Using Greek Philosophy in Interpreting the Christian Teachings: The Case of Michael Psellos

The present article attempts to point out a common practice of Michael Psellos, yet rather unusual for his theological contemporaries, namely that of interpreting the Christian doctrines and teachings by using Greek philosophy, not only its terminology, but also its concepts, whenever they fit in with what the Christian Church and the Fathers of the Church elaborated, starting from the Scriptures. It is worth noting that Psellos does not inaugurate a new tradition of interpretation, when approaching the revealed text or the works of the Fathers prior to him in such a way. On the contrary, he continues a hermeneutical line which includes Clement of Alexandria, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor. The novelty brought by Psellos was that he used Greek philosophy at a scale never used before or after him. The reasons for doing this are to be found in the corpus of the article.

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