Joshua Lollar - The Contemplation of Nature in Maximus the Confessor's Ambigua to John

This paper gives an analysis of the theme of “natural contemplation” or “natural philosophy” in Maximus the Confessor’s Ambigua to John. It begins with a brief overview of the contents of the Ambigua, showing the centrality of the notion of knowledge of the created world in Maximus’ vision of the transgression of Adam, the economy of salvation, and the relation of the different aspects of philosophy: ethics/praxis, natural contemplation, and theology. It then focuses specifically on three themes from the Origenist controversy of previous generations—the fall of intellects from a primordial henad, the supposed intellectualism (at the expense of concerted ascetical practice) of the Origenist monks, and the notion of the world as the place of judgment of fallen intellects—showing how Maximus addresses these issues especially in the opening chapters of the Ambigua, chapters 6-8 and 10, and the last chapter, 71. I show how Ambigua 6-8 interpret Gregory Nazianzen’s statements from his oration On the Love of the Poor regarding the human condition in a way that establishes the fundamental condition of human passibility and thus sets the stage for his description of the nature of philosophy in Ambiguum 10. Here I demonstrate how Maximus argues for the inseparability of praxis and contemplation, arguing, in fact, that reason and contemplation (logos and theôria) “contain” praxis within themselves. Finally, I show how Maximus appropriates Origen’s notion of the world as judgment and training ground to his own understanding of the world as the image of divine reality. Here the contemplation of nature is regarded by Maximus as a “game” the Word plays with us in order to lead us on to knowledge of the divine. The paper thus contributes to our understanding of what Maximus takes to be the nature of true philosophy and presents a nuanced reading of Maximus’ relationship to Origenism.