Archimandrite Pavel Stefanov

The Soteriology of Leo the Great
Bernard Green

Oxford, Oxford University Press, April 2008

Price: £65.00 (Hardback)
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-953495-1
288 pages, 216×138 mm
Series: Oxford Theological Monographs

Description

* Historical reading of Leo’s works clearly sets out development of his thinking
* Close examination of sources demonstrates influence of earlier writers such as Augustine
* Links the theology of Leo to the wider aims of the pontificate
* Fresh analysis of Leo’s Tome revises previous readings of this key text
* Explains the assimilation of Christianity and old civic values for the newly converted city of Rome

Leo the Great was the beneficiary of the consolidation of the power of the papacy in Rome and the Christianization of the city over the course of the preceding century. In this carefully nuanced study Bernard Green demonstrates the influences at work on this celebrated pope’s development as a theological thinker, including two of the most reknowned theological names of the period, Ambrose of Milan and Augustine of Hippo.

Green charts Leo’s theological journey from his first encounters with the Pelagian and Nestorian controversies, where he engaged Cassian as an advisor. Leo took an admiring though limited view of Cyril of Alexandria but misunderstood the weaknesses in Nestorius’ thought. As pope, Leo preached a civic Christianity, accessible to all citizens, baptising the virtues of the classical and civic past.

The study then examines Leo’s recently dated sermons and reveals the evolution of his thought as he worked out a soteriology that gave full value to both the divinity and humanity of Christ, especially in reaction to Manichaeism. In the crisis that led to Chalcedon, Leo’s earlier misunderstanding of Nestorius affected the content of his Tome, which was atypical of the Christology and soteriology he had developed in his earlier preaching. Green persuasively concludes that its emphasis on the distinction of the two natures was an uncharacteristic attempt to respond to both Eutyches and Nestorius, as this pope understood them. In the light of Chalcedon, Leo produced a revised statement of Christology, the Letter to the Palestinian monks, which is both more accomplished and better aligned with his characteristic thought.

Readership: Scholars and students of patristics; of the early Roman church

Contents
1. The Historical Background Of Leo’s Theology: The Making Of A Theologian
2. The Nestorian Controversy
3. Salvation and Civic Christianity
4. The First Cycle Of Sermons: 440-441
5. Leo’s Theological Development 441-445
6. The Tome of Leo
Conclusions

Authors, editors, and contributors
Bernard Green, Fellow and Tutor in Theology, St Benet’s Hall, Oxford