Late antiquity is increasingly recognised as a period of important cultural transformation. One of its crucial aspects is the emergence of a new awareness of human individuality. In this book, the authors assess the influence of seminal thinkers, including the Gnostics, Plotinus, and Augustine, but also of cultural and religious practices such as astrology and monasticism, as well as, more generally, the role played by intellectual disciplines such as grammar and Christian theology. The volume serves as a comprehensive introduction to (...) late antique understandings of human individuality. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Byzantinische Zeitschrift Jahrgang: 111 Heft: 3 Seiten: 793-808.

For the Life of the World represents a landmark discussion of social ethics within the Orthodox academy in the West. This article begins by looking at the document's self-understanding as an exploratory rather than a definitive text that seeks to provoke rather than curtail discussion. The overarching matter of how even the possibility of a viable social ethos is debated in modern Orthodoxy is briefly dealt with through the lens of ethical apophaticism and cataphaticism. The document itself, a cataphatic contribution (...) in this regard, is then examined in terms of its ethical priorities, its tone in addressing these priorities, as well as its overall theological coherence. Potential ambiguities and dissonance in the document are highlighted. A concluding appeal is made for more work on clarifying the Orthodox theological presuppositions that go into crafting Orthodox social ethics, and a positive proposal is offered, centred on an Orthodox ethos of repentance. (shrink)