Theologia Musices

Commentators on the Dialectica often remark that the matters discussed do not seem to have any real bearing on the rest of The Fountain Head of Knowledge, or even constitute any kind of preparation for the rest of John’s theological œuvre. Richter, for instance, says that ‘the Expositio makes no use of the Philosophical Chapters'. It is true that there are many chapters of the Dialectica that are rarely referred to in John’s other writings, if at all. But this does not mean that the Dialectica has nothing really to do with On the Orthodox Faith. Presumably the purpose of the Dialectica, in John’s eyes, was to help novice theologians to think clearly and argue convincingly, abilities that are necessary to read On the Orthodox Faith profitably, and build on the positions set out in that treatise. To say that On the Orthodox Faith makes no use of the Dialectica is a bit like saying that Beethoven’s piano sonatas make no use of the piano exercises of Hanon’s The Virtuoso Pianist: it is certainly true that few of Hanon’s exercises appear in Beethoven’s sonatas, not even all the scales in their various forms, and yet someone who has not mastered Hanon would certainly be ill-prepared to play Beethoven’s sonatas.

Andrew Louth. St John Damascene: Tradition and Originality in Byzantine Thought. OUP (2002)