This elegant and precise book explores the key paired concepts of time and space, ‘when?’ and ‘where?’ It does so on the basis of Maximus' celebrated treatment of the Church and its liturgy: the Mystagogy. Mueller-Jourdan's approach is resolutely philosophical: he has, with justice, discerned that the specifically liturgical and ecclesiastical dimensions of this commentary have been adequately dealt with elsewhere. For the author, Maximus' treatment of these governing themes stands in a long tradition of philosophical commentary going back, ultimately, to Plato's Parmenides. Among the philosophical antecedents, Mueller-Jourdan emphasises Iamblichus, Proclus, Damascius and Simplicius. It is suggested that Maximus is familiar with this Neo-Platonic tradition directly and not solely through the mediation of Dionysius the Areopagite. Maximus thus stands as an invaluable witness to the continuity of philosophical enquiry and endeavour in Byzantium down to the very eve of the appropriation of the classical inheritance by the new Islamic civilisation. But Maximus is no mere compiler of the thoughts of others. Here, as in all aspects of his remarkable work of synthesis, Maximus uses his embeddedness in philosophical and theological tradition as a springboard for the development and articulation of his own highly distinctive vision. Perhaps the key point elaborated is that Maximus has elevated the notions of time and space to denote the very reality of things. No longer simply accidental or subordinate to the category of ousia, these notions form the typological axis around which Maximus' vision of the universe and its destiny takes shape. In his avowedly systematic approach – and Mueller-Jourdan takes this as a sign of his specifically byzantine, as opposed to patristic, character – Maximus takes the Church, in all its aspects, as both revelatory and performative. In other words, the Church not only reveals the underlying nature and calling of all things, she also acts as the workshop wherein all things are brought into deifying union with their creator. Through the Church, the natural inclination of things is reversed: no longer, because of the Fall, towards corruption, but now, through the renewal and transformation of time and space, towards deification. Inevitably, this book deals with only one side of Maximus' vast and complex oeuvre. There is little here on Maximus the monk, the exegete, or the defender and promoter of orthodox Christology. But on Maximus' distinctive use and appropriation of philosophical, especially Neo-Platonist, theories of time and space, this book represents a quite outstanding contribution. And while philosophy is the centre of this study, the reader will also find much useful material on, for example, Maximus' use of rhetoric and doctrine of deification, together with some tantalising hints as to his theory of art. This is a most valuable study, and one which has been pursued with considerable flair.