Anna Zhyrkova: John Damascene’s Conception of Philosophy: The Development of the Neochalcedonian Vision of Philosophy as Instrument in Formulating Theological Argumentation

In his works, John Damascene expresses a noteworthy vision of the role and place of philosophy within theological discourse. The prevailing opinion amongst scholars credits only the Western Medieval Scholastics with having developed this conception, even though, as I will show, it can be encountered in an already mature form in John. According to this vision, philosophy can be considered useful for theological reflection and the organization of theological discourse. While showing how various elements of the Damascene’s approach to philosophy come together in one consistent and fully-fledged methodological stance, I will focus on how those elements developed out of the Neochalcedonian view of philosophy’s role in theology. The latter emerged within the Neochalcedonian speculative approach to Christology, which sought theological refinement through terminological clarity in respect of its philosophically founded conceptual framework, as well as precision of argumentation. In this paper, I will offer a comparison between the most important constituents of the Neochalcedonian methodological stance and the further developments and refinements of those proposals found in John Damascene.