Orthodox Readings of Augustine (review)

The thirteen essays contained in this book originally were papers delivered in June 2007 at the Orthodox Readings of Augustine Conference held at Fordham University. In recent years there has been resurgent interest (both positive and negative) in Augustine among various Eastern Orthodox scholars, as well as among non-Orthodox scholars concerned to learn more about the bishop's reception by eastern Christians. Given this interest, the editors of the present work understand the conference and the essays it produced to be groundbreaking: "The articles presented here offer for the first time an ecumenical engagement with the history of the reception of Augustine, both the man and his work, in Eastern Orthodox Christianity" (38). Unfortunately, neither time nor space allow for a comprehensive analysis of every presenter's contribution. What follows, then, are short summaries of a handful of essays, meant to spur on potential readers in the hope that they themselves will carefully mull over each and every one of the fine pieces contained in this volume.

The intriguing opening chapter, co-written by Aristotle Papanikolaou and George E. Demacopoulos, traces the historical/theological currents that demonstrate the ancient majority consensus that Augustine was an Orthodox father, as well as the tentative acceptance by some scholars of certain aspects of Augustine's teachings within eastern Christianity. In both instances this occurred, we are told, primarily because of Photius's defense of Augustine in the ninth century, Bulgakov's engagement with his trinitarian theology in the first third of the twentieth century, and Lossky's quietly clement evaluation of the apophaticism of Augustine in the 1950s. Conversely, the "condemnation" (28, 37) of Augustine's entire theological methodology found its genesis "in early nineteenth-century Russia in its Slavophile form" (37). This downbeat assessment eventually flourished because of the soon to be normative interpretation of Augustine's negative impact on western theology and culture by certain Greek theologians of "the 1960s Generation" (27). The principle articulator of this interpretation was John Romanides, who, in turn, influenced Christos Yannaras and John Zizioulas. Romanides, whose theology was hermeneutically contingent on post-colonial Greek conceptions of "the other" (i.e., "East" over against "West"), appears to have reinforced the pre-existent relationship gap in the church by undermining Augustine's historical station as a father of the Orthodox Church (37).

Elizabeth Fisher's essay recounts the circumstances surrounding the translation of Augustine's De Trinitate in 1280 by Planoudes. Fisher briefly, but helpfully, compares passages from Augustine's Latin text to the Greek translation. Based on her assessment of the corresponding texts, Fisher concludes that, "Planoudes chose to incorporate in his translation some features of vocabulary and syntax that echo the Constantinopolitan Creed and place the Greek version of Augustine's De Trinitate in the linguistic framework of this fundamental Christian text" (52). Ultimately, however, Planoudes rejected Augustine's trinitarian doctrine. But, his translation received both scathing reviews (some aimed criticism at the translation itself, while others at the fact that he translated it in the first place), and cautious acceptance—all the while remaining influential in the Greek East for centuries after its completion (55). In regard to the influential nature of Planoudes' translation, Reinhard Flogaus argues persuasively (if not controversially) in his essay that Augustine's De Trinitate influenced Gregory Palamas, a detail that Flogus believes has been suppressed by eastern scholars in order to maintain "the old stereotypes" of the "Augustinian West and the Orthodox East" (79f.).

The last chapter by Andrew Louth is simultaneously an exceptionally learned piece of scholarship and a mediating pastoral reflection. Entitled, "'Heart in Pilgrimage': St. Augustine as Interpreter of the Psalms," Louth focuses the spotlight on Augustine as preacher—examining the bishop's homily on Psalm 100 as found in Enarrationes in Psalmos—and not "the Augustine of the great controversies" (291). Describing his methodology as "an exercise in seeing how Augustine read one of the psalms with his congregation" (295), Louth allows Augustine's exegesis to lead the discussion...