Andrew Summerson: Christ the Snake Charmer of Human Passibility: The Passions, Apatheia, and Christology in Maximus the Confessor's Quaestiones ad Thalassium

This paper reexamines the Introduction and Question 1 of Maximus the Confessor’s Quaestiones ad Thalassium in relationship to the rest of the work. I argue that these introductory treatises on the passions focus Maximus’ responses to the remaining exegetical questions and offer biblical interpretation that explores the problem of human passibility and the proper role of emotions in the Christian life. I will show how Question 1’s metaphor describing the good use of emotions a wise doctor using snake’s poison as medicine also alludes to Maximus’ development of his ascetic Christology later in the work. Finally, I will make a proposal for unity of the work on the basis of these themes.