St John Damascene: Tradition and Originality in Byzantine Theology by Andrew Louth
An Eighth Day Books Review
Feast of St Agrippina the Martyr of Rome
Anno Domini 2022, June 23
An Eighth Day Books Review of St. John Damascene: Tradition and Originality in Byzantine Theology by Andrew Louth
When a theologian sings, a special order of attention is due: his teaching has been transmuted into praise. St. John of Damascus (+ ca. 750), whose writings are often (if erroneously) marked as the close of the Patristic Age, gave us not only some of the greatest dogmatic treatises of all time but also some of the most magnificent hymnography: the Paschal canon, the funeral canon, the canons on the Transfiguration and the Dormition of the Mother of God. Strangely, scholarly attention to him in the English-speaking world has been almost non-existent, a lack that this important study grandly remedies. The eminent British patristic scholar Andrew Louth gives us here a thorough examination of the life and theological contribution of the Damascene, defining his methodology, summarizing his descriptions of Christian heresies (including Islam), central theological themes (the Trinity, Creation and Humankind, the Incarnation, the defense of icons), and providing a portrait of St. John as homilist and poet. St. John has often been accused of being a slavish imitator of the “more original” theological work of earlier Fathers, but Louth’s epigraph to his book (attributed to a certain Zissimos Lorenzatos)—“Originality means to remain faithful to the originals”—and the massive scholarship that follows, prove the hollowness of the claim. We will risk a stock description, simply because in this case it is so true: Louth’s work is a monument of Patristic scholarship.
346 pp. paper $65.00
Members (Patrons+) receive 10% discount, plus many other perks!
Learn more and support cultural renewal here.
Exercise the virtue of patience, resist Amazon, and support Eighth Day Books. Give them a call at 1.800.841.2541 between 10 am and 8 pm CST Mon-Sat and engage in a conversation about books and ideas with a live human person who reads books and loves to discuss them. Or, if you insist, visit their website here.
Share this Post on Your Preferred Platform
