Aligning and Reorienting the Passible Self: Maximus the Confessor’s Virtue Ethics

Blowers, Paul M.

doi:10.1177/0953946813484409

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Anticipation also comes indirectly, when he speaks of the pursuit of pleasure and the flight from pain, as well as of the invention of passions. On affectivity overall, see Blowers (1996Blowers ( , 2013 and Summerson (2020). The last author's approach is focused on the pair fear and grief/pain, in line with Maximos' own suspicious, ascetical treatment of the hedonistic pair desire/lust and pleasure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The genetic mechanism of fallness: St. Maximos the Confessor revisited

Moldovan

2021

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

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Through a close reading of the two definitions of evil in the Introduction to Responses to Thalassios, this article points out a circular, cognitive-affective-somatic, genetic mechanism that St. Maximos the Confessor considers responsible for the initiation and transmission of the fallness as a human condition and the specific manifestation of it in the form of passions. It elucidates the first definition as mainly phenomenological, by identifying the circular mechanism and its behavioural expressions, and the second definition as more aetiological, by explaining why this mechanism emerges and reemerges with the fallen humanity despite its catastrophic results.Contribution: This article highlights a double genetic mechanism (survival cum passions) that St. Maximos the Confessor grasped within the fallen human condition as a curse solvable only in Christ, a notion largely carved out by previous Maximian scholarship, but fully explained and valuated here.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The genetic mechanism of fallness: St. Maximos the Confessor revisited

Moldovan

2021

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

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“…Envy is stirred by good things that fall to someone by chance and finds delight in the misfortune and even in the violence committed against the envied person. 29 Each type of passion has specific remedies. The passions of the body can be tamed through prayer, fasting and vigils.…”

Section: The Tradition Of Spiritual Sensesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning to Perceive: Grace and the Emotional Conundrum of Disability

Maican

2022

Modern Theology

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When persons with disabilities enter a room, they frequently elicit strong emotional reactions from their non-disabled peers. These reactions are well known in disability studies and often they are blamed for the difficulty of integrating persons with disabilities into communities. Theologians have interpreted this emotional shock as proof that persons with disabilities are revelatory of God's grace because they shatter our idolatrous anthropologies and socio-political constructs. What has been discussed less is why everybody does not recognize this presence of grace in persons with disabilities, nor how those who experience negative feelings such as anger or disgust could overcome them. This article addresses these questions by appealing to the Eastern Orthodox ascetic tradition, where the grace of God becomes visible for those who learn to control their emotions and purify their sight from self-interest.

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“…20 Maximus Confessor (2013), Capita Theologiae 95 (PG 90: 1220). On apatheia in the writings of Maximus Confessor, see Blowers (2013). 21 Evagrius, On Prayer 125 (PG 79: 1193).…”

Section: Mental Health From a Historical Perspective: "Health Of The ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A historical perspective on mental health: Proposal for a dialogue between history and psychology.

Graiver¹

2021

History of Psychology

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This contribution aims to promote a dialogue between history and psychology by outlining a direction for future research at the intersection of these disciplines. In particular, it seeks to demonstrate the potential contributions of history to psychology by employing the category of mental health in a historical context. The analysis focuses on notions of psychological health that were developed in late antiquity, especially the equation between "health of the soul" and dispassion (apatheia) within the Christian monastic movement. This theologically informed notion of what constitutes positive human functioning and well-being is examined in view of modern attempts, in mainstream and positive psychology, to define mental health. The optimism concerning the naturalness of virtue and the malleability of human nature that underlies late antique notions of "health of the soul" becomes noticeable in its absence once we turn to modern notions of mental health. It thus provides an illuminating counter-example against which to compare and analyze modern attempts to define mental health. A comparison of these alternative notions human flourishing offers an opportunity to reflect on and test the validity of contemporary attempts to define this condition in a culturally sensitive manner.

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Aligning and Reorienting the Passible Self: Maximus the Confessor’s Virtue Ethics

Cited by 6 publications

References 5 publications

The genetic mechanism of fallness: St. Maximos the Confessor revisited

The genetic mechanism of fallness: St. Maximos the Confessor revisited

Learning to Perceive: Grace and the Emotional Conundrum of Disability

A historical perspective on mental health: Proposal for a dialogue between history and psychology.

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