Books by Johannes Zachhuber
Gregory of Nyssa, On the Hexaemeron: Text, translation, and essays, 2024
In this Introduction to the volume, Gregory of Nyssa’s In hexaemeron is presented as a work of ea... more In this Introduction to the volume, Gregory of Nyssa’s In hexaemeron is presented as a work of early Christian philosophy. It is contextualised within the author’s life and literary career. Some summary remarks are devoted to the content and argument of the treatise. In another section, its historical background is sketched against the history of the exegesis of the Hexaemeron beginning with Philo of Alexandria. Relationships with Plato’s Timaeus, Stoicism, and the thought of Origen are also considered. A final part discusses some key themes in the writing, simultaneous creation, the origin of matter, and the doctrine of logos. As these will be more fully investigated in the other chapters of the volume, the Introduction refers to the relevant places where further information on these issues can be found.
Gregory of Nyssa: In Hexaemeron, 2024
This chapter discusses Gregory’s use of Logos in his In hexaemeron. The treatise displays a clear... more This chapter discusses Gregory’s use of Logos in his In hexaemeron. The treatise displays a clear concern to ascribe to Logos an important role in God’s creative agency. But Gregory also limited his use of the term to the interpretation of the verses in Genesis 1 reporting God’s speech. This restraint is remarkable in view of a long history of Logos cosmology since Philo of Alexandria. In the chapter, it is argued that Gregory seeks to avoid the identification of Logos with the pre-existent Christ as this was bound up with a kind of ontological subordination Gregory found doctrinally unacceptable. Logos for him therefore is on the one hand God’s Word, on the other hand the rational, developmental principle immanent in the created order. How the two are related is not ultimately clarified by Gregory in his treatise. The chapter ends by sketching broader implications for Gregory’s theology and epistemology.
Platonism and Christianity in Late Ancient Cosmology: God, Soul, Matter, 2022
The Introduction to the edited volume Platonism and Christianity in Late Ancient Cosmology inscri... more The Introduction to the edited volume Platonism and Christianity in Late Ancient Cosmology inscribes late ancient cosmology into the reception of Plato's Timaeus and the Book of Genesis. Important ideas of Plato's dialogue are sketched and connected with the principal problems to emerge in later debates, notably the problem of principles, of soul, and of matter. Subsequently, an outline of the variation these topics received in early Christian debate is provided. The individual chapters in the book are connected with the overall narrative to indicate how the volume as a whole contributes to the scholarly discussion of cosmology in late antiquity.
Can time exist independently of consciousness? In antiquity this question was often framed as an ... more Can time exist independently of consciousness? In antiquity this question was often framed as an enquiry into the relationship of time and soul. Aristotle cautiously suggested that time could not exist without a soul that is counting it. This proposal was controversially debated among his commentators. The present book offers an account of this debate beginning from Aristotle’s own statement of the problem in Book IV of the Physics. Subsequent chapters discuss Aristotle’s Peripatetic followers, Boethus of Sidon and Alexander of Aphrodisias; his Neoplatonic readers, Plotinus and Simplicius; and early Christian authors, Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine. At the centre of the debate stood the relation between the subjective time in the soul and the objective time of the cosmos. Both could be seen as united in the world soul as the seat of subjective time on a cosmic scale. But no solution to the problem was final. No theory gained general acceptance. The book shows the fascinating variety and plurality of ideas about time and soul throughout antiquity. Throughout antiquity, the problem of time and soul remained as intriguing as it proved intractable.
A reader of FC Baur's work on philosophy of religion, history of dogma, New Testament criticism, ... more A reader of FC Baur's work on philosophy of religion, history of dogma, New Testament criticism, church history, and the controversies of his day, containing both newly translated texts and excerpts from previous translations. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/ferdinand-christian-baur-a-reader-9780567694485/
The F. C. Baur Reader, 2022
In the Introduction, the editors offer an overview of Baur’s life and works contextualising him i... more In the Introduction, the editors offer an overview of Baur’s life and works contextualising him in his historical and intellectual environment, paying attention to the state of current scholarship. Special attention is given to the texts included in the Reader. The Introduction emphasises the breadth of Baur’s scholarly achievement and the unified vision he pursued across his wide range of academic interests. Attention is also drawn to his critical reception beginning in his own time. Baur’s scholarship has led to polarising assessments, and the Introduction seeks to give a balanced overview including more recent, critical interpretations of his work.
