Activity and participation in late antique and early Christian thought PDF
Preview Activity and participation in late antique and early Christian thought
OXFORD EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES General Editors Gillian Clark Andrew Louth THE OXFORD EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES series includes scholarly volumes on the thought and history of the early Christian centuries. Covering a wide range of Greek, Latin, and Oriental sources, the books are of interest to theologians, ancient historians, and specialists in the classical and Jewish worlds. Titles in the series include: Possidius of Calama A Study of the North African Episcopate in the Age of Augustine Erica T. Hermanowicz (2008) Justinian and the Making of the Syrian Orthodox Church Volker L. Menze (2008) The Christocentric Cosmology of St Maximus the Confessor Torstein Theodor Tollefsen (2008) Augustine’s Text of John Patristic Citations and Latin Gospel Manuscripts H. A. G. Houghton (2008) Hilary of Poitiers on the Trinity From De Fide to De Trinitate Carl L. Beckwith (2008) The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era Alden A. Mosshammer (2008) The Letters of Jerome Asceticism, Biblical Exegesis, and the Construction of Christian Authority in Late Antiquity Andrew Cain (2009) Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and the Transformation of Divine Simplicity Andrew Radde-Gallwitz (2009) The Asceticism of Isaac of Nineveh Patrik Hagman (2010) Palladius of Helenopolis The Origenist Advocate Demetrios S. Katos (2011) Origen and Scripture The Contours of the Exegetical Life Peter Martens (2012) Activity and Participation in Late Antique and Early Christian Thought By TORSTEIN THEODOR TOLLEFSEN 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York # Torstein Theodor Tollefsen 2012 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Library of Congress Control Number: 2011942627 Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by MPG Books Group, Bodmin and King’s Lynn ISBN 978–0–19–960596–5 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 For Fanny Preface I started work on this book several years ago with the intention of clearing up some of the mist that surrounds the topic of essence and energies in Byzantine and Orthodox theology. In the process it turned out to be a study of the concepts of essence and activity (energeia) in late antique and early Christian thought, with the aim of showing that St Gregory Palamas was a traditional thinker and no innovator in the Byzantine tradition. The book is devoted to two rather obscure con- cepts of ancient Christian thought, namely activity and participation. It is my hope that those who are interested in the ancient roots of Palamite theology will appreciate this investigation into his great precursors in the Greek Christian world. However, the book is not just an attempt to justify the soundness of Palamite thinking, it is primarily a study of developments in Christian thought in late anti- quity. The book attempts to highlight the connections as well as the tensions between pagan philosophy and Christian philosophy. I therefore think it will be of interest to students of the intellectual life of late antiquity in general, and to students of early Greek Christian thought in particular. I am grateful to my good friend Ronald Worley who helped me clarify the English in my manuscript. I am also grateful to JonWetlesen who made invaluable comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. I should further like to thank my friends in the Medieval Seminar at the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas at the University of Oslo, who are always a source of inspiration to my work. I am grateful to Fr. Andrew Louth and Professor Paul Blowers for critical and constructive sug- gestions in the preparation of the final draft of the present book. Torstein Theodor Tollefsen Contents List of Abbreviations ix Introduction 1 1. Activity and Participation in Non-Christian Thought 13 a. Plato and Aristotle 13 b. Plotinus 21 2. St Basil and Anomoean Theology 33 a. Introduction 33 b. St Basil the Great, Letter 234 35 c. Eunomius’ Doctrine of God 40 3. The Internal Activity of the Godhead 47 a. St Gregory of Nyssa on Trinitarian Generation 47 b. Dionysius the Areopagite on Trinitarian Generation 66 c. St Maximus the Confessor on the Internal Activity of the Trinity 71 4. The External Activity of the Godhead: Cosmology 83 a. St Gregory of Nyssa on Creation and Participation 83 b. Dionysius on Creation and Participation 101 c. St Maximus the Confessor on Creation and Participation 118 5. The External Activity of the Godhead: Incarnation 133 a. St Gregory of Nyssa on the Incarnation 133 b. St Maximus the Confessor’s Ontological Analysis of Essence and Activity 142 c. St Maximus the Confessor on the Incarnation 147 6. The Road to Salvation 159 a. St Gregory of Nyssa on Deification 159 b. St Maximus the Confessor on Salvation and Deification 169 viii Contents 7. The Theology of St Gregory Palamas 185 a. St Gregory Palamas on Energeia and Participation 186 b. The Light of Mount Tabor 201 8. Concluding Remarks 207 Bibliography 221 Index 227 List of Abbreviations ACA Ancient Commentators on Aristotle, General Editor R. Sorabji. Ad. Thal. St Maximus the Confessor, Quaestiones ad Thalassium. CAG Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, Berlin 1882–1909. Cap. gnost. St Maximus the Confessor, Capita theologica et oeconomica. Capita 150 Saint Gregory Palamas, The One Hundred and Fifty Chapters, (ed.) R. E. Sinkewicz (Toronto 1988). Cat. Aristotle, Categories. CE Gregory of Nyssa, Contra Eunomium. CCSG Corpus Christianorum, Series Graeca, Brepols, Turnhout. De char. Maximus the Confessor, Centuriae de charitate. DN Dionysius the Areopagite: De Divinis nominibus. GNO Gregorii Nysseni Opera, Leiden, Brill. Myst. St Maximus the Confessor, Mystagogia. NPNF Select Library of the Nicene and post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Originally published in 1886, reprinted by Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Mass. 1995 (second printing). PG Patrologiae cursus completus, series graeca, ed. J. P. Migne, Paris 1857–66. Pyrrh. St Maximus the Confessor, Disputatio cum Pyrrho. RCE Gregory of Nyssa, Refutatio confessionis Eunomii. Th. Pol. St Maximus the Confessor, Opuscula theologica et polemica.
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