Sea Yun Joung

PhD thesis: The Theology of Epistolographic Friendship in St Maximus the Confessor

Using my own, fresh translation of the letters of St Maximus the Confessor (580-662), I will show that the rhetorical style and materiality of epistolography is given a profoundly sacramental character: development of Christianity profoundly shifted the significance of the letter as not merely a vehicle for recording and communicating, but as a potential conduit of grace. This project will examine the trend of representation in the Christian milieu, which commences with the Christological disputes from the fourth century and culminates in the iconoclast controversy of the eighth, using insights from recent studies in Byzantine epistolography, especially on the literary character and rhetorical strategies. Ultimately, my project will reconstruct a metaphysical system, in which the conventions of letter writing are saturated in the Christological content of his work and contain theological reflections about making present a holy person through imagination as a kind of continuation of the Incarnation.

Who or what inspired you to pursue your research interests?

Throughout my schooling across four continents, constant friendship across physical distance prompted my incessant thought about how imagination and memory can re-present the presence of those we love – a theme intensified by pandemic experiences. In the face of collapsing social institutions and classical traditions, Late Antique letters convey the longing of separated friends across an increasingly fractured yet still vibrant world. I pondered this expression of human nature most whilst interning at the UN, and this significant chapter of history seemed to speak most to our own tumultuous times, reminding us the importance of enjoying the presence of beloved friends, making present those we love, and re-presenting even those upon another shore.