Essence and Energies: Being and Naming God in St Gregory Palamas

by Tikhon Pino

St. Gregory Palamas (ca. 1296–1357) is among the most well-known and celebrated theologians of late Byzantium. This book provides a comprehensive account of the essence-energies distinction across his twenty-five treatises and letters written over a twenty-year period.

An Athonite monk, abbot, and later Metropolitan of Thessalonica, Gregory is remembered especially for his distinction between God’s essence and energies, and his celebrated doctrine still generates a great deal of debate. What does Palamas actually mean by the term energies? Are they ‘activities’ that God performs, and if so, how can they be eternal and uncreated? Indeed, how could God be simple if he possesses energies distinct from his essence? Going beyond the Triads and the One Hundred and Fifty Chapters, this book explores Palamas’s answers to these long-standing questions by analyzing all of the treatises produced by Palamas between the years 1338 and 1357. It seeks to understand what Palamas means when he speaks of God’s energies, how he seeks to prove that they are distinct from the divine essence, and how he explains that this distinction in no way violates the unity and simplicity of the one God in Trinity.

Essence and Energies is a useful resource for upper-level undergraduates, postgraduates, and scholars interested in Byzantine theology in the fourteenth century.

Genres: Theology

232 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 3, 2022

Reviews

[Joel Whitson · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I had to direct a Western Thomistic Protestant (what a loaded title) to a single work about Palamas this would be it. Pino There is a growing interest in Palamite teaching in the western theological sphere. However, I fear that much of it is either categorized by 1) later Palamites who over work the original teaching, 2) secondary sources coming with a particular edge and not a true assessment of the teaching or 3) an over-reliance on the Triads as the "key" source for Palamas. This work leaves a western thomist wanting for a comparison between Palamas and Thomas, considering the fact that they were teaching at the same time. As a student working through reconciliation of western latin (thomistic) teaching and greak eastern teaching this was an indispensable source. Dealing with everything from actaulization, ousia, simplicity, and trinitarian grammar this work assesses almost all critiques leveled against Palamas brought in by the West.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is absolutely indispensable to anyone investigating the thought of Palamas, his detractors in the West, and the people in his own Church who misunderstood him centuries later because of influence from those detractors.

It is important to keep in mind that studies in St. Gregory Palamas' theology in Western languages is a relatively recent development. To this day, not all of his works are available in English, and for centuries only a couple of his mid-sized works were available in Latin, French, or German. Pino is the first person to take up the task of methodically working through all of Palamas' writings in the original Greek and try to sum them up on a large scale in the English language to a modern audience.

You think you know Palamas? You probably don't if you haven't read this book.

[JonM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well researched. This resource will remain essential for all future discussions. I am reluctant to only give it four stars. For the quality of its contents, it deserves five stars. I learned a lot from it. However, It seems like the author holds back too much, leaving a volume-two in the near future. I’m only giving it four stars because I reserve five stars for books that blow my mind. This book did not blow my mind. Much more could be said. I suspect that much was removed from the first draft.
For the hefty price of the book, it feels wrong to admit that it is exceptional in its research but wanting in its breadth.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic exposition on the Essence/Energies distinction according to St. Gregory Palamas. "The divine energies, rather, constitute everything that can be and is known about God; everything that can be and is predicated of God, both positively and negatively; and everything that can be and is shared with creatures at every level. As the comprehensive list of divine names, attributes, and powers, these include not only God’s manifestations ad extra but even the things that are commonly said to describe God as he in himself" P.191

[Evren Sasmazer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Required reading for anyone who wants to understand St. Gregory Palamas.