Europe, Byzantium, and the "Intellectual Silence" of Rus' Culture (Beyond Medieval Europe)

"This book sets out to answer the question of why Eastern Church writers showed no interest in analytical reasoning - the so-called "intellectual silence" of Rus' culture - while Western Church writers, by the time of the Scholastics, routinely incorporated analytical reasoning into their defences of the faith. Donald Ostrowski suggests that Western, post-Enlightenment- trained, analytical scholars miss the point, not because of an inability to comprehend cultural ideas which seem abstract and ineffable, but because the agenda is different. For the Eastern Church, faith was superior to reason. Eastern Church thinkers did not see any worth in disputation. If God is a mystery, and this world is an emanation from God, then this world is a mystery too. In the Eastern Church, they did not ask "Why" because, for them, any answer, any explanation, was merely a begging of the question. Why divide into categories what is whole and seamless? Why try to articulate what is ineffable?."--Bloomsbury Publishing "This book sets out to answer the question of why Eastern Church writers showed no interest in analytical reasoning - the so-called 'intellectual silence' of Rus' culture - while Western Church writers, by the time of the Scholastics, routinely incorporated analytical reasoning into their defences of the faith. Donald Ostrowski suggests that Western, post-Enlightenment- trained, analytical scholars miss the point, not because of an inability to comprehend cultural ideas which seem abstract and ineffable, but because the agenda is different. For the Eastern Church, faith was superior to reason. Eastern Church thinkers did not see any worth in disputation. If God is a mystery, and this world is an emanation from God, then this world is a mystery too. In the Eastern Church, they did not ask 'Why' because, for them, any answer, any explanation, was merely a begging of the question. Why divide into categories what is whole and seamless? Why try to articulate what is ineffable?"--Back cover Front Cover -1 Front matter 3 Half-title 3 About the Series 4 Title Page 5 Copyright 6 Table of Contents 7 List of illustrations 8 Acknowledgements 9 Body 11 Introduction 11 1. Aesthetic Judgment 23 2. Neoplatonism, East and West 49 Prayer of the Divine Name 53 Breath Control 54 The Heart as an Epistemological Organ 56 Anti-Philosophy (Against the Mind That Is Not within the Heart) 59 Being Born Again after Degradation 59 3. Why Was There an Abelard? 69 4. The Eastern Church’s Philosophical Outlook 85 Conclusion 95 Back matter 98 List of Abbreviations 98 Works Cited 99 Primary Sources 99 Studies 104 Index 115 This book sets out to answer the question of why Eastern Church writers showed no interest in analytical reasoning - the so-called 'intellectual silence' of Rus' culture - while Western Church writers, by the time of the Scholastics, routinely incorporated analytical reasoning into their defences of the faith.Donald Ostrowski suggests that Western, post-Enlightenment- trained, analytical scholars often miss the point, not because of an inability to comprehend cultural ideas which seem abstract and ineffable, but because the agenda is different. List of Illustrations vi Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 1. Aesthetic Judgment 13 2. Neoplatonism, East and West 39 3. Why Was There an Abelard? 59 4. The Eastern Church’s Philosophical Outlook 75 Conclusion 85 List of Abbreviations 88 Works Cited 89 Index 105

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