Christian Anthropology Beyond Spirituality: On Nikolaos Loudovikos' Analogical Identities and its ‘Greek‐Western’ SynthesisAnalogical Identities: The Creation of the Christian Self – Beyond Spirituality and Mysticism in the Patristic Era, NikolaosLoudovikos, Brepols, 2020 (ISBN 978‐2‐503‐57815‐6), xv + 386 pp., pb £79.35

Abstract

AbstractThis review article examines and summarizes the key ideas and contributions of Nikolaos Loudovikos' book Analogical Identities: The Creation of the Christian Self – Beyond Spirituality and Mysticism in the Patristic Era. The book offers a reimagining of Christian anthropology and the understanding of the self by critiquing what the author sees as lingering Neoplatonic influences and dualistic notions of ‘spirituality’ or ‘mysticism’. Loudovikos traces the development of problematic conceptions of the will, introspection and power in influential thinkers like Augustine, Origen and Descartes. He then provides an alternative trajectory drawing on Greek patristic authors like Maximus the Confessor, Symeon the New Theologian and Gregory Palamas. Loudovikos argues that their thinking provides resources for overcoming problematic past legacies by articulating a view of the self, grounded not in an immaterial soul, but in dialogical, embodied fulfilment through grace and participation in Christ. Central is Maximus' theology of the will, which reframes it not as something to be transcended but as expressing the universal human desire for God. Loudovikos synthesizes these currents in proposing the concept of ‘analogical identity’ to describe the transformed Christian self. The book represents a ground‐breaking contribution that creatively retrieves the diverse patristic tradition(s) to overcome lingering problems in theological anthropology and provides a holistic model of human personhood.