Re-thinking Gregory of Nyssa

The thought of Gregory of Nyssa, the youngest of the fourth-cenrtury 'Cappadocian' Fathers, is currently at the centre of a number of important theological debates. This collection of specially commissioned essays calls the long-accepted interpretation of Gregory's trinitarianism into radical question.

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• Gregory of Nyssa, the youngest of the fourth-century 'Cappadocian' Fathers, is currently at the centre of a number of important theological debates.
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• Calls the long-accepted interpretation of Gregory's trinitarianism into radical question.
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• Urges a reading of his 'pedagogy of desire' that will cause a major reconsideration of his methods of trinitarian exposition.

1 Introduction—Gender, Trinitarian Analogies, and the Pedagogy of The Song 1
Sarah Coakley

2 On Not Three People: The Fundamental Themes of Gregory of Nyssa’s Trinitarian Theology as Seen in To Ablabius: On Not Three Gods 15
Lewis Ayres

3 Divine Unity and the Divided Self: Gregory of Nyssa’s Trinitarian Theology in its Psychological Context 45
Michel René Barnes

4 Divine Transcendence and Human Transformation: Gregory of Nyssa’s Anti-Apollinarian Christology 67
Brian E. Daley, S.J.

5 Under Solomon’s Tutelage: The Education of Desire in the Homilies on the Song of Songs 77
Martin Laird

6 “Person” versus “Individual”, and Other Modern Misreadings of Gregory of Nyssa 97
Lucian Turcescu

7 The Mirror of the Infinite: Gregory of Nyssa on the Vestigia Trinitatis 111
David Bentley Hart

Index 133

Sarah Coakley is the Mallinckrodt Professor at Harvard Divinity School. The thought of Gregory of Nyssa, the youngest of the fourth-century 'Cappadocian' Fathers, is currently at the centre of a number of important theological debates. On the one hand, his trinitarianism has long been considered foundational - even normative - for the so-called 'Eastern' doctrine of God; on the other, his views on asceticism and desire have found new resonance in the context of post-modern gender theory.

This collection of specially commissioned essays calls the long-accepted interpretation of Gregory's trinitarianism into radical question, and simultaneously urges a reading of his 'pedagogy of desire' that will cause a major reconsideration of his methods of trinitarian exposition. The implications for renewed ecumenical dialogue between east and west are also considered.