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Durham E-Theses Durham E-Theses Holy esh, wholly deied : the place of the body in the theological vision of Saint Maximus the Confessor. Cooper, Adam Glyn How to cite: Cooper, Adam Glyn (2002) Holy esh, wholly deied : the place of the body in the theological vision of Saint Maximus the Confessor., Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1672/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Holy Flesh, Wholly Deified: The Place of the Body in the Theological Vision of Saint Maximus the Confessor Adam Glyn Cooper The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published in any form, including Electronic and the Internet, without the author's prior written consent. All information derived from this thesis must be acknowledged appropriately. PhD Thesis University of Durham Department of Theology March, 2002 02 .i -'. 200L Author's Name: Adam Glyn Cooper Thesis Title: Holy Flesh, Wholly Deified: The Place of the Body in the Theological Vision of Saint Maximus the Confessor Degree: PhD Year: 2002 Abstract Maximus the Confessor is increasingly being recognised as a theologian of towering ecumenical importance. Here I put to him a question which from the origins of Christian thought until the present constitutes an interpretative crux for catholic Christianity: what is the nature and function of the material order and, specifically, of the human body, in God's creative, redemptive, and perfective economies? The thesis unfolds in five chapters under the rubrics of epistemology, cosmology, christology, ecclesiology, and spirituality. Each specifies an integral dimension in the Confessor's theological vision through which I engage his central motif: God the Word wills always to be embodied in all things. By virtue of their respective teleological orientation to Christ the incarnate Word, creation, history, and the virtuous life each functions as a pedagogical strategy by which the transcendent God simultaneously conceals and reveals himself with the aim of leading all creation, including the body, into deifying union with himself by grace. Apart from this orientation material diversity possesses a diffuse, divisive character. The insubordination of the sensible and irrational leads to personal and cosmic disorder and the eventual dissolution of spiritual well-being. By virtue of the hypostatic union, the deification of Christ's body and its participation in supernatural modalities do not simply present the pinnacle of moral perfection, but constitute the paradigmatic and definitive renewal of fallen creation. The particular bodily events suffered by Jesus, culminating in his death, form the concrete, causative loci of redemptive, universally effective divine activity. Ritual and ascetic participation in this activity certainly entails intellectual abstraction, but only in conjunction with purification from defiling attachments and ecclesial engagement in the social realisation of divine love. I conclude that Maximus affirms a constitutive but contingent place for the corporeal relative to its subordination to the divinely instituted primacy of the intelligible. CONTENTS Preface and Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE Corporeality and Revelation 16 Affirmation and Negation: the two modes of theology Three Laws and Four Incarnations Revelation as Symbolic Pedagogy Sensual taxis and Intellectual diabasis CHAPTER TWO Corporeality and the Cosmos 76 Origenism, Metaphysics and the Body Ambiguum ad loannem 7: A Dynamic Ontology Image, Likeness and the Embodiment of God Soul, Body and the Mystery of the Human Vocation CHAPTER THREE Corporeality and Christ 141 Divine Impassibility and the Corporeality of Christ Passible God against sin, or: Truly a Suffering God Suffering Wonders, Wonderful Sufferings Holy Flesh, Wholly Deified CHAPTER FOUR Corporeality and the Church 201 The Priesthood of the Gospel: God Visible on Earth The Ranks of the Church: Ordained by the One Spirit Spiritual Topography and the Body of Christ liturgical Metaphysics and Ritual Action CHAPTER FIVE Corporeality and the Christian 251 Bodily Birth and Death Baptismal Rebirth and Spiritual Renovation Faith, Love and the Use of the Passions Deification as Suffering and Death CONCLUSION 309 Bibliography 312 2002 by Adam Glyn Cooper The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Declaration No part of this thesis has previously been submitted by me for a degree in this or any other university. Signed: Date: 51 3 /0 2._ Preface and Acknowledgements Included in the present thesis in revised form are materials I have previously published in a number of periodicals: 'Maximus