Activity and Participation in Late Antique and Early Christian Thought

by Torstein Theodor Tollefsen

Activity and Participation in Late Antique and Early Christian Thought is an investigation into two basic concepts of ancient pagan and Christian thought. The study examines how activity in Christian thought is connected with the topic of for the lower levels of being to participate in the higher means to receive the divine activity into their own ontological constitution. Torstein Theodor Tollefsen sets a detailed discussion of the work of church fathers Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius the Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor, and Gregory Palamas in the context of earlier trends in Aristotelian and Neoplatonist philosophy. His concern is to highlight how the Church Fathers thought energeia (i.e. activity or energy) is manifested as divine activity in the eternal constitution of the Trinity, the creation of the cosmos, the Incarnation of Christ, and in salvation understood as deification.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 12, 2012

Reviews

[J. W. Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What more could one ask for in a book with this title? Tollefsen manages to be lucid and coherent throughout, bringing to the subject a great deal of nuance, as well as approaching the sources on their own terms. Essential reading for anyone interested in the topic.

[Mats Winther · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his book Activity and participation in late antique and early Christian thought (2012) Torstein Theodor Tollefsen tries to make sense of some basic ideas of Eastern Christian thinking, and he almost succeeds. He makes an excellent scholarly analysis of the many strange concepts, such as logoi and divine energeia. Importantly, he shows that, in the Cappadocian Fathers, the ultimate ontological category of God’s being is not really ‘the person’, as in Meyendorff and Zizioulas (pp. 212-13). I find Maximus Confessor especially inspiring. I like his concept that each individual has his own logos, a personal essential activity and purpose whose center is the Logos, i.e., the Christ.

But I can’t wrap my head around Eastern apophasis. After all, if God is beyond understanding, then we cannot know whether or not he can be known. From the apophatic standpoint follows that we cannot know that we cannot know God. So, in my view, the apophaticists are contradicting themselves.

I am also skeptical about Eastern deification: through contemplative purification and with the aid of the Holy Spirit the mind can separate from all things and attain impassibility and detachment. In this process we are “made gods”. Isn’t this the very opposite of the Christian ideal of humility? And why would we want to become impassible and detached gods in the first place? In my view, to come closer to God means to adapt to life in one’s own special way. It does not mean to sail away on a cloud of bliss. Anyway, this book gives a good insight into the mystical yet intellectually sophisticated thought-world of Byzantine and Eastern Orthodoxy. It is worth five stars.