A three-volume, authoritative history of German theology from Kant to the present.
To be publis... more A three-volume, authoritative history of German theology from Kant to the present.
To be published by Oxford University Press in 2022.
The Table of Contents can be viewed here: https://ohmgt.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/contents/.
OUP, 2020
The Rise of Christian Theology and the End of Ancient Metaphysics: Patristic Philosophy from the ... more The Rise of Christian Theology and the End of Ancient Metaphysics: Patristic Philosophy from the Cappadocian Fathers to John of Damascus
Abstract: It has rarely been recognized that the Christian writers of the first millennium pursued an ambitious and exciting philosophical project alongside their engagement in the doctrinal controversies of their age. This book offers for the first time a full analysis of this Patristic philosophy. It shows how it took its distinctive shape in the late fourth century and gives an account of its subsequent development until the time of John of Damascus.
The book falls into three main parts. The first of them starts from an analysis of the philosophical project underlying the teaching of the Cappadocian fathers, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus. This philosophy, arguably the first distinctively Christian theory of being, soon becomes near-universally shared in Eastern Christianity. Few decades after the Cappadocians, all sides in the early Christological controversy take its fundamental tenets for granted. Its application to the Christological problem thus appeared inevitable. Yet it created substantial conceptual problems.
Parts 2 and 3 of the book describe in detail how these problems led to a series of increasingly radical modifications of the Cappadocian philosophy. The chapters of Part 2 are dedicated to the miaphysite opponents of the Council of Chalcedon, while Part 3 discusses the defenders of the Council from the early sixth to the eighth century. Through this overview, the book reveals this period as one of remarkable philosophical creativity, fecundity, and innovation.
Through various realignments beginning in the Revolutionary era and continuing across the ninetee... more Through various realignments beginning in the Revolutionary era and continuing across the nineteenth century, Christianity not only endured as a vital intellectual tradition, but also contributed importantly to a wide variety of significant conversations, movements, and social transformations across the diverse spheres of intellectual, cultural, and social history. The Oxford Handbook of Nineteenth-Century Christian Thought proposes new readings of the diverse sites and variegated role of the Christian intellectual tradition across what has come to be called 'the long nineteenth century'. It represents the first comprehensive examination of a picture emerging from the twin recognition of Christianity's abiding intellectual influence and its radical transformation and diversification under the influence of the forces of modernity.
Part one investigates changing paradigms that determine the evolving approaches to religious matters during the nineteenth century, providing readers with a sense of the fundamental changes at the time. Section two considers human nature and the nature of religion. It explores a range of categories rising to prominence in the course of the nineteenth century, and influencing the way religion in general, and Christianity in particular, were conceived. Part three focuses on the intellectual, cultural, and social developments of the time, while part four looks at Christianity and the arts-a major area in which Christian ideas, stories, and images were used, adapted, and challenged during the nineteenth century. Christianity was radically pluralized in the nineteenth century, and the fifth section is dedicated to 'Christianity and Christianities'. The chapters sketch the major churches and confessions during the period. The final part considers doctrinal themes registering the wealth and scope through broad narrative and individual example. This authoritative reference work offers an indispensible overview of a period whose forceful ideas continue to be present in contemporary theology.