the Confessor and the Structural Dynamics of Revelation', Vigiliae Christianae 55 (2001), 161-186; "Sufferings Wonders' and Wonderful Sufferings': Maximus the Confessor and his fifth Ambiguum% Sobornost 23:2 (2001), 45-58; and 'St. Maximus the Confessor on Priesthood, Hierarchy, and Rome', Pro Ecclesia 10 (2001), 346-367. While I have felt free to adopt and adapt existing translations of all the sources, I have on the whole based my quotations from Maximus upon the Greek text. The production of this thesis has from its inception been a collaborative effort, though all the customary caveats regarding its remaining weaknesses apply. My sincere thanks go first to my spiritual and academic mentors Doctors Vic Pfitzner, John Kleinig, and Elmore Leske of Luther Seminary, South Australia, and to my supervisor at the University of Durham, Professor Andrew Louth. I have also benefited immeasurably from input along the way from Professor Robert Wilken of the University of Virginia, Professor Stephen Sykes of St John's College, Durham, Dr Richard Price from Heythrop College, London, and research colleagues in Durham Mika TOrOnen and Augustine Casiday. Leisure to engage in research was made possible by leave granted to me by the College of Presidents of the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA), as well as by generous financial aid from many quarters: the Standing Committee on Scholarships (LCA); the J.G. Rechner Scholarship (Luther Seminary); the Van Mildert, Evans, and De Bury Scholarships (Department of Theology, University of Durham); an anonymous benefactor from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and many other generous friends and parishes. Mention must be made of my parents and parents-in-law for their abiding moral support. Last but 111 by no means least, I should like to acknowledge the faithful love of my wife Lizzy and son Benjamin, whose companionship on this journey has been for me a source of profound joy. Advent, 2001 Durham, England Stammering we echo the heights of God as best we can.... Pope Gregory the Great iv List of Abbreviations Works by Maximus Amb.Io. Ambigua ad Ioannem Amb.Th. Ambigua ad Thomam Cap. XV Capita XV Car. Capita de caritate DP Disputatio cum Pyrrha Ep. Epistulae Ep.Max. Maximi Epistola ad Anastasium monachum discipulum LA Liber asceticus Myst. Mystagogia Opusc. Opuscula theologica et polemica Or.dom. Expositio orationis dominicae Th.Oec. Capita theologica et oeconomica QD Quaestiones et dubia QThal. Quaestiones ad Thalassium Works related to Maximus' life DB Disputatio BiTyae cum Theodosio Ep.Anast. Anastasii Apocrisiarii epistola ad Theodosium Gangrensem Hypom. Hypomnesticum RM Relatio motionis Other Ancient Authors and Works Ath. Athanasius Ath.Ar. Orationes contra Arianos Ath.Inc. De incarnatione Aug. Augustine Aug.Conf: Confessiones Aug.Serm. Sermones Bas. Basil of Caesarea Bas.Spir. De .spiritu sancta Bas.Hex. Homiliae in hexaemeron 2 Clem. 2 Clement Clem. Clement of Alexandria Clem.Paed. Paedagogus Clem.Prot. Protrepticus Clem.Str. Stromateis Gyp. Cyprian of Carthage Cyp.Ep. Epistula Cyr. Cyril of Alexandria Cyr.Joh. Commentatii in lob. Cyr.Luc. Fragmenta commentarii in Luc. Diad. Diadochus of Photike Diad. Cap. Capita gnostica Dion.Ar. Dionysius the Areopagite De coel.hier. De coelesti hierarchia De div.nom. De divinis nominibus De ecc.hier. De ecclesiastica hierarchia De myst.theol. De mystica theologia Ep. Epistulae Bus. Eusebius of Caesarea Eus.H.e. Historia ecclesiastica Evag. Evagrius Pondcus Evag.Keph. Kephalaia gnostica Evag.Me/. Epistula ad Melaniam Evag.Prak. Capita practica ad Anatolium praktikos] Greg.Naz. Gregory Nazianzen Greg.Naz.Ep. Epistulae Greg.Naz. Or. Orationes Greg.Naz.Praec. Praecota ad virgines Gr.Pal. Gregory Palamas Gr.Pal. Tr. Triads Greg.Nyss. Gregory of Nyssa Greg.Nyss..A.nim. et res. De anima et resurrectione Greg.Nyss.Cant. Homiliae in Cant. Greg.Nyss.Opif. De hominis Greg.Nyss .0r.cat. Oratio catechetica Greg.Nyss. Tres Quod non sint tres Greg.Nyss. Virg. De virginitate Greg.Nyss. V.Mos. De vita Moysis Herm. Hennas Herm. Vis. Visiones pastoris Ign. Ignatius of Antioch Ign.Polyc. Epistula ad Polycarpum Ign.Rom. Epistula ad Romanos Iren. Irenaeus Iren.Haer. Adversus haereses Joh.D. John Damascene Joh.D.Imag. De sacris imaginibus orationes Justn. Justinian I Justn.Conf. Confessio rectae fidei Leo Leo I (Pope) Led. Tom. Epistula 28 (ad Flavium) Nem. Nemesius of Emesa Nem.Nat.hom. De natura hominis Or. Otigen Or. Cant. Commentarius in Cant. Or.Cels. Contra Celrum Or. Gen. Homiliae in Gen. Or.Herac. Dialogus cum Heraclide Orloh. Commentarii in Ioh. Or.Lev. Homiliae in Lev.
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