Science and Eastern Orthodoxy: From the Greek Fathers to the Age of Globalization, by Efthymios Nicolaidis

Abstract

Science and Eastern Orthodoxy: From the Greek Fathers to the Age of Globalization, by Efthymios Nicolaidis, translated by Susan Emanuel. Medicine, Science, and Religion in Historical Context Series. Baltimore, Maryland, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011. xx, 252 pp. $55.00 US (cloth). An ambitious and wide-ranging project covering a long chronological period, this book is translated with attention by Susan Emanuel and, apparently, is not a translation of an earlier monograph but the first appearance of the title. Given that most of the writing appears to have been completed by 2010, the processes of translation and production have been remarkably swift and efficient. Greek Fathers of the subtitle could be either referring to: a) all Hierarchs roughly up to the Palaiologan era, with the pinnacle of theological thought being attributed by many to the Athonite Gregory Palamas (1296-1359, Archbishop of Thessalonica 1347-59), especially for his theology of the uncreated light corresponding to the Sixth Beatitude: Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God, Matt. 5:8, KJV. (Gregory Palamas is featured in chapter seven, True Knowledge and Ephemeral Knowledge: Hesychast Debate, pp. 93-105). Or, b) specifically the Cappadocian Fathers, Basil the Great (c. 330-79), Basil's brother Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-c. 395), and their friend Gregory the Theologian or of Nazianzus (329-91) to the first two of whom the author dedicates the opening chapter (pp. 1-23). In it, Basil's and Nyssa's contrasting commentaries on Genesis are highlighted. Commentaries on Genesis were known as Hexaemerons or Hexaemera and they are a pre-Christian genre with a famous example, being that by the profoundly influential Philo of Alexandria (c. 12 BC-c. 54 BC), while the first Christian Hexaemeron was written by Origen (c. 185-c. 254), the great Alexandrian Neo-Platonist who believed in the eventual restoration of all souls (apokatastasis) as opposed to eternal suffering. Hexamera of Basil and Gregory follow in that tradition. They were, however, not only contrasting in their ideas, which no doubt the reader will enjoy, but also in their intended audiences, with Basil addressing the multitudes and Gregory a select circle of brilliant scholars. Gerhart D. Ladner, The Philosophical Anthropology of Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 12 (1958), pp. 59-94 and C.W. Macleod, Allegory and Mysticism in Origen and Gregory of Nyssa, Journal of Theological Studies, 22 (1971), pp. 362-79 accentuate the philosophical prowess of Gregory. linking of Basil with Gregory Palamas in chapter seven in relation to their respective perceptions of the uncreated light gives the first part of the book a pleasing sense of purpose. Within the bookends of Basil and Palamas several more elements of Byzantine culture are explored. second part of the book addresses some enormous topics, each of which could justify a monograph in themselves. After regressing chronologically to look at Persian, Latin and Jewish sources, the book tunas to the much-discussed Exodus to Italy and the creation of the post-Byzantine world, relations with the Slavic Churches and the Greek (or Neo-Hellenic) Enlightenment. …