Book contents
- Participation in the Divine
- Cambridge Studies in Religion and Platonism
- Participation in the Divine
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 The Lord Is One
- 2 The Place and Scope of Participation in the Divine in the Thought of Plato
- 3 Origen on Participation
- 4 Forms, Intellects, and Angels
- 5 Participation in the Divine in Gregory of Nyssa
- 6 Augustine’s “Illumination” Theory as the Natural Participation of the Human Mind
- 7 The Principle of Cosmic Unification in the Athenian School of Platonism
- 8 St. Maximus the Confessor on Participation
- 9 Participation in Medieval Platonism
- 10 Participation as God’s Indwelling
- 11 Some Late Medieval Discussions of Participation in the Divine
- 12 Music, Temperance, and Participation in Marsilio Ficino
- 13 Richard Hooker’s Metaphysics of Divine Participation
- 14 The Transcendence of Holiness
- 15 Ralph Cudworth on Causality and Substantial Forms
- 16 The Romantic Legacy
- 17 Participation Revived and Revised
- Index
- References
8 - St. Maximus the Confessor on Participation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2024
Book contents
- Participation in the Divine
- Cambridge Studies in Religion and Platonism
- Participation in the Divine
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 The Lord Is One
- 2 The Place and Scope of Participation in the Divine in the Thought of Plato
- 3 Origen on Participation
- 4 Forms, Intellects, and Angels
- 5 Participation in the Divine in Gregory of Nyssa
- 6 Augustine’s “Illumination” Theory as the Natural Participation of the Human Mind
- 7 The Principle of Cosmic Unification in the Athenian School of Platonism
- 8 St. Maximus the Confessor on Participation
- 9 Participation in Medieval Platonism
- 10 Participation as God’s Indwelling
- 11 Some Late Medieval Discussions of Participation in the Divine
- 12 Music, Temperance, and Participation in Marsilio Ficino
- 13 Richard Hooker’s Metaphysics of Divine Participation
- 14 The Transcendence of Holiness
- 15 Ralph Cudworth on Causality and Substantial Forms
- 16 The Romantic Legacy
- 17 Participation Revived and Revised
- Index
- References
Summary
Sherwood wrote in 1964 that a study of participation would serve to clarify what he considered the acutest problem in Byzantine theology, viz. “the relation of the finite to the infinite, of the created to the uncreated, not so much in the moment of creation as in the moment of deification” (Sherwood 1964, 435). Many writes in the orthodox tradition attribute participation in God as an ultimate goal, a goal which is even anticipated in the present life. It seems, however, that these scholars leave out something basic, since one can argue that participation plays a much wider role in Greek patristic authors. This is at least the case for St. Maximus the Confessor. The concept of participation is a fundamental feature not only in in Maximus’ eschatology but in his cosmology as well.1 It is important to grasp that Maximus does not separate cosmology, soteriology, and eschatology in his philosophical system.
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- Information
- Participation in the DivineA Philosophical History, From Antiquity to the Modern Era, pp. 181 - 191Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024
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