The Polemical Context and Content of Gregory of Nyssa's Psychology (original) (raw)
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The Priority of Performance: A Lonerganian Reading of Gregory of Nyssa’s Contra Eunomium II
Patristic, Medieval, Renaissance, 2023
Bernard Lonergan’s recounting of the development of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity has had remarkably wide influence for a scholar who was not a specialist in early Christian thought. Initially published as part of a two volume Latin manual in the 1960s, it was separated from the rest of the work, translated, and republished in 1976 as The Way to Nicea, and has since been reincorporated as part of Lonergan’s Collected Works (volume 11). The value of Lonergan’s account lies not so much in the details or even in his historical judgments per se, but rather in Lonergan’s approach—his attentiveness to theological performance, aided by his sophisticated work in method and cognitional theory. Lonergan’s account is, of course, outdated in many respects and his readings of particular figures often rely too much on textbook cliches. Nevertheless, his attentiveness to performance is anything but outdated and has yet to be exploited fully in more focused treatments of the theological writings and debates of these centuries. Toward this end, this paper takes up Gregory of Nyssa’s work, Contra Eunomium, book II (CE II), as a text which can be illuminated by a Lonergan-inspired attentiveness to theological performance and by Lonergan’s notion of “dialectic”. As it turns out, CE II is an unexpectedly spirited defense of the spontaneous processes of human knowing, including especially the use of humanly constructed concepts and images (ἐπίνοια) for knowing God. Gregory’s concrete attention to the process of human knowing, in which ἐπίνοια features prominently, is foundational for Gregory’s criticism of Eunomius. In advancing this argument along these lines, Gregory engages in an early but clear instance of what Lonergan would call dialectic. That is, Gregory attacks Eunomius’s position on knowing God as implying a position on knowledge which is undermined by his own performance of theorizing about knowledge. Gregory calls attention both to the disjunction between Eunomius’s theory and performance of knowing, as well as to the coherence of Gregory’s own theory and performance of knowing. Gregory’s defense of the knowability of God is rooted in his attention to and affirmation of the processes of human knowing as they exist, and in his foundational trust in the processes of human reason as divinely given. Without suggesting that Gregory is a proto-Lonerganian, I do wish to suggest that Lonergan’s approach to this period of theological and doctrinal history can yield insights when we turn, not just to the larger movements of these discussions, but also to the smaller scale controversies. In key aspects, the debate between Gregory and Eunomius as we find it in Contra Eunomium II is a debate about the priority of performance for our position on knowing God.
The Late Antique History of Psychology
This paper situates the first centuries of Christian monasticism, especially in the Eastern monastic tradition, in the context of the history of psychology. There is a large body of literature suggesting that the cultural and religious transformations of late antiquity gave rise to an increased interest in interiority, along with a new notion of the self. I would like to focus on the culmination of this development within the early monastic movement and examine it from the perspective of the history of psychology.
Gregory of Nyssa, Contra Eunomium III/4
J. Leemans/M. Cassin (eds), Gregory of Nyssa. Contra Eunomium III: An English Translation with Commentary and Supporting Studies, Leiden (Brill) 2014
The paper contains an analysis of major ideas in tome four of the third book of Gregory of Nyssa's Contra Eunomium. It is in particular focused on Gregory's understanding of human and divine nature in his Christology.
Gregory of Nyssa on Individuals
Gregory of Nyssa's understanding of the individual is largely neglected, but offers fascinating insight into the specific conditions determining theological adaptations of philosophical theories in late antiquity. The paper starts from sketching differing philosophical views to argue that Gregory, due to his theological angle, was drawn to one particular theory, found especially in Porphyry, but that this very theory led to further doctrinal difficulties, which he tried to avoid by falling back on an alternative philosophical account.
2020
The 4 th century is theologically characterised by an effort to fully acknowledge man's freedom, based on the new understanding of filiation initiated in Sacred Scripture. During their discussions with the Arians and the Neo-Arians, the Fathers of the Church came to identify the Son's free obedience as a proper personal characteristic. In the heretics' view, on the contrary, the obedience of the Logos was a proof of His inferiority with respect to the Father, whereas for the Orthodox authors it was the expression of that love which is the Trinity itself. This demanded a new epistemology and the radical overcoming of the Platonic conception of image -essentially marked by passivity and degeneration -through a true Trinitarian understanding, freshly moulded on the fact that the Son is the perfect and eternal Image of the Father. This implies that through Genesis 1.26 man is recognised as image of the Image, i.e., at the same time as a determined and free being. Man&apos...
Vox Patrum
The development of Trinitarian thought that occurred in Gregory of Nyssa’s Contra Eunomium has led some to think that in his debate with Eunomius Gregory introduced a tritheist mode of thinking (G.C. Stead). In having recourse to the scšsij of the Father and of the Son in his polemic with Eunomius, he actually facilitates a recovery of the sense of ÐmooÚsioj in continuity with the doctrine of the two natures as introduced by Athanasius and Basil in the latter’s initial response to Eunomius. However, this simultaneously marks a difference in the notion of fÚsij, which is at the level of divinity and has repercussions even in created nature. This paper seeks to show the substance of this variation, something that on account of Eunomian heresy has been introduced by Gregory of Nyssa.
2010
The 4 th century is theologically characterised by an effort to fully acknowledge man's freedom, based on the new understanding of filiation initiated in Sacred Scripture. During their discussions with the Arians and the Neo-Arians, the Fathers of the Church came to identify the Son's free obedience as a proper personal characteristic. In the heretics' view, on the contrary, the obedience of the Logos was a proof of His inferiority with respect to the Father, whereas for the Orthodox authors it was the expression of that love which is the Trinity itself. This demanded a new epistemology and the radical overcoming of the Platonic conception of image - essentially marked by passivity and degeneration - through a true Trinitarian understanding, freshly moulded on the fact that the Son is the perfect and eternal Image of the Father. This implies that through Genesis 1.26 man is recognised as image of the Image, i.e., at the same time as a determined and free being. Man's...
Between Extremes: Gregory of Nyssa's "Great Doctrine"
Gregory of Nyssa's On the Human Image (hereafter DHO) is as a 2-part contemplation of the human being within the context of creation, ranging from the state of creation before the advent of the human being, through the formation of the first human being, and concluding with what is expected to transpire "afterwards" (DHO, Pr.2,3). In this essay we will explore Chapter 16 of DHO as an interpretative key to the entire work. Chapter 16 not only ties together parts 1 and 2 but also provides a fundamental insight into the contours of Gregory's theological vision. To set the stage for our exploration we will begin with a brief overview of DHO, in which we will summarize parts 1 and 2. We will complete our overview by focusing on Chapter 16 in particular. We will next move to an exploration of Gregory’s “great doctrine,” which can be understood as the heart of Chapter 16, as well as DHO as a whole. Finally, we will conclude with a synthesis which attempts to capture a sense of the theological vision which flows from this great doctrine within a pastoral framework.