Yearning for the One: Chapters in the Inner Life of the Greeks

In this searching investigation, Stelios Ramfos explores the roots of the modern debate on the person and concludes that the preoccupation of the Byzantine Greeks with eternity inhibited them from developing a fruitful sense of interiority. He argues that, nevertheless, a figure such as Leontius of Byzantium can suggest a way forward if Byzantine theological thinking is re-visited in the light of insights derived from the Western philosophical tradition. Contents Preface PART I: THE IDENTITY OF THE PERSON 1. In Search of the Person p. 3 The Parameters of the Problem p. 3 Argument and Counterargument p. 15 Dialogue p. 37 2. Solution and Impasse p. 95 The Search for the Person in the Medieval West p. 95 The Search for the Person in the Byzantine East p. 111 PART II: UNACHIEVED INDIVIDUATION 3. From the Theology of the Person to Its History p. 133 Between Corruption and Incorruption p. 133 The Babylonian Captivity of Orthodoxy to Symbols p. 149 4. Stages in Greek Individualism p. 179 Orientation p. 179 Symeon the Pious and Symeon the New Theologian p. 186 Kekaumenon’s Strategikon p. 204 The Spaneas p. 215 Bessarion’s Letter p. 224 Gnomologia and Mathemataria p. 228 The Chrestoetheia of Antonios Byzantios p. 232 A Counterblast to the Chrestoetheia: the Pedalion p. 243 The Savoir Vivre of the Twentieth Century p. 247 PART III: THE SELF-SUBSISTENCE OF THE PERSON 5. Persons and Things in a New Era p. 267 The Creation of the Modern World p. 267 Toward an Anthropology of the Person p. 277 The Body and the Person p. 285 The Person and Relation p. 296 Collective Identity and the Person p. 307 Epilogue p. 321 Index p. 335 Product Description Paperback: 342 Pages Publisher: Holy Cross Orthodox Press ISBN: 978-1-935317-17-3 Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.8 inches Author: Stelios Ramfos Publication Year: 2011 Translator: Norman Russell