AN EXISTENTIAL MODEL FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SAINT MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR
AN EXISTENTIAL MODEL FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SAINT MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR

Summary/Abstract: By taking a brief look at the history of human thinking, we find that people are constantly preoccupied byexistence. From the perspective of cosmological models, one can even speak of their philosophical andscientific history. In Greek theology, Saint Maximus the Confessor is the author of an existential modelthat integrates both the cosmological and the anthropological dimensions. Its particularity consists of thefact that it describes the fundamental stages of existence in terms that are found in the Platonic andAristotelian philosophies. This vision is permeated by the pre-Christian Greek philosophical tradition inwhich Saint Maximus found elements compatible to Christianity. His existential model is based on theChristian revelation expressed in philosophical and theological concepts, with an obvious tendency forobjectivity. The three coordinates of Saint Maximus’ existential model are existence - the good existence– the eternal existence. The fundamental concepts of Saint Maximus’ existential model that determine thequality of the human way of living are nature, power, energy, movement, and free will. More specifically,the way in which the formation of good habits is described by reference to the rationale of humanexistence reflects a hermeneutical capacity that synthesizes Aristotle's Nicomachean ethics and Christianethics. For this reason, Saint Maximus’ existential model can be a reflection base for contemporaryphilosophy and anthropology.

• Details
• Contents