St. Maximus the Confessor on Participation

doi:10.1017/9781009440028.010

8 - St. Maximus the Confessor on Participation

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2024

Torstein Theodor Tollefsen

Edited by

Douglas Hedley and

Daniel J. Tolan

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Douglas Hedley: Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Daniel J. Tolan: Affiliation:
University of Cambridge

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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.

Type: Chapter
Information: Participation in the Divine
A Philosophical History, From Antiquity to the Modern Era
, pp. 181 - 191

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009440028.010 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2024

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