Maximus Confessor: Selected Writings
By Maximus, George Berthold translator
Publication Date: 1985/01
Publisher: Paulist Press
Format: Trade Paper
ISBN: 0809126591
Our Price $24.95

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Vincent Rossi

I am an Orthodox Christian, and I have not only read this book, but as a Maximus scholar, I have lived with it for 15 years, since it first came out in 1985. My original copy is totally dogeared, held together with tape and glue and the grace of a book lovingly valued as precious far beyond its price. Every page is full of notes upon notes in various colors. As it gradually falls apart through much use, I am considering learning the art of bookbinding, so I can preserve it and keep on using it. I am very grateful for Paulist Press for producing this volume, and to George Berthold for the effort and energy (as only one who has tried to translate Maximus' subtle and sophisticated Greek knows just how much effort and energy) it took to translate these texts of the Confessor's. I believe St. Maximus' genius and accomplishments deserve to be honored for what they are and not to be bracketed by disputes and criticisms that, whatever their merit, have no real point in the present setting. Yes, there are other good translations of some of these texts. Yes, the critical apparatus may not be of the highest order. Yes, the theological perspective in the Introduction may not rise to the level or be equal to the content of the Maximian texts. But what introduction could?--and that was not the book's primary purpose. As a basic introduction to the Maximian corpus, the Paulist Press volume on St. Maximus, for all its supposed faults, is still the best single volume to give to someone new to St. Maximus. St. Maximus' greatness lies in the fact that he was not only a brilliant theologian, but an equally accomplished philosopher, as well as a great ascetic and spiritual master of the Eastern Orthodox monastic and hesychastic tradition. He can put more into a single sentence or paragraph than most philosophers or theologians put into whole chapters, or even books. That is why a volume like this one can be read and reread for years and years, always giving one a new perspective or an astonishing view of depths previously unknown or unrealized.