www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Book on the Council of Florence?

All,

I'm wondering if there is a recent, current, and reliable English language book which covers in fair depth the Council of Ferrara-Florence within the framework of an appropriate context. In effect, I'm wondering if there's an current and academically credible secondary source on this council available in English.

Sir Steven Runciman covered the council briefly in his book on the "Great Church in Captivity", citing a 1960-or-so work by Joseph Gill. Father Boris Gudziak also cites Gill in the (very) few times he refers to the actual council (vice its reception in Rus) in his outstanding book "Crisis and Reform". I'd get Gill's book, except I fear that it may be out of date, in the sense that careful, modern, and scholarly exploitation of available documents might be more accurate than an older work from the 1960s.

Thanks for any help you can provide,

Markos

Gill's book seems to be quoted everywhere.
Why don't you just borrow it from your local library and then decide if you want to buy it.
Also some universities (at least in canada) will aloow alumni and the general public to buy a library card and take out books for a minimal yearly fee.
Or see if you can consult the book in the library only at your local university.

Markos,

I own and have read Gill's book. I found it very scholarly and careful in its analysis of the Council. It was written almost 50 years ago, so it cannot include all the latest research in this area, but at the same time, I have not found anything more recent that is as comprehensive in its treatment.

If you want a more recent, but more specific, treatment, you might also want to look at purchasing this dissertation:

The use of Maximus the Confessor's writing on the filioque at the Council of Ferrara-Florence [proquest.umi.com]

I have not read it myself, but I have heard that it is useful in its treatment of the particular subject.

Gill, even after all these years, is still considered a solid and objective scholar.
A very fitting tribute for someone in the theological field.

Siecienski's dissertation is a very important new addition to the corpus. Gill's book, as mentioned above, is still a good resource.

Thanks, everyone. I have no worries about Gill's book, now.

The idea of getting it from my local university is a good one - I wonder why I didn't think of it, especially since I went to my nearest university and have visited the library many times since graduation.

The standard work is Oscar Halecki's "From Florence to Brest". It is, I am sure, out of print, so you'd have to get it from a library.

Hello,

I am new here, and I know that this thread is older, but I am currently reading Gill. Personally, I find his work scholarly and rather exhaustive. It's hard to find a copy, though. Luckily for me, I was best man in a friend's wedding, and he got me a copy as a gift for being in the wedding. I found out only later that he payed nearly $100 for it, though.

If you're looking to read about the East-West dialogues at Florence, Gill is the best that I've found. If you're looking for insight into, say, Cantate Domino, it's not particularly relevant.

Tom Smith

Have to disagree with you here. Halecki is very outdated and even when written could not compare to Gill's work.