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The orthodox churches and the west (studies in church history, vol. 13)
106
Short
excellent
reviews
translator
E. J. Sharpe University of
and
book
Willard
notes
R.
Trask,
for
this
volume.
Sydney
BAKER, Derek (ed.), The Orthodox (Studies in Church History, vol. Blackwell, 1976, pp. 336. ElO.
Churches 13).
and the
Oxford:
West
Basil
thirteenth volume of the ever-valuable Studies in Church is devoted to the important and rewarding subject of the relations between the orthodox churches and the West. It is a beguiling combination of articles which fall into the categories of stimulating reappraisals, solid extensions of current research interests and fully explored minutiae. The combinations naturally vary in scope and in importance. For instance, that old warhorse, the question of whether Gregory the Great knew Greek, is trotted out of its stable and put through jts paces for the umpteenth time. Though one would have thought that Gregory himself had said the last word on that subject 1300 years ago when he declared that he did not know Greek.
The
History
The collection does, however, contain several articles of considerable importance and scholarly weight, which add fresh insights and indeed new information to some significant areas in the relations between the orthodox churches and the West. Peter Brown lights up the As so often in his work, Dark Ages with a thought-provoking article which sets the 'parting of the ways' in a new perspective, stressing the unity rather that the disunity subsisting between East and West and reminding us that for the Mediterranean world the gulf between north and south was much more significant than that between east and west. One of the favourite occupations of Byzantinists these Averil days is rehabilitating hitherto despised Emperors. Cameron has set about rescuing Justin II from the commonly held view that he was an incompetent lunatic. Using western sources to illuminate her account, she gives a cool and judicious reappraisal of Justin's religious policy, indicating that at least before he went mad he was a conscientious and concerned ruler. W. H. C. Frend, following up his monumental work on Monophysitism, focuses attention on Eastern attitudes to the West during the Acacian Schism, demonstrating that the
Short
reviews
and
book
notes
107
the thinking of the two sides was based on completely different terms of reference. Janet Nelson's article on the differences between Eastern and Western coronation ceremonies is a thorough and authoritative piece which constitutes an important step forward in the field of liturgical history. There is a very useful article by Donald Nicol on the attitudes of the Eastern Church to the Papal Primacy after the Fourth Crusade, based on an examination of 24 Greek documents written between 1204 and 1400. Related to this is an article by Deno Geanakoplos, whose eagerly awaited book on the relations between Eastern and Western cultures is now in the press, and who here subjects the 1274 Council of Lyons to a searching re-examination and comes up with some interesting new conclusions about its significance and the role played at it by representatives of the mendicant orders, conclusions which dramatically play down the traditionally pre-eminent role of the Franciscan theologian Bonaventura. In a forceful and persuasive article on 'Anticlericalism in pre-Independence Greece 1750-1821', Richard Clogg chalienges the traditional assumption that the Church was the nucleus around which the independence movement coalesced. Eric Tappe surveys the little-known history of the Rumanian orthodox church and its relations with the West. The volume concludes with an appropriately apocalyptic piece by Nicholas Zernov which gives an impassioned account of the Russian orthodox diaspora in the 20th century and a cosmic warning about the dangers of totalitarianism and the imminent crisis of the Christian West. Jeffrey University
Richards of Lancaster
WAKEFIELD, Walter L., Heresy, Crusade and Southern France, 1100-1250. London: George 1974, pp. 288. E5.25.
Inquisition Allen and
in Unwin,
In his Preface, the author disarmingly tells us that this book began as an introduction to his translation (the first into English) of the Chronicle of William Pelhisson: the Chronicle appears here as Appendix III, occupying twenty-one pages, while the introduction has 'growed' to nearly two hundred! Equally disarming are the author's disclaimer of originality and generous acknowledgement of the work of Continental scholars. It can hardly be held an adverse criticism, then,
Short
excellent
reviews
translator
E. J. Sharpe University of
and
book
Willard
notes
R.
Trask,
for
this
volume.
Sydney
BAKER, Derek (ed.), The Orthodox (Studies in Church History, vol. Blackwell, 1976, pp. 336. ElO.
Churches 13).
and the
Oxford:
West
Basil
thirteenth volume of the ever-valuable Studies in Church is devoted to the important and rewarding subject of the relations between the orthodox churches and the West. It is a beguiling combination of articles which fall into the categories of stimulating reappraisals, solid extensions of current research interests and fully explored minutiae. The combinations naturally vary in scope and in importance. For instance, that old warhorse, the question of whether Gregory the Great knew Greek, is trotted out of its stable and put through jts paces for the umpteenth time. Though one would have thought that Gregory himself had said the last word on that subject 1300 years ago when he declared that he did not know Greek.
The
History
The collection does, however, contain several articles of considerable importance and scholarly weight, which add fresh insights and indeed new information to some significant areas in the relations between the orthodox churches and the West. Peter Brown lights up the As so often in his work, Dark Ages with a thought-provoking article which sets the 'parting of the ways' in a new perspective, stressing the unity rather that the disunity subsisting between East and West and reminding us that for the Mediterranean world the gulf between north and south was much more significant than that between east and west. One of the favourite occupations of Byzantinists these Averil days is rehabilitating hitherto despised Emperors. Cameron has set about rescuing Justin II from the commonly held view that he was an incompetent lunatic. Using western sources to illuminate her account, she gives a cool and judicious reappraisal of Justin's religious policy, indicating that at least before he went mad he was a conscientious and concerned ruler. W. H. C. Frend, following up his monumental work on Monophysitism, focuses attention on Eastern attitudes to the West during the Acacian Schism, demonstrating that the
Short
reviews
and
book
notes
107
the thinking of the two sides was based on completely different terms of reference. Janet Nelson's article on the differences between Eastern and Western coronation ceremonies is a thorough and authoritative piece which constitutes an important step forward in the field of liturgical history. There is a very useful article by Donald Nicol on the attitudes of the Eastern Church to the Papal Primacy after the Fourth Crusade, based on an examination of 24 Greek documents written between 1204 and 1400. Related to this is an article by Deno Geanakoplos, whose eagerly awaited book on the relations between Eastern and Western cultures is now in the press, and who here subjects the 1274 Council of Lyons to a searching re-examination and comes up with some interesting new conclusions about its significance and the role played at it by representatives of the mendicant orders, conclusions which dramatically play down the traditionally pre-eminent role of the Franciscan theologian Bonaventura. In a forceful and persuasive article on 'Anticlericalism in pre-Independence Greece 1750-1821', Richard Clogg chalienges the traditional assumption that the Church was the nucleus around which the independence movement coalesced. Eric Tappe surveys the little-known history of the Rumanian orthodox church and its relations with the West. The volume concludes with an appropriately apocalyptic piece by Nicholas Zernov which gives an impassioned account of the Russian orthodox diaspora in the 20th century and a cosmic warning about the dangers of totalitarianism and the imminent crisis of the Christian West. Jeffrey University
Richards of Lancaster
WAKEFIELD, Walter L., Heresy, Crusade and Southern France, 1100-1250. London: George 1974, pp. 288. E5.25.
Inquisition Allen and
in Unwin,
In his Preface, the author disarmingly tells us that this book began as an introduction to his translation (the first into English) of the Chronicle of William Pelhisson: the Chronicle appears here as Appendix III, occupying twenty-one pages, while the introduction has 'growed' to nearly two hundred! Equally disarming are the author's disclaimer of originality and generous acknowledgement of the work of Continental scholars. It can hardly be held an adverse criticism, then,