Gregory Palamas’ Metaphysics of Light

Patrícia Calvário is a historian of medieval and early modern philosophy and a scientific collaborator at the Institut Supérieur de Philosophie of the Université Catholique de Louvain. Her research interests include Greek Patristics, Hesychasm, and the Beatific Vision, with a focus on the connections between Byzantine theology and the philosophical traditions of the Second Scholasticism.

Contents


Preface


Acknowledgements


Notes on the Translation of Technical Terms





Introduction


 1 The Problem and Its History


 2 Gregory Palamas


 3 Hesychasm


 4 Monasticism


 5 Controversy with Barlaam of Calabria


 6 The Works of Palamas and the Controversy


 7 Philosophy and Theology


 8 Energeiai


 9 Metaphysics of Light


 10 Questions and Paths to Be Developed





1 The Contemporary Reception of Palamas





2 Genesis of the Palamite Controversy


 1 Procession of the Holy Spirit


 2 The Criticism of the Latin Position on the Procession of the Holy Spirit


 3 The Demonstration in Theology


 4 First Critiques to the Theory of Illumination





3 Light and the Psychophysical Method


 1 Components of the Method


 2 Descriptions of the Method





4 Light and the Place of the Heart


 1 The Natural Center


 2 The Metaphysical Center





5 Light and Corporeality


 1 The Body as the Completeness of the Image of God


 2 Impassibility


 3 Anticipated Eschatology of the Body





6 Light and Deification


 1 The (Super)Natural Character of Deification





7 Light and Vision


 1 Intellectual Perception or Spiritual Senses


 2 Modes of “Perception” of Light


 3 Vision and Epektasis





8 Light and Knowledge


 1 The Faculties of Human Being


 2 Natural Knowledge


 3 Supernatural Knowledge





9 Metaphysics of Light


 1 Transfiguration: from the Light of the Logos to the Hesychast Light


 2 The Nature of Light





Concluding Remarks


Bibliography


Index