Those who have paid attention to this site will know that the title of this post isn’t entirely accurate: a version of this paper has been on the site on the My papers page almost since the very beginning. However, I’ve finally gotten around to a revision, and the result is quite different, with substantial changes to the paper structure and more than half of the material in this version being new. A link is here, and the new version can now be found on the My papers tab of this site as well. Hopefully, you’re in the mood for something a bit more theological for the holiday season. Here is an abstract:
Abstract This paper compares the understanding of nature, will, and the Fall in Augustine and Maximus the Confessor, and finds their accounts to be identical on most points of substance, if not always in the terminology they use to express these points. On several points, they agree with each other against both Eastern and Western accounts as traditionally conceived. Given that these figures are often regarded as paradigmatic for Western and Eastern traditions of Christianity, respectively, this points to a need for a more nuanced account of the unity and divergences within and between Eastern and Western Christian traditions than that given to present.
Jacob Archambault 