Questioning the World. Greek Patristic and Byzantine Question-and-Answer Literature

Hardback, 472 pages, Size:156 x 234 mm, Illustrations:6 tables b/w., Language(s):English, French, Greek. ISBN 9782503590752. Summary This volume discusses cosmological issues in Greek Patristic and Byzantine question-and-answer literature. By adopting this focus, it yields novel insights into both the (theological / philosophical) content and the (literary) form of the texts under scrutiny. How did Greek Patristic and Byzantine authors understand the cosmos of which they were a part and the world in which they lived? And what literary forms did they use to express their questions and answers on these issues? This collection of studies shows that, in order to bring out the important intellectual contribution of the authors under discussion, both 'cosmology' and 'question-and-answer literature' should be defined more broadly than expected. Several papers deal with the crucial corpora by Pseudo-Justin and Maximus the Confessor. Other authors under discussion include Philoponus, Pseudo-Caesarius, Michael Psellus, Severian of Gabala, and Nilus Doxopatres. Attention also goes to the critical edition of question-and-answer literature, as well as to the Greek Patristic and Byzantine reception of cosmological questions and answers from Antiquity (i.c. Aristotle, Philo of Alexandria, Plutarch, and Iamblichus). TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: Questions and Kosmoi (Bram Demulder & Peter Van Deun) Part 1: Pseudo-Justin Cosmology and its 'Problems' in Ps.-Justin's Quaestiones et responsiones ad orthodoxos (Yannis Papadogiannakis) The Ps.-Justinian Corpus of Erotapokriseis and Apologetical Treatises. In Search of an Author and a Historical Setting (Benjamin Gleede) Is the Prime Mover the Source of All Movement? Pseudo-Justin on Aristotle's Unmoved Mover (Marcelo D. Boeri) Une pol mique contre Philon d'Alexandrie dans la Question 69 ad orthodoxos attribu e Justin ? (S bastien Morlet) Part 2: Maximus the Confessor Re-interpreting Tradition: Maximus the Confessor on Creation in Ambigua ad Ioannem (Vladimir Cvetkovi?) St Maximus the Confessor on the Mystery of Christ (Torstein Theodor Tollefsen [University of Oslo]) Jamblique et Maxime le Confesseur, cosmologie et th urgie (Christian Boudignon) What Theodosius of Gangra wanted to Know from Maximus the Confessor (Bram Roosen) Part 3: Cosmologies in Sixth-Century Byzantium Les conditions de l'av nement de la lumi re dans le De opificio mundi de Jean Philopon. Difficult s et solutions (Pascal Mueller-Jourdan) Pre-Existence and the Creation of the World in Pseudo-Caesarius (Istv n Perczel) Part 4: Questioning Genre in the Middle-Byzantine Period Pagan Garlands and Christian Roses. Plutarch's Quaestiones convivales in Michael Psellus' De omnifaria doctrina (Michiel Meeusen) Cosmological Questions Answered with Severian of Gabala in MS Athonensis, Lavras B 43 (Eustratiadis 163) (Reinhart Ceulemans) Le De oeconomia Dei de Nil Doxapatr s. Quelques observations sur le genre litt raire de l'?uvre et sur sa transmission manuscrite (Peter Van Deun) List of Abbreviations Index biblicus (Maxim Venetskov) Index fontium (Maxim Venetskov)