The Wisdom of Maximus the Confessor: Logos, Will, and the Unity of All Things in Christ

Maximus the Confessor (c. 580–662) is one of the great minds of late antiquity, the architect of the doctrine that the will of Christ is two and not one, and the central figure in the Byzantine controversies that ended in his torture and exile. The Wisdom of Maximus the Confessor: Logos, Will, and the Unity of All Things in Christ is a clear, contemplative introduction to his life, his thought, and the long aftermath of his witness.

The book moves through the patient inheritance Maximus received from Origen, the Cappadocians, and Pseudo-Dionysius; the deep metaphysics of the logoi in which every creature has its inner principle in the eternal Word; the technical Christology of two natures and two wills; the ascetic theology of charity and the transformation of the passions; the cosmic liturgy of the Mystagogia; and the imperial trials that ended in mutilation in Lazica.

Readers will find:

• A careful unfolding of the doctrine of the logoi and its implications for the Christian view of creation
• The Christological metaphysics of two natures, two wills, and one person, with attention to its bearing on freedom and grace
• A reading of the eucharistic liturgy as the figure of the cosmos in the Mystagogia
• The ascetic spirituality of apatheia, charity, and the reordering of the passions
• The contested doctrine of universal restoration, treated with the caution Maximus himself preferred
• The historical drama of the Lateran Council of 649, the trials at Constantinople, and the long vindication that followed

The Wisdom of Maximus the Confessor: Logos, Will, and the Unity of All Things in Christ brings together biography, doctrine, and spiritual practice into a single contemplative narrative, accessible to readers without specialist training and rewarding for those who want to engage one of the deepest minds of the Christian tradition.