Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- List of Contributors -- Introduction: The Patristic Understanding of Ascent in the Economy of God / Don W. Springer -- Chapter 1 The Role of the Psalms in the Development of Early Church Teaching on Ascent / Benjamin D. Wayman -- Chapter 2 Liturgical Ascent at Qumran: The Essenes and Early Christianity / John S. Bergsma -- Chapter 3 Plotinus and the Ascent to Beauty / Hans Boersma -- Chapter 4 Ascent in the New Testament / Stanley E. Porter -- Chapter 5 Attaining God: The Spiritual Theology of Ignatius of Antioch / Gregory Vall -- Chapter 6 Irenaeus on Divine Ascent / Don W. Springer -- Chapter 7 “Ever Reaching for Higher and Higher Places”: Clement of Alexandria on Spiritual Ascent / Bogdan G. Bucur -- Chapter 8 Scito te ipsum : Ascent and Encounter in Origen of Alexandria’s Commentary on the Song of Songs / Amy Brown Hughes -- Chapter 9 Ascent in the Apophthegmata Patrum : The Greek Systematic Collection as a Spiritual Itinerary / Sean Argondizza-Moberg -- Chapter 10 Spirit-Bearing Souls Illuminated by the Spirit: St. Basil on Ascent / Stephen M. Hildebrand -- Chapter 11 Silence, Speech and Ascent to God: Gregory Nazianzen’s Letters and Poems on His Lenten Silence of 382 / Brian Matz -- Chapter 12 St. Macrina the Younger: The Mystagogy of Ascending Descent in Christ / Anna M. Silvas -- Chapter 13 Anagogical Exegesis: Gregory of Nyssa and Moses’ Ascent of Mount Sinai / Ann Conway-Jones -- Chapter 14 Married Women and Ascent / Sandy L. Haney -- Chapter 15 Evagrius and the Re-ascent of the νοῦς to Union with God / Despina D. Prassas -- Chapter 16 Incarnational and Theophanic Anagogy in De Trinitate / Gerald P. Boersma -- Chapter 17 The Divinization of the Theotokos: Fifth-Century Christological Controversy and the Figure of Mary / Brian E. Daley SJ -- Chapter 18 Divine Ascent in Dionysius the Areopagite / Andrew Louth -- Chapter 19 Doctrine’s Role in the Ascent to God according to John Climacus / Jonathan L. Zecher -- Chapter 20 Biblical Love, Insatiable Satisfaction, and Deification in Maximus the Confessor / Kevin M. Clarke -- Afterword -- Ancient and Medieval Authors Index -- Modern Authors Index -- Subject Index.

How does one grow holy in such times? This question drove the early Christian imagination no less than it does today. Patristic Spirituality: Classical Perspectives on Ascent to the Divine features numerous studies offering an “itinerary” for early Christian believers wishing to enter into the divine presence. Readers will discover an array of perennial early Christian wisdom into the practical challenges of ascent, “a work of God in Christ, transforming and incorporating us,” says Lewis Ayres. See how early Christians cultivated the life of grace with hospitality, silence, almsgiving, and other ascetic practices for human elevation into mystical union with God. Contributors are: Benjamin D. Wayman, John S. Bergsma and Luke Iyengar, Hans Boersma, Stanley E. Porter, Gregory Vall Don W. Springer, Bogdan G. Bucur, Amy Brown Hughes, Sean Argondizza-Moberg, Stephen M. Hildebrand, Brian Matz, Anna Silvas, Ann Conway-Jones, Sandy L. Haney, Despina D. Prassas, Gerald Boersma, Brian E. Daley, Andrew Louth, Jonathan L. Zecher, Kevin M. Clarke, Lewis Ayres.

English

Description based on print version record.