SOURCE: "John of Damascus and the Eastern Church of the Middle Ages," in A History of Christian Thought, Vol. I: Early and Eastern, from Jesus to John of Da-mascus, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1949, pp. 308-32.

In the essay below, originally published in 1932, McGiffert locates the theological work of John of Damascus within the broader context of the early Christian church. In particular, the critic focuses on the third book of the Sources of Knowledge—the Exposition of the Orthodox Faith—finding that it provided no new or profound insights, but acknowledging that it significantly influenced the theology of the Eastern church for many ensuing decades.

With the third Council of Constantinople which met in 680 the dogmatic development in the eastern church came to a close, except for the dogma of image-worship enunciated in 787 at the second Council of Nicaa, the seventh œcumenical council. In the first half of the...