Christopher Barnard: Arguments for a Dialectic of Good and Evil in Saint Maximus the Confessor

Throughout his works, Saint Maximus the Confessor (580-662 AD) often uses the exact same word in morally contradictory manners. The dialectic of good and evil refers to this use of the exact same term with both morally good and morally evil meanings. In opposition to the common morally positive usages, distinct examples of morally evil uses can be found for the terms beauty (καλός), cause (αἴτιος), end (τέλος), promise (έπαγγελία), judgment (κρινω), words (λόγοι), love (ἀγάπη), motion (κινέω), providence (πρόνοια), weakness (ἀσθένεια), will (θέλησις), and wisdom (σοφία). What is even more noteworthy is that each of these terms can also be found to have both a morally good and a morally evil usage in close context to each other. A classic example is found in Centuries on Charity3.71 in which a passion of love (πάθος ἀγάπης) is said to be blameworthy (ψεκτὸν) when of the material world and then said to be praiseworthy (ἐπαινετὸν) when of the divine world.