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4.45 AVERAGE
4.45 AVERAGE
challenging
medium-paced
St. Maximus the Confessor is no easy read. On the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ is a collection of Maximus' writings in which he expounds that which was accomplished in Jesus Christ, often against the ideas of Origen, specifically the preexistence of the soul. After finishing the work and then revisiting my underlined portions to get an impression of the whole I was helped towards understanding him. Maximus says that all created things are created for some end and movement is always towards an end. When a thing moves towards its appropriate end it moves from mere being to well being and eventually eternal well being in God. To move towards wrong ends is to move towards non-being. Jesus as both God and Man makes possible our arrival at our end, that is, arrival in God, because in him Man has already arrived in God, being "taken up" into God by the incarnation. In Maximus' own words, "He gives them life, not the life that comes from breathing air, nor that of veins coursing with blood, but the life that comes from being wholly infused with the fullness of God. God becomes to the soul (and through the soul to the body) what the soul is to the body, as God alone knows, so that the soul receives changelessness and the body immortality; hence the whole man, as the object of divine action, is divinized by being made God by the grace of God who became man" (63). Again, "this renewal did not come about through the normal course of things, it was only realized when a wholly new way of being human appeared. God had made us like himself, and allowed us to participate in the very things that are most characteristic of his goodness" (70). In the end his message may be summed up in this: God became Man that Man might become god. This is a book for the stout hearted and intellectually inclined that will reward the courageous.
Listened to this on audiobook for a book club I am part of and it's not my favorite. It might be because it's heavy on theology and Catholic doctrine with a lot of notes and annotations and I am a poor audiobook listener. I wanted to find this in paper copy, but could not. It's got some interesting theological points and he dove into Jonah pretty deeply.
Might have to try this one again later
Might have to try this one again later
Patristic christology meets its apex in Maximus’ theology. Both creative and visionary, critically building upon the earlier tradition, what kind of mind could masterly synthesize such thought? Like Barth, we have in Maximus’ theology a ‘cathedral of the mind,’ albeit delivered in a more concise manner. We live in the watershed. Cosmological in scope, the whole of Maximus’ theological project turns on the incarnation and, like a fractal, everything is touched, nothing left unshifted. Maximus’ scriptural exegesis scrapes against the grain of modern methods and interpretation, but if one can recognize the principles by which he operates, the coherence of his thought is something to behold. It remains for those who would like to retain the substance, scope, and vision of his chalcedonian christology to see if it is even possible to uphold the edifice without its foundation.
Maximus the Confessor is one of my favorite spiritual masters. I’m no professional historian or theologian, but I have found nourishment of both mind and spirit in digging into his writings. He is one of those ancient Christians who’s writing has deeply impacted me in recent years - Gregory of Nyssa, Origen, Isaac the Syrian, Pseudo-Dionysius, Julian of Norwich.
If you’re looking for spiritual reading, from a Christian perspective, you ought to check out Maximus. I should note, depending who comes across this review, that “Christian” means a lot of things. Maximus is a far cry from the pop-Christianity you might find on the shelves of Barnes and Noble. Most simply, he’s much more Eastern than Western, and thus offers quite a different perspective than Western Christians, especially evangelicals, are used to.
This book is a selection of his texts. I read the full Ambigua a few years ago (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2806077015), but I’d recommend starting here as well as with his collections found in the Philokalia (such as the 400 chapters on Love).
Overall, Maximus is certainly not for everyone. A beginner in Christian spirituality may be lost and confused. But if you take the time, there’s definitely a lot here to chew on.
If you’re looking for spiritual reading, from a Christian perspective, you ought to check out Maximus. I should note, depending who comes across this review, that “Christian” means a lot of things. Maximus is a far cry from the pop-Christianity you might find on the shelves of Barnes and Noble. Most simply, he’s much more Eastern than Western, and thus offers quite a different perspective than Western Christians, especially evangelicals, are used to.
This book is a selection of his texts. I read the full Ambigua a few years ago (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2806077015), but I’d recommend starting here as well as with his collections found in the Philokalia (such as the 400 chapters on Love).
Overall, Maximus is certainly not for everyone. A beginner in Christian spirituality may be lost and confused. But if you take the time, there’s definitely a lot here to chew on.
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Reading aloud helps digest and understand the text. Definitely take notes of your favorite passages and pray or reflect on them.
Collection of various writings of Maximus, some of which are better than others. The last chapter, "On the Two Wills of Christ in the Agony of Gethsemane," is worth the price of the book.