The image of God in the spirituality of St Maximus the confessor and William of St Thierry

Abstract

"Image of God" is a concept that has its foundations in the Old Testament and has been discussed throughout the history of theology. St Maximus the Confessor (580-662), from the Eastern Church and William of St Thierry (c.1075-1148) from the Western Church are two notable theologians who have explored this theme. In the 7th century, St Maximus articulated the idea of -image of Godâ in his understanding of the deification of man, a central and traditional teaching in the Christian East. While he based his teaching on the traditions of the Greek Fathers, St Maximus was also original in his understanding of deification as perfect spiritual love, exemplified by the double commandment of love. His ideas flow naturally from his teaching on the two wills in Jesus Christ, which ended the famous Monothelite controversy. Deification is the flowering of the human personality as man, entirely drawn by God's grace, attains to a divinised state, wherein he rests in God, in apatheia, to participate in divine energies, as a mediator in the cosmos. William of St Thierry, a 12th century Benedictine, expressed his idea of -image of Godâ as an ascent of mind and heart to God, whereby man, passing through an initial state of fleshly attachment, through a stage of grappling with the intellectual ideas of faith, progresses to a perfect state of unity of spirit with the Trinity. Spiritual perfection is seen as contemplation of and participation in the trinitarian life as man is drawn by affectus into God, through the operation of the Holy Spirit. While William is deeply indebted to St Augustine, he was also influenced by the Greek Fathers, in particular Origen and Gregory of Nyssa. St Maximus and William of St Thierry share the common idea of theosis and, in his own way each has contributed original ideas to theology, as both contain fresh ideas from each other's traditions. Their contribution is also relevant to modern psychology as both advocate a way of life highly conducive to mental stability, equilibrium and authenticity.