'Working the Earth of the Heart'
The Messalian Controversy in History, Texts, and Language to AD 431
Published on 26. September 1991
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-0-19-826736-2 (ISBN)
Description
This study provides a complete reassessment of the Messalian controversy of the fourth and fifth centuries AD. The Messalians were an ascetic group, their name (of Syriac derivation) meaning `praying people'. Their extraordinary claims and graphic spiritual vocabulary were considered heretical by the early Christian Church and were condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431.
Dr Stewart reconstructs the history of the controversy from its beginnings, carefully avoiding all previous suppositions and flawed methodologies. He considers in depth the spiritual vocabulary which lies at the root of the controversy and which can also be found in the Greek pseudo-Macarian writings. He proves that the pseudo-Macarian vocabulary can be traced to a Syriac milieu and demonstrates this by comparisons with such early Syriac texts as the writings of Ephrem, Aphrahat, and especially the anonymous Liber graduum. In this light, the claims of the Messalians are shown to result from the influence upon Greek Christian culture of an equally orthodox tradition, the Semitic Syriac culture of the Christian East. Christian writers of both cultures were determined to show others a way to 'work the earth of the heart', an image favoured by pseudo-Macarius for its evocation of the patient labour of asceticism. The controversy was thus not indeed a question of heresy, but of misperceived differences of culture and of spiritual idiom.
Dr Stewart reconstructs the history of the controversy from its beginnings, carefully avoiding all previous suppositions and flawed methodologies. He considers in depth the spiritual vocabulary which lies at the root of the controversy and which can also be found in the Greek pseudo-Macarian writings. He proves that the pseudo-Macarian vocabulary can be traced to a Syriac milieu and demonstrates this by comparisons with such early Syriac texts as the writings of Ephrem, Aphrahat, and especially the anonymous Liber graduum. In this light, the claims of the Messalians are shown to result from the influence upon Greek Christian culture of an equally orthodox tradition, the Semitic Syriac culture of the Christian East. Christian writers of both cultures were determined to show others a way to 'work the earth of the heart', an image favoured by pseudo-Macarius for its evocation of the patient labour of asceticism. The controversy was thus not indeed a question of heresy, but of misperceived differences of culture and of spiritual idiom.
Reviews / Votes
'This is an important book for the history of the Messalian controversy and even more so for the history of Christian spirituality by the light its main chapters throw on the specialized terminology and imagery of Syrian spirituality.'ADRIS Newsletter, 1991-1992 'a major step toward exposing the origins and milieu of Messalianism in syrian christian culture'
Cistercian Studies Quarterly, Vol. 28, 1993, No. 1 'In this new and brilliant study, Fr Columba Stewart attempts to get behind the stereotypes that have haunted discussion of the Macarian Homilies and make a fresh start. As befits such an important work of scholarship, the text is very nearly immaculate, with no mistakes at all that I could detect in the Greek.'
Andrew Louth, Journal of Theological Studies, Vol. 44, No. 1, April 1993 The author draws succinct conclusions that are by no means overstated. What we see with clearer traits thanks to the author's meticulous exposition is an imperial Church still in the process of endowing itself with structures, liturgical and spiritual norms, doctrinal definitions and a clear and stately role in the world ... This is an impressive work with far reaching implications which ... open up vistas for a genuine and profound ecumenism ... the publication does honour to Oxford University and its press. * Anthony Ward, S.M., Ephemerides Liturgicae 108 (1994) *
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Oxford University Press
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
577 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-826736-2 (9780198267362)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Content
Part 1 Introduction and method: the ascetical crucible of controversy; the Messalian controversy; the writings of Ps-Macarian writings and their Syrian background. Part 2 The Messalian controversy - history and texts: the emergence of the Messalians; the synod of Antioch and the shift to Asia Minor; towards condemnation by the Third Ecumenical council; the lists of Messalian doctrines. Part 3 Spiritual vocabulary of Ps-Macarius: the writings of Ps-Macarius; the Syrian background of Ps-Macarius; the significance of the spiritual vocabulary of Ps-Macarius. Part 4 A Greek vocabulary of Christian experience. Part 5 Metaphors of spiritual experience in Greek and Syriac: metaphors of mixing and blending; the indwelling of sin and of the spirit; being filled with the spirit or with sin the Syrian face of Ps-Macarius; conclusions. Part 6 Messalian historiography and the Syrian background of Ps-Macarius: the dangerous ambiguity of language; the encounter between two cultures.