Read more
The philosophical and theological study of aesthetics has a long and rich history, stretching back to Platös identification of ultimate goodness and beauty, together representing the eternal form. Recent trends in aesthetic theory, however, characterised by a focus on the ¿beautiful¿ at the expense of the ¿good¿, have made it an object of suspicion in the Orthodox Church. In its place, Greek theologians have sought to emphasise philokalia as a truer theological discipline.
Seeking to reverse this trend, Chrysostomos Stamoulis brings into conversation a plethora of voices, from Church fathers to contemporary poets, and from a Marxist political theorist to a literary critic. Out of this dialogue, Stamoulis builds a model for the re-appropriation of Orthodoxy¿s patristic and Byzantine past that is no longer defined in antithesis to the Western present. The openness he proposes allows us to perceive afresh the world ¿shot through with divinity¿, if only we can lift our gaze to see it. Dismantling the false dichotomy, philokalia or aesthetics, is the first step.
About the author
Chrysostomos Stamoulis is Professor of Dogmatic and Symbolic Theology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and has lectured across Europe, Asia and the United States. He is interested in the relation of Orthodox theology to a range of contemporary issues, and his previous publications include 'What Business has the Fox at the Bazaar? Essays on the Dialogue of Orthodoxy with Politics, Culture and the City (2016), and Love and Death: An Essay on the Incarnation (2019).
