Byzantine Theology's Philosophical Background

A recent collection under the editorship of Antonio Rigo of the University of Venice continues to expand our understanding of the intellectual life of the Byzantine Empire: Byzantine Theology and its Philosophical Background (Brepols, 2012), 229pp.

About this book we are told:

Since Byzantium never saw a consistent and definitive attempt at determining the status of philosophy and theology the way Western scholasticism did, the relationship between them in the Greek-speaking medieval world has always been regarded as a problematic issue. The essays contained in this volume work from the assumption that philosophy in Byzantium was not a monolithic doctrinal tradition, but related to a manifold set of intellectual phenomena, institutional frameworks, doctrines, and text traditions that influenced the theological literature in different ways according to the different manifestations and facets of philosophy itself.

The publisher also provides the table of contents:

Preface

Katerina Ierodiakonou, Introduction

Georgi Kapriev: Was hat die Philosophie mit der Theologie zu tun? Der Fall Byzanz

Paul Géhin: Sur une expression des «Chapitres sur la prière» d’Evagre le Pontique: «Vis selon l’intellect»

Valery Petroff: The Sun and its Rays in Neo-Platonism and the «Corpus Areopagiticum»

John A. Demetracopoulos: In Search of the Pagan and Christian Sources of John of Damascus’ Theodicy: Ammonius, the Son of Hermeias, Stephanus of Athens and John Chrysostom on God’s Foreknowledge and Predestination and Man’s Freewill

Brigitte Mondrain: Copier et lire des manuscrits théologiques et philosophiques à Byzance

Michele Trizio: «Una è la verità che pervade ogni cosa». La sapienza profana nelle opere perdute di Barlaam Calabro 

Oleg Rodionov: The Chapters of Kallistos Angelikoudes. The Relationship of the separate Series and their main Theological Themes.

John Monfasani: The Pro-Latin Apologetics of Greek Émigrés in Fifteenth Century Italy

Pavel Ermilov: F. Uspenskij and his Critics in Late Nineteenth Century Russia: a debate concerning Byzantine philosophy

Peter Schreiner: Hans-Georg Beck und die byzantinische Theologie: zum 100. Geburtstag eines großen Gelehrten

List of the Contributors
Index