Evagrius and His Legacy eds. by Joel Kalvesmaki and Robin Darling Young (review)

This volume of essays, under the dual editorship of Joel Kalvesmaki, editor in Byzantine studies at Dumbarton Oaks and of the reference work Guide to Evagrius Ponticus (http://evagriusponticus.net), and Robin Darling Young, Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Catholic University of America, issues from a two-year, cooperative workshop on the fourth-century Christian thinker Evagrius and his legacy at Dumbarton Oaks, with the co-sponsorship of the University of Notre Dame. This collaboration brought together scholars researching in the burgeoning field of Evagriana to present papers as well as several leading scholars in the wider field of Early Christian Studies to respond to their work. The multiple stages of research and writing, careful peer review and revision, and patient fine-tuning that went into the production of this book and its essays is evident in the final product's fine scholarship. An introduction by Young and Kalvesmaki opens the volume, followed by six studies on various aspects of the life, works, and thought of Evagrius in his own day, then six more concerning his legacy and reception. The volume is rounded out by useful end matter, including a select bibliography of Evagrius' works (the most exhaustive bibliography of Evagrius' known works is available at http://evagriusponticus.net) along with those of other ancient and medieval authors and the secondary studies cited in the book. The volume concludes with brief biographies of the twelve contributors and a fairly thorough index.

One of the most valuable portions of the book is the introduction by Young and Kalvesmaki that outlines Evagrius' life and major significance, and defines the agenda of the volume's contributors in relation to previous scholarship on this contested late antique figure, which has been beleaguered by two main problems: viewing Evagrius as only a monk in the monastic tradition, and viewing him as a heretic (or trying to defend him from charges of heresy). Both approaches have distorted the context, value, and complexity of Evagrius, and the contributions in this study are made with the intention of shifting the focus away from these two preoccupations towards a richer and more nuanced analysis. Because most of the essays occupy themselves with specific topics as opposed to a more broad approach, the introduction is eminently useful for new students as well as more seasoned scholars less familiar with this provocative and engaging thinker, whose influence—albeit cloaked at times—has been profound over the centuries in the Byzantine, Latin, Syriac, and Armenian ascetic and intellectual traditions.

The first set of six chapters strikes a balance between theological and philosophical topics on the one hand, with spiritual, literary, and historical approaches on the other. The chapter by Brian Daley brings Evagrius into theological conversation with the Cappadocian Fathers (Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa) whom he knew on a personal basis, and provides a nuanced analysis that charts continuities and discontinuities in their theology, all the while with an eye towards differentiating the varied thought of the Cappadocians themselves. Kevin Corrigan's contribution explicates Evagrius' language of "cutting" that he uses in regards to the eight logismoi (evil thoughts). This is a detailed and dense study of a less commonly studied feature of Evagrius' thought, which at the same time reveals his deep indebtedness to both his pagan philosophical predecessors and contemporaries as well as his philosophically informed reading of the Scriptures. The chapters of Luke Dysinger and Julia Konstantinovsky take up the more spiritual and contemplative aspects of Evagrius' thought. Dysinger presents Evagrius as an exegete of the soul, mobilizing scriptural reading practices to "read" the hearts of the disciples who sought his advice. Konstantinovsky, making use of Maximus the Confessor to aid in her explication of Evagrius, shows the inseparability of ascetic practice and theological contemplation in Evagrius' teaching, emphasizing how even ascetic practice centers on the cognitive faculty, while contemplation is impossible without the...