8 - Maximus the Confessor

Summary

Maximus’ physicalism is the result of his combination of the creationist ensoulment model with an exacting application of the Adam-Christ parallel in which the agency of Christ must mirror that of Adam. Since the creationist ensoulment model excludes the soul from universal fallenness, Maximus reasons that Adam’s singular agency had a universal effect only on bodies. The fall of souls cannot be entirely accounted to Adam; rather, it requires individual wrong willing. Maximus insists that Christ mirrors Adam’s agency by having a universal physicalist effect only on human bodies, while the rectification of souls and wills requires individuals to follow Christ’s example in accepting suffering, thereby escaping the destructive cycle of pain and pleasure. Maximus demonstrates that the triumph of the creationist ensoulment model fatally limits the theological usefulness of physicalist soteriology.