The author addresses the continuing importance of the Reformation and its ongoing relevance for t... more The author addresses the continuing importance of the Reformation and its ongoing relevance for theology today through an exploration of Luther's understanding of Christology, the doctrine of the person of Jesus Christ. "In Luther's theological position lay a strong and uncompromising affirmation of the absolute centrality of the person of Jesus Christ for the Christian faith. In this sense, the principle, slogan or motto "Christ alone" (solus Christus) is the culmination of the other three, similar phrases - Scripture alone (sola scriptura); by faith alone (sola fide); by grace alone (sola gratia) - which are often associated with Reformation theology. The centrality of Luther's fixation on the person of Jesus Christ as the one, single redeemer of humankind will, I hope, open a perspective for the commemoration of Luther and his Reformation that should be of interest and concern for Protestants and Catholics alike.
The paper uploaded is the original lecture given at Marquette University in April 2017
In recent years, late antiquity has increasingly been recognised as a major period of cultural tr... more In recent years, late antiquity has increasingly been recognised as a major period of cultural transformation. One of its crucial aspects is the emergence of a new awareness of human individuality. In this collection of essays, an interdisciplinary and international group of scholars documents and analyses this development. Authors assess the influence of seminal thinkers, including the Gnostics, Plotinus, and Augustine, but also of cultural and religious practices such as astrology and monasticism, as well as, more generally, the role played by intellectual disciplines such as grammar and Christian theology. Due to its thematic and disciplinary breadth, the volume will serve as a comprehensive introduction to the topic.
The introduction gives an overview of recent debates about the significance of late antiquity as ... more The introduction gives an overview of recent debates about the significance of late antiquity as a period of transformation and transition with a special emphasis on individuality. The individual contributions to the book are inscribed into this narrative. Thinkers discussed include M. Foucault, C. Taylor, R. Sorabji, and G. Stroumsa.
Theology as Science in Nineteenth-Century Germany. From F.C. Baur to Ernst Troeltsch
This study describes the origin, development and crisis of the German nineteenth-century project ... more This study describes the origin, development and crisis of the German nineteenth-century project of theology as science. Its narrative is focused on the two predominant theological schools during this period, the Tübingen School and the Ritschl School. Their work emerges as a grand attempt to synthesize historical and systematic theology within the twin paradigms of historicism and German Idealism. Engaging in detail with the theological, historical and philosophical scholarship of the story's protagonists, Johannes Zachhuber reconstructs the basis of this scholarship as a deep belief in the eventual unity of human knowledge. This idealism clashed with the historicist principles underlying much of the scholars' actual research. The tension between these paradigms ran through the entire period and ultimately led to the disintegration of the project at the end of the century.
Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, many of which have never been used in English speaking scholarship before, Zachhuber embeds the essentially theological story he presents within broader intellectual developments in nineteenth century Germany. In spite of its eventual failure, the project of theology as science in nineteenth century Germany is here described as a paradigmatic intellectual endeavour of European modernity with far-reaching significance beyond the confines of a single academic discipline.
Theology as Science in Nineteenth-Century Germany, Oct 3, 2013
This is the introductory chapter to my book Theology as Science in Nineteenth-Century Germany: Fr... more This is the introductory chapter to my book Theology as Science in Nineteenth-Century Germany: From F.C.Baur to Ernst Troeltsch. It contextualizes the nineteenth-century debate about theology as science both within the larger question of whether and, if so, how theology is Wissenschaft (scientia; ‘science’) and within the more specific situation arising from the mid-eighteenth century through the rise of historicism and the specific turn in philosophy of religion since Kant. It starts from a discussion of theology’s institutional context in the university and its the modern transformations; F. Schleiermacher’s contribution to this debate is specifically treated. Subsequent sections explore historicization as a general phenomenon of European culture at the turn of the nineteenth century and its effect on theology in particular as well as the specific contribution made by the rise of German Idealism.
