My claim in this paper is that there exists a principle or thought-pattern
that Maximus the Confessor finds matchlessly useful for elaborating the
structure of the universe as created by God, and for grasping the expedition and
difficulty of the human calling within such a universe. I am referring to a
principle of ‘proportion' (ἀναλογία), which winds its way from Aristotle and
Paul through late-antiquity to reach its acme in Maximus. I will briefly
demonstrate the way in which, Maximus teaches us, humans draw near to God and
receive God's grace ‘in proportion to' (κατ' ἀναλογίαν) the mode and shape of
life they assemble for themselves through habit, virtuous or vicious. I will
then turn to some passages where Maximus uses this ascetical model of proportion
to explain how God the Word comes to indwell Christians, enacting in them the
pattern of his Incarnation.
No comments:
Post a Comment