ABSTRACT
Trained as a Roman Catholic theologian – he normally quoted the New Testament in Latin – and as a Byzantinist, Beck was familiar with Catholic and Orthodox theological thought and writings, and quoted Tertullian, Saint Augustine and Gioacchino da Fiore with the same ease as he quoted Gregory of Nyssa or Palamas. us he was not only well acquainted with a literary genre familiar to every well-educated Byzantine intellectual, but also with the theological culture of their western counterparts. To other Byzantinists, who often come from a background of classical philology or history, theological literature and thought are far less accessible.