Sacrifice and Modern Thought
Sacrifice has always been central to the study of religion yet attempts to understand and assess ... more Sacrifice has always been central to the study of religion yet attempts to understand and assess the concept have usually been controversial. The present book, which is the result of several years of interdisciplinary collaboration, suggests that in many ways the fascination with sacrifice has its roots in modernity itself. Theological developments following the Reformation, the rediscovery of Greek tragedies, and the encounter with the practice of human sacrifice in the Americas triggered a complex and passionate debate in the sixteenth century which has never since abated. Contributors to this volume, leading experts from theology, anthropology, and literary and cultural studies, describe and discuss how this modern fascination for the topic of sacrifice has evolved, how it has shaped theological debate, the literary imagination, and anthropological theory. Individual chapters discuss in depth major theological trajectories, theories of sacrifice including those of Marcel Mauss and René Girard, and current feminist criticism. They engage with sacrifice in the context of religious and philosophical thought, works of literature and film. They explore different yet overlapping aspects of modernity's obsession with sacrifice. The book does not intend to impose a single narrative over all these diverse contributions but brings them into a conversation around a common centre.
The Introduction starts from the observation that sacrifice has been an obsession of modernity. T... more The Introduction starts from the observation that sacrifice has been an obsession of modernity. This is subsequently explicated through a survey of approaches to sacrifice from the 16th century. Three contexts are explored in particular: the theological debate following the Reformation; the reception of Greek tragedy; the encounter with non-European practices of sacrifice in the wake of the age of discovery. There are evident overlaps between the three, and yet they have to be seen as in a way separate factors ensuring the abiding fascination of the modern West with the notion of sacrifice.
This paper traces contemporary perceptions of sacrifice in scholarly and public debates. It seeks... more This paper traces contemporary perceptions of sacrifice in scholarly and public debates. It seeks to show how they are due to the very specific and in some ways counterintuitive interpretation the notion of sacrifice has received in Christian theology.
This volume explores Gregory Of Nyssa's concept of human nature. It argues that the frequent use ... more This volume explores Gregory Of Nyssa's concept of human nature. It argues that the frequent use Gregory makes of phusis-terminology is not only a terminological predilection, but rather the key to the philosophical and theological foundations of his thought.
Starting from an overview of the theological landscape in the early 360's the study first demonstrates the meaning and relevance of universal human nature as an analogy for the Trinity in Cappadocian theology. The second part explores Gregory's use of this same notion in his teaching on the divine economy. It is argued that Gregory takes this philosophical theory into the service of his own theology.
Ultimately the book provides an example for the mutual interaction of philosophy and Christian theology in the fourth century.
Forgiveness has traditionally been associated with a duty to remember in order for reconciliation... more Forgiveness has traditionally been associated with a duty to remember in order for reconciliation to be possible. Human failure, evil, and atrocities could thus only be forgiven on the basis of a saving memory. Forgetting, by contrast, had to be excluded in the interest of a truthful and genuinely new beginning. Historical experience, it seemed, supported this account. The essays collected in this volume seek to challenge this traditional picture – by elaborating on the notion of forgetting, by reappreciating its constructive or even necessary impact on our lives, by paying heed to the potential obstacles for reconciliation due to an unforgiving remembrance, by clarifying the relationship between remembrance and forgetting, which is not necessarily complementary, and by nding new ways of relating forgiveness to forgetting ultimately leading to the precarious question of whether even God forgets when he forgives.
This is the editors' introduction to the forthcoming volume Forgiving and Forgetting: The Margins... more This is the editors' introduction to the forthcoming volume Forgiving and Forgetting: The Margins of Soteriology. It sketches the various problems associated with the conceptualisation of forgetting, the history of its interpretation, and gives an overview of current scholarship. The text also provides a 'grammar' of forgetting, offering some provisional categories and distinctions for its understanding. The relationship of forgetting and forgiveness is specifically addressed.
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Books by Johannes Zachhuber
To be published by Oxford University Press in 2022.
The Table of Contents can be viewed here: https://ohmgt.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/contents/.
Abstract: It has rarely been recognized that the Christian writers of the first millennium pursued an ambitious and exciting philosophical project alongside their engagement in the doctrinal controversies of their age. This book offers for the first time a full analysis of this Patristic philosophy. It shows how it took its distinctive shape in the late fourth century and gives an account of its subsequent development until the time of John of Damascus.
