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Orthodox Readings of Aquinas (Changing Paradigms in Historical and Systematic Theology) 1st Edition

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Marcus Plested (Author)
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4 out of 5 stars 5 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0199650651
ISBN-10: 0199650659
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Product Details

  • Series: Changing Paradigms in Historical and Systematic Theology
  • Hardcover: 290 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (December 29, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0199650659
  • ISBN-13: 978-0199650651
  • Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 1 x 5.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,517,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsA wonderful appetizer, but not yet the main course!
By C.W. Kappes on August 22, 2013
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I was initially unenthusiastic about the title and the available sample pages from "Orthodox Readings of Aquinas" at its release. Happily, I bought the book all the same and am satisfied with several aspects of the work. I must admit, however, a paperback is needed to attract readership because the price is disproportionate to the reading content (though the bibliography is quite valuable).
Let's start with the general positives:

1.) Plested is irenic and conciliatory in a field, which has witnessed increasing extremism and radical theories (primarily among ultra-Orthodox). Though a reader will likely consider Plested "on the side of Aquinas," his approach is much more digestible than some of the wretched apologetics (even among contemporary authors), who reject -out of hand- Augustine, Aquinas (and Scotus) as part and parcel of "doing Byzantine theology" post-14th century.
2.) Plested has attempted to accomplish an "historical reconciliation" of Orthodoxy with Aquinas (and other Latins). He has used a wide variety of authors and has -on the main- tried to find a positive middle-way (via media). I say "historical" since this work does not pretend and cannot hope to accomplish a "metaphysical" or "ontological" reconciliation. I will discuss this further below.
3.) Plested finally cross-pollinated in a very specialized field employing diverse "experts" on Palamism, who have previously refused to use authors they disagree with (why I do not know). There has been an unscholarly tendency to only use published authors that support some singular read on Palamas.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsA Stimulating Corrective
By Magic City Varangian on January 19, 2013
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Those who have read books such as Fr. John Meyendorff's "Byzantine Theology" are aware that the reception of Thomas Aquinas by Orthodox bishops, theologians, and educated laity in Byzantium was in many cases one of intrigue, engaged wonderment, and even cautious acceptance, in those areas of theology that were not sources of the estrangement between the Papacy and the Catholic Church of the East Romans. Marcus Plested, Vice Principal of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge, has written a survey of how Orthodox have reacted to the prodigious theological and philosophical legacy of Thomas Aquinas from the time of Demetrios Kydones' translation of the "Summa Contra Gentiles" in the 1350s, through the dark tunnel of the Ottoman millet, up to the neo-patristic movement of the 20th century. Because Thomas Aquinas is the pivotal thinker of Roman Catholicism, "Orthodox Readings of Aquinas" becomes a vehicle for the much larger question of how Orthodox identity is to be understood vis-à-vis what we lazily call "The West."

Plested seeks to present a fresh picture of Aquinas, detailing Thomas' dependence upon the Greek Fathers, especially St John Damascene. Turning to St Gregory Palamas, he makes the case that Palamas was aware of and appropriated St Augustine's characterization of the Holy Spirit as the bond of love between the Father and the Son in a manner that did not compromise the Spirit's exclusive hypostatic origin from the Father. While the controversy over the extent to which Barlaam the Calabrian was channeling Augustine will no doubt continue, the notion that the hesychastic controversy was somehow a direct confrontation between Orthodoxy, embodied by Palamas, and the West, incarnated in Aquinas, is firmly dispelled.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsOverall Balanced Historical Presentation: Doesn't Gloss Over Differences Between East and West
By Orthodoxia on January 27, 2013
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This is a very helpful book that brings to light what for many is a somewhat hidden period of history, exploring Medieval attitudes of Eastern Christians toward Thomas Aquinas and 'scholasticism' in general. This takes up most of the book. The latter 1/3 ish part of the book he covers Orthodox attitudes towards Aquinas from the end of the Medieval period to the present - touching on modern theologians who are not so friendly to Thomas: Bulgakov, Soloviev, Florensky, Lossky, Romanides, Yannaras, Meyendorff, Lev Gillet and Metropolitan Kallistos Ware among others.

Plested's presentation of Eastern theologians who enthusiastically translated Aquinas into Greek is quite interesting. I admit I didn't know how fascinated many in the Christian East were with Aquinas in the Medieval period and how eager they were to introduce more Orthodox to the 'Angelic Doctor' as he is called in the Roman Catholic Tradition.

The discussion of Orthodox Readings of Aquinas is placed against the foil, more or less, of not so much Palamas - though he is given a chapter - as much as the legacy of his theology in those who followed him in subsequent generations. What the author seeks to bring out is that there were many admirers of Aquinas in the East - even some who adhered to Palamite theology. I think he does this successfully and clearly.

He also seeks to show that even those who criticize Aquinas for his 'scholasticism' themselves present their own teaching in methods taken from scholasticism. Plested holds that actually the scholastic method is an inheritance of the East that was embraced by the West via Saint John of Damascus.Read more ›
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