduction to the subject. He is particularly good on what is perhaps the one area in which early Irish Christianity did have something original to contribute: the development of a nuanced theology of penance and post-baptismal sin. Yet even he presses the evidence beyond what it can reasonably be held to support. Thus, citing an extract from an early Irish missal he argues that it will have 'formed the spirituality' of the communities whose priests made use of it (p. 71). But does he really believe that a missal has so great an influence? And what evidence is there for so widespread a claim? Similarly he detects a corporate social concern for the poor in an early Irish sermon which he helpfully translates: no such concern is evident to this reviewer (see p. 124). And to suggest that the phrase 'the kingdom of this world is like a shadow on the water' (from another early Irish sermon) reveals 'a sacramental view of [the] cosmos' pp. 126-7) is surely nonsense: it simply reveals, as the context makes clear, a firmly depreciatory view of this world by contrast with the next.
Abbreviations Part 1 Introduction Early life The Church of Alexandria in 385 Expansion of the Chu... more Abbreviations Part 1 Introduction Early life The Church of Alexandria in 385 Expansion of the Church in Egypt The Destruction of the Serapeum The 'Christianization of space' Relations with other Churches The Melitian Schism The Bostra Dispute Mediation in Palestine The Election and Consecration of John Chrysostom The Origenist Controversy The Synod of The Oak Last Years Theophilus as a Theologian Theophilus' Legacy Part II Texts General Introduction to the Texts The Earlier Festal Letters Homilies Introduction Homily on the Mystical Supper Sermon on Death and Judgement Sermon on Providence Sermon on the Woman Suffering from a Flow of Blood Sermon on the text 'Jesus went about all Galilee' Homily on the Crucifixion and the Good Thief Homily on Repentance and Self-control Ecclesiastical legislation Introduction Letter to the Emperor Theodosius Prologue to the Easter Table Announcement on the holy Theophany falling on a Sunday Memorandum to Ammon regarding Lycopolis Ruling on 'the Pure' To Bishop Agathon To Bishop Menas The Origenist Controversy Introduction First Synodal Letter Second Synodal Letter to the Bishops of Palestine and Cyprus Letters to the Origenist monks Sixteenth Festal Letter (401) Seventeenth Festal Letter (402) Letter written at Constantinople Nineteenth Festal Letter (404) Tractate on Isaiah 6: 1-7 Notes Bibliography Texts and Translations Secondary Works Index
Gregory Palamas and the Making of Palamism in the Modern Age
This chapter examines the new directions taken since Meyendorff’s work in four fields: the editio... more This chapter examines the new directions taken since Meyendorff’s work in four fields: the edition of texts, historical research, philosophical investigation, and theological analysis. Ettore Perrella has made Palamas’ texts more widely available. Antonio Rigo and Ioannis Polemis have made fundamental contributions to our historical understanding. Much work has been done by scholars such as Demetracopoulos, Erismann, and Tollefsen on the philosophical structures of Palamas’ thinking. Our understanding of his theological perspective has been deepened by the work of, among others, Radović, Lison, and Yangazoglou. It is argued that a more nuanced Palamas has emerged from these studies, which has enabled us to understand better the context in which Palamas conducted his debates and the nature of the challenges facing him.
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