The book falls into three main parts. The first of them starts from an analysis of the philosophical project underlying the teaching of the Cappadocian fathers, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus. This philosophy, arguably the first distinctively Christian theory of being, soon becomes near-universally shared in Eastern Christianity. Few decades after the Cappadocians, all sides in the early Christological controversy take its fundamental tenets for granted. Its application to the Christological problem thus appeared inevitable. Yet it created substantial conceptual problems.
Parts 2 and 3 of the book describe in detail how these problems led to a series of increasingly radical modifications of the Cappadocian philosophy. The chapters of Part 2 are dedicated to the miaphysite opponents of the Council of Chalcedon, while Part 3 discusses the defenders of the Council from the early sixth to the eighth century. Through this overview, the book reveals this period as one of remarkable philosophical creativity, fecundity, and innovation.
Part one investigates changing paradigms that determine the evolving approaches to religious matters during the nineteenth century, providing readers with a sense of the fundamental changes at the time. Section two considers human nature and the nature of religion. It explores a range of categories rising to prominence in the course of the nineteenth century, and influencing the way religion in general, and Christianity in particular, were conceived. Part three focuses on the intellectual, cultural, and social developments of the time, while part four looks at Christianity and the arts-a major area in which Christian ideas, stories, and images were used, adapted, and challenged during the nineteenth century. Christianity was radically pluralized in the nineteenth century, and the fifth section is dedicated to 'Christianity and Christianities'. The chapters sketch the major churches and confessions during the period. The final part considers doctrinal themes registering the wealth and scope through broad narrative and individual example. This authoritative reference work offers an indispensible overview of a period whose forceful ideas continue to be present in contemporary theology.
The paper uploaded is the original lecture given at Marquette University in April 2017
Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, many of which have never been used in English speaking scholarship before, Zachhuber embeds the essentially theological story he presents within broader intellectual developments in nineteenth century Germany. In spite of its eventual failure, the project of theology as science in nineteenth century Germany is here described as a paradigmatic intellectual endeavour of European modernity with far-reaching significance beyond the confines of a single academic discipline.
Starting from an overview of the theological landscape in the early 360's the study first demonstrates the meaning and relevance of universal human nature as an analogy for the Trinity in Cappadocian theology. The second part explores Gregory's use of this same notion in his teaching on the divine economy. It is argued that Gregory takes this philosophical theory into the service of his own theology.
Ultimately the book provides an example for the mutual interaction of philosophy and Christian theology in the fourth century.
To be published by Oxford University Press in 2022.
The Table of Contents can be viewed here: https://ohmgt.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/contents/.
Abstract: It has rarely been recognized that the Christian writers of the first millennium pursued an ambitious and exciting philosophical project alongside their engagement in the doctrinal controversies of their age. This book offers for the first time a full analysis of this Patristic philosophy. It shows how it took its distinctive shape in the late fourth century and gives an account of its subsequent development until the time of John of Damascus.
The book falls into three main parts. The first of them starts from an analysis of the philosophical project underlying the teaching of the Cappadocian fathers, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus. This philosophy, arguably the first distinctively Christian theory of being, soon becomes near-universally shared in Eastern Christianity. Few decades after the Cappadocians, all sides in the early Christological controversy take its fundamental tenets for granted. Its application to the Christological problem thus appeared inevitable. Yet it created substantial conceptual problems.
Parts 2 and 3 of the book describe in detail how these problems led to a series of increasingly radical modifications of the Cappadocian philosophy. The chapters of Part 2 are dedicated to the miaphysite opponents of the Council of Chalcedon, while Part 3 discusses the defenders of the Council from the early sixth to the eighth century. Through this overview, the book reveals this period as one of remarkable philosophical creativity, fecundity, and innovation.
