Theologian · Patristic

St. John Damascene

c. 675–749 · Byzantine synthesis

Doctor of the Church Byzantine

Doctor of the Church (declared 1890); traditionally the last of the Greek Fathers.

Son of a Christian official at the Umayyad court of Damascus, he became a monk of Mar Saba near Jerusalem. From outside the empire he wrote the Three Treatises against the iconoclast emperor, arguing that since God became visible flesh He may be depicted and that matter is a means of grace; and his Fount of Knowledge, with its Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, gathered the Greek Fathers into the first summa, which Peter Lombard and St. Thomas used.

Why he matters: Nicaea II (787) followed his theology of images; the Latin Middle Ages learned the Greek Fathers through his Exposition; and his hymns (the Paschal canon above all) are sung at every Byzantine Easter.

Reading

Three Treatises on the Divine Images

St. John Damascene · The theology of the icon at its source.

Journal
An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith

St. John Damascene · The Greek Fathers in summary.

Journal
St. John Damascene: Tradition and Originality in Byzantine Theology

Andrew Louth · The standard study.

Journal

Documented positions

Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.

Settled teaching Its center Open question Beyond teaching, not condemned Condemned error

God and Being · What is, and whence it is.

Can reason know that God exists? Natural theology

Fideism or agnosticism Natural theology

How is God related to the world? Creation from nothing

Pantheism or emanation Creation from nothing

Is the world governed by purpose? Providence and final causes

Chance and mechanism Providence and final causes

Do natures and essences really exist? Realism

Nominalism Realism

God's essence and His energies Essence–energies distinction

Essence–energies distinction Absolute simplicity

How should we speak of God? Apophatic (negative) way

Apophatic (negative) way Cataphatic (analogical) way

How does creation speak of God? A book of signs and vestiges

Natures studied in their own right A book of signs and vestiges

Faith, Reason and Truth · How we know, and whom we trust.

Faith and reason: who has the last word? Between

Rationalism Fideism

Where does knowledge begin? Between

Senses and abstraction Illumination and innate ideas

Is truth objective? Objective truth

Relativism and pragmatism Objective truth

Who interprets revelation? Living Tradition and Magisterium

Private judgment Living Tradition and Magisterium

How should Scripture be read? Fundamentalist literalism

Critical reductionism Fundamentalist literalism

Does doctrine develop? Always the same, in the same words

Always the same, in the same words A living development

Are the world's learning and arts a danger or a gift? A gift to be baptized

A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem A gift to be baptized

III

The Human Person · Soul, body, freedom and the Fall.

Is there a spiritual soul? Immortal spiritual soul

Mind is brain Immortal spiritual soul

Is the body really you? Body–soul unity

Dualism Body–soul unity

Are you free? Free will

Determinism Free will

How fallen is human nature? Basically good

Totally depraved Basically good

Does nature desire God? Natural desire for the vision of God

Pure nature Natural desire for the vision of God

The body and its desires Between

Contempt for the flesh Desire as its own law

Marriage, sex and the body's meaning Given by nature and grace

Given by nature and grace Defined by consent and identity

What is suffering for? A share in the Cross

An evil to be relieved A share in the Cross

The Moral Life · Law, virtue, conscience and the good.

Is morality objective and knowable? Natural law

Relativism Natural law

Why is the good good? Eternal law (intellectualism)

Divine command (voluntarism) Eternal law (intellectualism)

Are some acts always wrong? Intrinsically evil acts

Consequentialism Intrinsically evil acts

Rules or character? Morality of virtue and beatitude

Morality of obligation Morality of virtue and beatitude

What is conscience? Conscience bound to truth

Autonomous conscience Conscience bound to truth

What is happiness? Beatitude in God

Earthly flourishing Beatitude in God

Grace and Salvation · How God saves, and whom.

How does grace move the will? Molinist

Thomist (Bañezian) Molinist

How are we made right with God? Infused, transforming grace

Forensic imputation Infused, transforming grace

What is salvation for? Deification

Pardon and escape Deification

Hell and hope The many are lost

The many are lost All will be saved

Where does your eye rest in Christ: His divinity or His humanity? The eternal Word made flesh

The eternal Word made flesh The man Jesus of Nazareth

Church and Society · Authority, the state, wealth and the nation.

Church and state Social kingship of Christ

Laicism Social kingship of Christ

Where does authority come from? Authority from God

Social contract Authority from God

Reform or tradition? Guided by tradition

Remake by reason Guided by tradition

VII

Worship, Prayer and the Two Lungs · Liturgy, icons, the Spirit, and the See of Peter.

Liturgical development Receive and develop organically

Reconstruct and innovate Receive and develop organically

Icons and images Veneration of images

Iconoclasm Veneration of images

The way of prayer Stillness and the Jesus Prayer

Stillness and the Jesus Prayer Discursive meditation

The procession of the Holy Spirit From the Father through the Son

From the Father through the Son From the Father and the Son (Filioque)

What do the sacraments do? Efficacious ex opere operato

Signs only Efficacious ex opere operato

When the Pope speaks Every word binds

Resist and judge Every word binds

Should the faith take the forms of each culture it enters? Between

One form everywhere The Gospel in each people's own forms

What are the Eastern Catholic Churches? Sister Churches with their own rights and theology

Rites of the one Roman Church Sister Churches with their own rights and theology