Theologian · Patristic

St. Gregory of Nyssa

c. 335–c. 395 · Cappadocian theology

Saint Byzantine

Father of the Church, called “Father of Fathers” by the Second Council of Nicaea; not a Doctor in the Latin calendar.

Basil's younger brother and the most philosophical of the Cappadocians. He argued the full divinity of Son and Spirit, taught that God's infinite essence can never be comprehended so that the soul's ascent is an endless progress (epektasis) into divine darkness, and wrote with his dying sister Macrina the finest patristic dialogue on the soul and the resurrection.

Why he matters: The apophatic mysticism of Dionysius, Maximus and the West's Cloud of Unknowing runs from his Life of Moses; his doctrine of man as the image of God and his defense of human freedom shaped Eastern anthropology.

Where to be careful

He inclined, with Origen, to a final restoration of all rational creatures and to the pre-existence of a single “pleroma” of humanity; these views were not received by the Church.

Reading

The Life of Moses

St. Gregory of Nyssa · The ascent into the darkness where God is.

Journal
On the Soul and the Resurrection

St. Gregory of Nyssa · A deathbed dialogue with St. Macrina.

Journal
From Glory to Glory

Jean Daniélou, SJ (ed.) · Texts from Gregory's mystical writings with a classic introduction.

Journal

Documented positions

Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.

Settled teaching Its center Open question Beyond teaching, not condemned Condemned error

God and Being · What is, and whence it is.

Can reason know that God exists? Natural theology

Fideism or agnosticism Natural theology

How is God related to the world? Creation from nothing

Pantheism or emanation Creation from nothing

Is the world governed by purpose? Providence and final causes

Chance and mechanism Providence and final causes

Do natures and essences really exist? Realism

Nominalism Realism

God's essence and His energies Essence–energies distinction

Essence–energies distinction Absolute simplicity

How should we speak of God? Apophatic (negative) way

Apophatic (negative) way Cataphatic (analogical) way

How does creation speak of God? A book of signs and vestiges

Natures studied in their own right A book of signs and vestiges

Faith, Reason and Truth · How we know, and whom we trust.

Faith and reason: who has the last word? Rationalism

Rationalism Fideism

Where does knowledge begin? Illumination and innate ideas

Senses and abstraction Illumination and innate ideas

Is truth objective? Objective truth

Relativism and pragmatism Objective truth

Who interprets revelation? Living Tradition and Magisterium

Private judgment Living Tradition and Magisterium

How should Scripture be read? Critical reductionism

Critical reductionism Fundamentalist literalism

What is theology for? A wisdom ordered to loving

A science ordered to knowing A wisdom ordered to loving

Are the world's learning and arts a danger or a gift? A gift to be baptized

A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem A gift to be baptized

III

The Human Person · Soul, body, freedom and the Fall.

Is there a spiritual soul? Immortal spiritual soul

Mind is brain Immortal spiritual soul

Is the body really you? Body–soul unity

Dualism Body–soul unity

Are you free? Free will

Determinism Free will

How fallen is human nature? Basically good

Totally depraved Basically good

Does nature desire God? Natural desire for the vision of God

Pure nature Natural desire for the vision of God

The body and its desires Contempt for the flesh

Contempt for the flesh Desire as its own law

Marriage, sex and the body's meaning Given by nature and grace

Given by nature and grace Defined by consent and identity

What makes you this one and no other? A positive thisness (haecceity)

This matter, this body A positive thisness (haecceity)

What is suffering for? A share in the Cross

An evil to be relieved A share in the Cross

The Moral Life · Law, virtue, conscience and the good.

Is morality objective and knowable? Natural law

Relativism Natural law

Why is the good good? Eternal law (intellectualism)

Divine command (voluntarism) Eternal law (intellectualism)

Are some acts always wrong? Intrinsically evil acts

Consequentialism Intrinsically evil acts

Rules or character? Morality of virtue and beatitude

Morality of obligation Morality of virtue and beatitude

In doubtful cases Rigorism

Rigorism Laxism

What is happiness? Beatitude in God

Earthly flourishing Beatitude in God

What is heaven's happiness, at its heart? The will's love and enjoyment of God

The intellect's vision of God The will's love and enjoyment of God

Grace and Salvation · How God saves, and whom.

How does grace move the will? Molinist

Thomist (Bañezian) Molinist

How are we made right with God? Infused, transforming grace

Forensic imputation Infused, transforming grace

Who can be saved? Indifferentism

Strict exclusivism Indifferentism

What is salvation for? Deification

Pardon and escape Deification

Hell and hope All will be saved

The many are lost All will be saved

Where does your eye rest in Christ: His divinity or His humanity? The eternal Word made flesh

The eternal Word made flesh The man Jesus of Nazareth

VII

Worship, Prayer and the Two Lungs · Liturgy, icons, the Spirit, and the See of Peter.

Icons and images Veneration of images

Iconoclasm Veneration of images

The way of prayer Stillness and the Jesus Prayer

Stillness and the Jesus Prayer Discursive meditation

The procession of the Holy Spirit From the Father through the Son

From the Father through the Son From the Father and the Son (Filioque)

What do the sacraments do? Efficacious ex opere operato

Signs only Efficacious ex opere operato

Contemplation or action? Contemplation: the one thing needful

Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy Contemplation: the one thing needful