Following a survey of the biblical and classical background, Wisdom in Christian Tradition offers a detailed exploration of the theme of wisdom in patristic, Byzantine, and medieval theology, up to and including Gregory Palamas and Thomas Aquinas in Greek East and Latin West, respectively. Three principal levels of Christian wisdom discourse are distinguished: wisdom as human attainment, wisdom as divine gift, and wisdom as an attribute or quality of God. This journey through Wisdom in Christian Tradition is undertaken in conversation with modern Russian Sophiology, one of the most popular and widely discussed theological movements of our time. Sophiology is characterized by the idea of a primal pre-principle of divineâhuman unity (âSophiaâ) manifest in both uncreated and created forms and constituting the very foundation of all that is. Sophiology is a complex phenomenon with multiple sources and inspirations, very much including the Church Fathers. Indeed, fidelity to patristic
tradition was to become an ever-increasing feature of its self-understanding and self-articulation, above all in the work of its greatest exponent, Fr Sergius Bulgakov (1871â1944). This âunmodern turnâ (as it is here christened) to patristic sources has, however, long been fiercely contested. This book is the first to evaluate thoroughly the nature and substance of Sophiologyâs claim to patristic continuity. The final chapter offers a radical re-thinking of Sophiology in line with patristic tradition. This constructive proposal maintains Sophiologyâs most distinctive insights and most pertinent applications while divesting it of some its more problematic elements.
Author(s): Marcus Plested
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 288
City: Oxford
Cover
Wisdom in Christian Tradition: The Patristic Roots of Modern Russian Sophiology
Copyright
Dedication
Preface and Acknowledgments
Contents
Abbreviations
Note on Conventions
Introduction
1: Modern Russian Sophiology and Its Discontents
1.1 The Origins of Modern Russian Sophiology
1.2 Vladimir Soloviev
1.3 Fr Pavel Florensky
1.4 Fr Sergius Bulgakov
1.5 Detractors and Defenders
2: Prolegomena
2.1 Wisdom in the Old Testament
2.2 Wisdom in the Classical Tradition
2.3 Wisdom in the New Testament
2.4 Sophiological Epilogomena
3: Wisdom and Paideia
3.1 The Apostolic Fathers
3.2 The Apologists
3.3 Silvanus, Sextus, and the Pseudo-Clementines
3.4 St Irenaeus of Lyons
3.5 Coda to Wisdom and Paideia
4: The Golden Age of Patristic Sophiology
4.1 The Early Alexandrines
4.1.1 Philo of Alexandria
4.1.2 St Clement of Alexandria
4.1.3 Origen of Alexandria
4.2 St Athanasius of Alexandria
4.3 The Cappadocian Fathers
4.3.1 St Basil of Caeserea
4.3.2 St Gregory the Theologian
4.3.3 St Gregory of Nyssa
4.3.4 Cappadocian Coda
4.4 St Augustine of Hippo
5: The Greek East
5.1 Macarius (Macarius-Symeon)
5.2 Evagrius of Pontus
5.3 Dionysius the Areopagite
5.4 St Maximus the Confessor
5.5 St Gregory Palamas
5.6 Coda to the Greek East
6: The Latin West
6.1 Late Antique and Early Medieval
6.1.1 Boethius
6.1.2 Cassiodorus
6.1.3 St Gregory the Great
6.1.4 The Venerable Bede
6.1.5 Alcuin
6.1.6 John Scotus Eriugena
6.2 The High Middle Ages
6.2.1 Anselm of Canterbury
6.2.2 Hildegard of Bingen
6.2.3 Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter Abelard
6.2.4 Sapientia and Scientia
6.2.5 Thomas Aquinas
6.3 Coda to the Latin West
7: Sophiology Revisited
7.1 The Patristic Roots of Modern Russian Sophiology
7.1.1 Patristic Fidelity and the Nature of Tradition
7.1.2 General Assessment
7.1.3 Specific Fathers: Athanasius and Palamas
7.2 A Re-Oriented Sophiology
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Secondary and Modern Sources
Index
