Product Description

St. Maximus the Confessor, the greatest of the Byzantine theologians, lived through the most catastrophic period the Byzantine Empire was to experience before the Crusades. This book introduces the reader to the times and upheavals during which Maximus lived. It discusses his cosmic vision of humanity and the role of the church. The study makes available a large number of Maximus' theological treatises, many of them translated for the first time, which are accompanied by lucid and informed introductions. Maximus the Confessor provides a much needed introduction to the theology of Maximus, as well as direct access to his profound but often difficult thought.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #262887 in Books
• Published on: 1996-05-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 244 pages

Review
Andrew Louth...recounts his life, the upheavals through which he lived, the sources of his theology...and his teachings on the person of Christ Heiser, Fall 1997.
Louth's Maximus the Confessor contributes to our understanding of Maximus in two important ways: he translates for the first time into English several texts wherein Maximus addresses critical theological issues, and he introduces the reader lucidly and succinctly to Maximus's complex manner of thinking and his theological system.
–The Journal of Religion

The chief merit of this work...is to make a significant number of Maximus's writings available in English translation.... Louth is to be congratulated for his clear and faithful renderings of some of the most difficult Greek theological works of late aniquity.... This is an excellent introduction to the theology of Maximus. It will be of interest to both students and specialists in the area of church history, Christology, anthropology, spiritulaity, medieval exegesis, and Byzantine studes.
–Anglican Theological Review

This is probably the best single-volume, general introduction to the Confessor available in English today.
–St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly, Nov 1998

This is probably the best single-volume, general introduction to the Confessor available in English today.
–St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly, Nov 1998

The chief merit of this work...is to make a significant number of Maximus's writings available in English translation.... Louth is to be congratulated for his clear and faithful renderings of some of the most difficult Greek theological works of late aniquity.... This is an excellent introduction to the theology of Maximus. It will be of interest to both students and specialists in the area of church history, Christology, anthropology, spiritulaity, medieval exegesis, and Byzantine studes.
–Anglican Theological Review

Andrew Louth...recounts his life, the upheavals through which he lived, the sources of his theology...and his teachings on the person of Christ Heiser, Fall 1997.
Louth's Maximus the Confessor contributes to our understanding of Maximus in two important ways: he translates for the first time into English several texts wherein Maximus addresses critical theological issues, and he introduces the reader lucidly and succinctly to Maximus's complex manner of thinking and his theological system.
–The Journal of Religion

Anglican Theological Review
"The chief merit of this work...is to make a significant number of Maximus's writings available in English translation..."

Heiser, Fall 1997
"Andrew Louth...recounts his life, the upheavals through which he lived, the sources of his theology...and his teachings on the person of Christ."

Customer Reviews

Far too fine to let the one star stand
Andrew Louth is a fine scholar, and this is an example of his work. If for no other reason that this, I have to weigh in to give it more stars.

just trying to even the score some more
The first reviewer's criticisms might matter if there were a better translation of Maximus' work available. There is not. Maximus is such a brilliant, insightful theologian, he deserves to be read; perhaps I should say contemporary Christians need to read and consider him seriously.

Louth's introduction is indeed superlative.

Perhaps Maximus' most approachable work are his Centuries on Love, available in the Classics of Western Spirituality Series and in the Philokalia, Volume II, edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware (but not in Louth's book). Thunberg's works, "Microcosm and Mediator" and the shorter, more accessible "Man and the Cosmos" are the best English works on Maximus (perhaps the best in any language). Another recent scholar, who has translated a number of Maximus' works into English, is Joseph Farrell.

An invaluable study
Despite the hyperbolic criticisms (indeed, doomsaying) of the first reviewer, Louth's Maximus the Confessor is an enormously useful resource. The introductory essay provides a clear orientation for the reader -- no small task for the works of the Confessor. Though some flaws in the translation have been pointed out (not least by Janssen, a learned editor of Maximus' texts), this should not concern for the reader as they do not distort the Confessor's teachings and therefore are not misleading. In fact, by coupling his deft introduction with a lucid translation of these tremendously difficult texts, Louth has done a great service for the English speaking world. It is to be hoped that this will encourage further reading in the challenging, but greatly rewarding, works of St Maximus.