Part one investigates changing paradigms that determine the evolving approaches to religious matters during the nineteenth century, providing readers with a sense of the fundamental changes at the time. Section two considers human nature and the nature of religion. It explores a range of categories rising to prominence in the course of the nineteenth century, and influencing the way religion in general, and Christianity in particular, were conceived. Part three focuses on the intellectual, cultural, and social developments of the time, while part four looks at Christianity and the arts-a major area in which Christian ideas, stories, and images were used, adapted, and challenged during the nineteenth century. Christianity was radically pluralized in the nineteenth century, and the fifth section is dedicated to 'Christianity and Christianities'. The chapters sketch the major churches and confessions during the period. The final part considers doctrinal themes registering the wealth and scope through broad narrative and individual example. This authoritative reference work offers an indispensible overview of a period whose forceful ideas continue to be present in contemporary theology.
The paper uploaded is the original lecture given at Marquette University in April 2017
Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, many of which have never been used in English speaking scholarship before, Zachhuber embeds the essentially theological story he presents within broader intellectual developments in nineteenth century Germany. In spite of its eventual failure, the project of theology as science in nineteenth century Germany is here described as a paradigmatic intellectual endeavour of European modernity with far-reaching significance beyond the confines of a single academic discipline.
Starting from an overview of the theological landscape in the early 360's the study first demonstrates the meaning and relevance of universal human nature as an analogy for the Trinity in Cappadocian theology. The second part explores Gregory's use of this same notion in his teaching on the divine economy. It is argued that Gregory takes this philosophical theory into the service of his own theology.
Ultimately the book provides an example for the mutual interaction of philosophy and Christian theology in the fourth century.
I argue that Foucault is not fully successful in weaving the different strands of his narrative together from his late ancient sources. It is only when viewed from the vantage point of early modern Catholicism that the trajectory he constructs becomes fully intelligible and seemingly inevitable. His reconstruction of the history of sexuality in the Patristic period should thus be read as part of a genealogy of modernity which, for Foucault, was above all characterised by the inheritance of the confessional institutions of early modern Catholicism. While this is a fascinating story, it can put an overly deterministic interpretation on developments which were, in reality, much more open-ended as is evidenced by the very different historic churches that trace their origins to the Patristic period.
trinity which is both irreducibly one and irreducibly three. "
The text will be published in the Oxford Handbook for the Reception History of Christian Theology, ed. S. Coakley/R. Cross."
The article discusses the following thinkers: Hegel, Ritschl, Troeltsch, Weber, de Maistre, and Maritain.
This chapter reviews the book The Making of English Theology: God and the Academy at Oxford (2014). by Dan Inman. The book offers an account of a fascinating and little known episode in the history of the University of Oxford. It examines the history of Oxford’s Faculty of Theology from the early nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth. In particular, it revisits the various attempts to tinker with theology at Oxford during this period and considers the fierce resistance of conservatives. Inman argues that Oxford’s idiosyncratic development deserves to be taken more seriously than it often has been, at least by historians of theology.
A fuller version of this, including an account of the reception of those early Patristic theories in later Byzantine and early medieval thought has been published in German in Millennium 2 (2005), 137-174.""
At the same time, the way that the transmundane economies of value produced by sacrifice are attached to different religious systems reflects a shifting set of political parameters: is a renunciation of value noble or barbaric? Compassionate or monstrous? Thoughtful or primitive? This political axis suggests that sacrifice as an inverted economy often falls across the line between the secular and the religious, complicating the question of how an action is determined to be religious or non-religious in the first place. What does it say about the secular that sacrifical economies of value—and the rhetorics and practices stemming from them—are still so prevalent?
Why are there secular formations of sacrifice and what does this tell us about the relationship between secularism and religion? How does sacrifice embed itself within political regimes? What does a reconceptualization of sacrifice as non-religious tell us about the category of religion itself? Does the interaction between sacrifice and power stick religious and secular meanings together? Does the prevalence of secular sacrificial economies change not only our assessment of what is secular and what religious, but our valuation of those categories?
Through paired interventions, the speakers will question the formation and consolidation of traditional narratives concerning the Church in order to shift the focus away from classic “religious history” and confront the historical approach with the methodologies and concepts developed by social sciences. Deconstructing these grand narratives will highlight the ideological presuppositions of conventional normative accounts, insuring a critical historicization of classical conceptions about the Church and Churches from an anthropological and social-historical perspective.