The Oxford Handbook of Maximus the Confessor

This collection of essays by thirty of the foremost scholars in the field will for the first time present Maximus in his political, theological, and philosophical contexts. The works and life of Maximus are covered in four parts. The first section, Historical Setting, includes an update of Sherwood’s 1952 Date-List of Works of St Maximus the Confessor, and a reconstructed timeline of significant events in the life of Maximus. Overviews of the theological and political–military context of seventh-century Byzantium are also included. In the second section, Theological and Philosophical Influences, scholars consider the evidence for Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Origen, Pseudo-Macarius, the Cappadocians, Evagrius of Pontus, John Chrysostom, Pseudo-Dionysius, and even Augustine of Hippo as likely influences on Maximus. The third section, Works and Thought, contains chapters on Maximian cosmology, spiritual anthropology, his doctrine of divinization, ecclesiology, and eschatology. Two chapters look at the practical side of Maximian virtue ethics, in the ascetic life as described in Centuries on Love, and in his understanding of the liturgy. The final section, Reception, treats the Nachleben of Maximus’ work in medieval and modern Georgia, Russia, and Ukraine, in the Byzantine and modern Orthodox churches, and in the works and translations of John Scottus Eriugena, who brought Maximus to the West in the Carolingian era. The final chapters cover Maximus’ relevance for modern depth psychology, spiritual anthropology, and ecumenical dialogue, and his retrieval in the West in the modern era. There are detailed bibliographies for each chapter and recommendations for further reading.