This book represents a series of incursions or philosophical forays between realms of Byzantine and Russian thought and territory long claimed by Western philosophy and theology. Beginning with thoughts inevitably rooted in the West, it seeks to penetrate as deeply as possible into Byzantine and Russian philosophical and spiritual landscapes, and to return with fresh insights. These are also incursions that move back and forth between the visible and the invisible realms, in the traditions of Plato and his successors as well as the great monastics of Eastern Christianity. Foltz argues from various perspectives that the problematic relation between transcendence and immanence finds its answer in the philosophical and theological legacy of Eastern Christian thought, which has always sought to bring together strands tenaciously held separate in the West. This book transports contemporary readers to an ancient conceptual landscape as it expertly handles both Western and Byzantine ideas with a familiarity unusual to contemporary scholars. It is essential reading for all those wishing to engage the heart of Byzantine thought and employ its lessons to address the problems which plague Western philosophy and culture.

This book represents a series of incursions from the region of Byzantine thought into territory long claimed by Western philosophy and theology. But at the same time, it is a project of attempting, beginning with thoughts inevitably rooted in the West, to penetrate as deeply as possible into the Byzantine philosophical and spiritual landscape. These are incursions that move back and forth between the visible and the invisible. This book shows that the problem of the relation between transcendence and immanence has found its answer in the philosophical and theological legacy of Byzantine thought, which has always sought to bring together strands tenaciously held separate in the West. This book transports contemporary readers to an ancient conceptual landscape as it expertly handles the Byzantine ideas with a familiarity unavailable to most contemporary scholars. It is an essential read for any scholar interested in recapturing the heart of Byzantine thought and using the lessons therein to address the problems which plague Western philosophy and society.

Medieval Philosophy: A Multicultural Reader comprises a comparative, multicultural reading of the four main traditions of the medieval period with extensive sections on Greek-Byzantine, Latin, Jewish, and Islamic traditions. The book also includes an initial 'Predecessors' section, presenting readings (with introductions) from figures of antiquity upon whom all four traditions have drawn. Representative readings from each of the four great traditions are presented chronologically in four different tracks, along with engaging and accessible introductions to the traditions themselves, as well as each individual thinker-all selected and presented by noted scholars within each respective tradition. This groundbreaking collection: -Offers readings from early thinkers that contextualize the medieval traditions. -Presents, for the first time, extensive readings from the Byzantine Christian tradition that has wielded an important cultural influence from Russia and the Balkans to the Middle East and Northern Africa. -Chooses and interprets texts that are integrally important within each of these four traditions–living traditions that continue to shape values and beliefs today–rather than seen from an external point of view, such as that of a later school of philosophy. -Juxtaposes extensive readings from poetic and mystical elements within these traditions alongside the usual, often more analytical readings. -Features a timeline of the entire period, a map indicating the locations associated with philosophers included in this volume, an annotated guide to further reading on each of these traditions, and an index of names and of subjects that appear in the volume. Given its relevance for approaching the medieval world on its own terms, as well as for understanding the foundations of our own world, the volume is intended not only as an academic textbook and reference work, but as a readable and informative guide for the general reader who wishes to understand these great philosophical and religious traditions that continue to influence our world today-or perhaps to simply glean the wisdom from these enduring texts. This is a culturally inclusive title, which seeks to provide the reader with a rich, varied and comprehensive insight into the entirety of the medieval philosophical world.

Western societies today are coming unmoored in the face of an earth-shaking ethical and cultural paradigm shift. At its core is the question of what it means to be human and how we are meant to live. The old answers are no longer accepted; a dizzying array of options are offered in their stead. Underpinning this smorgasbord of lifestyles is a thicket of unquestioned assumptions, such as the separation of gender from biological sex, which not so long ago would have been universally rejected as radical notions. In the spring of 2019, a group of Orthodox Christian scholars drawn from a wide variety of academic disciplines met together to offer responses to the moral crisis our generation faces, elaborating upon its various forms and facilitating a fuller understanding of some of its theological and philosophical foundations. In doing so they offer support to all those who question the claims that are so forcefully insisted upon today &– a clarity that will aid them in standing up and resisting trends that have already shown to be the cause of great suffering and unhappiness. Among the contributors to this volume are NY Times bestselling author Rod Dreher, Frederica Matthewes-Green, Dr David Bradshaw, Fr Chad Hatfield, and Fr Peter Heers. Collectively, these scholars remind us that it is only through our participation in the life of Christ, God who became man, that we can find the healing of our humanity through the restoration in us of His image, in which we were formed at the beginning of time.

This short book discusses the latest in terms of cosmology’s knowns and unknowns and sets out to ascertain the potential of Orthodox Christian theology for accommodating the current scientific view of the universe. It also addresses one of cosmology’s unknowns, the destiny of the self in the vastness of space, a topic that has caused angst since the dawn of modern science. The book examines, accordingly, the signs of a “New Copernican Turn” within contemporary culture, favouring the self and its meaningful encounters with the infinite universe, at the forefront of which being the quest for a physics that views something akin to the self as undergirding reality, not as an inconsequential byproduct of natural phenomena. The book further shows that theological, spiritual, and religious forms of nature contemplation and wonder facilitate the self’s creative intersection with the universe. It amounts to an exercise in science-engaged Orthodox theology that takes contemporary cosmology as a starting point. The intended audience of this book is scholars and researchers of science and religion, religious studies, philosophers, and theologians.

In this volume, Costache endeavours to map the world as it was understood and experienced by the early Christians. Progressing from initial fears, they came to adopt a more positive view of the world through successive shifts of perception. This did not happen overnight. Tracing these shifts, Costache considers the world of the early Christians through an interdisciplinary lens, revealing its meaningful complexity. He demonstrates that the early Christian worldview developed at the nexus of several perspectives. What facilitated this process was above all the experience of contemplating nature. When accompanied by genuine personal transformation, natural contemplation fostered the theological interpretation of the world as it had been known to the ancients.

The fall of Communism in Eastern Europe opened up a new future—for theology, too, not least in Romania, perhaps of all Orthodox nations the most open to the West. Young Romanian Orthodox theologians seized the opportunity to study and research in the West, availing themselves of mentors and resources hitherto denied them; some have settled in the West, others returned home. This welcome volume displays a theological revival as young Romanian theologians draw on tradition and address new problems. We can discern here a welcome confidence in the Orthodox tradition, no longer on the defensive nor concerned to mark itself off from the theology of the ‘West’. It is a ‘generous Orthodoxy’ (a term that has been used of the theological approach of the late Metropolitan Kallistos), ready to share its treasures with other Christians and eager to learn from them and engage with them.