The Lord's Prayer; The Beatitudes. By St. Gregory of Nyssa, translated by Hilda C. Graef (Ancient Christian Writers, No. 18), Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland; Longmans Green, London, 1954. 210 pp. $3.00.

1954 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-379
Author(s):  
Edward Rochie Hardy
Vox Patrum ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 551-562
Author(s):  
Paweł Wygralak

The article discusses the problem of social message of the Fourth Petition in the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread”. As Fathers of the Church comment on the content of the request, they find its fulfillment “in the hands” of the Christian themselves. This prayer will be answered insofar as the one in prayer adopts the right attitude towards material goods. According to the most ancient commentators, Disciple of Christ should care only about what is indispensable for everyday life. In addition, it is important to ask for bread only “this day” whereas “tomorrow” should be entrusted to God’s Providence. Here they often like to ap­peal to the Christ’s parable of the rich man, who yielded an abundant harvest (Lk 12, 16-20). Few Fathers, especially Cyprian of Carthage, Gregory of Nyssa and Pseudo-Chrysostom point out that the request for daily bread demands the active help to the needy, as well as the prevention of all forms of social injustice.


2002 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Meredith

Author(s):  
Raphael A. Cadenhead

Although the reception of the Eastern father Gregory of Nyssa has varied over the centuries, the past few decades have witnessed a profound awakening of interest in his thought, particularly in relation to the contentious issues of gender, sex, and sexuality. The Body and Desire sets out to retrieve the full range of Gregory’s thinking on the challenges of the ascetic life through a diachronic analysis of his oeuvre. Exploring his understanding of the importance of bodily and spiritual maturation in the practices of contemplation and virtue, Raphael Cadenhead recovers the vital relevance of this vision of transformation for contemporary ethical discourse.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-36
Author(s):  
Wojciech Szczerba

This article aims to examine how the concept of Imago Dei can serve as a symbol for the broadly understood idea of religious inclusion and human dignity. The article explores the concept of Imago Dei primarily from a protological perspective, analyzing its usage in biblical writings, theological tradition and modern philosophy. The substantial, relational and functional—which three usages of the concept can be found in the inclusive theology of Gregory of Nyssa—are analyzed in this article. Arguably, in the context of religious inclusion, the relational angle of Imago Dei seems to be the most important. Similarly contemporary Protestant theologian, Jürgen Moltmann states in his book, God in the Creation, that the “relational” concept of Imago Dei underscores the fundamental dignity of every person. In his book, God for Secular Society, Moltmann states that properly understood human rights should include democratic relationships between people, cooperation between societies, concern for the environment in which people live, and responsibility for future generations. From these perspectives, the concept of Imago Dei can be utilized as a symbol indicating the dignity of every person and human community, but also a symbol against any types of racism, nationalism or xenophobia.


Author(s):  
Ilaria L. E. Ramelli

In this chapter, Gregory’s treatment of the soul is examined against the backdrop of philosophical treatises On the Soul and in conversation with Origen’s psychology and On the Resurrection (while Origen never wrote On the Soul, for reasons that are here clarified). Tertullian composed both On the Soul and On the Resurrection; Gregory combined the two discussions in a remake of Plato’s Phaedo on the immortality of the soul—here analysed in many of its philosophical components and their treatment until Plotinus and Proclus, and in light of Gregory’s definition of soul and relation between resurrection and restoration. The chapter examines the role of the soul in Gregory’s ‘theology of freedom’—rooted in Plato’s philosophy—and the influence Gregory exerted on Evagrius’ theories of the threefold resurrection and of the subsumption of body into soul and soul into ‘unified nous’: Eriugena was right to trace the latter theory back to Gregory.


Author(s):  
John Anthony McGuckin

Chapter 1 gives Biographical background and studies the historical context(s) of Gregory of Nyssa and his close family members, situating them as aristocratic and long-established Christian leaders of the Cappadocian area. It offers along with the course of Gregory’s Vita a general outline of the main philosophical and religious controversies of his era, particularly his ecclesiastical involvement in the Neo-Nicene apologetical movement associated with the leadership of his brother Basil (of Caesarea), which he himself inherited in Cappadocia, with imperial approval, after 380. It concludes with a review of Gregory’s significance as author: in terms of his style as a writer, his work as an exegete, his body of spiritual teaching, and lastly, the manner in which his reputation waxed and waned from antiquity to the present.


Author(s):  
Morwenna Ludlow

Ancient authors commonly compared writing with painting. The sculpting of the soul was a common philosophical theme. This book takes its starting-point from such figures to recover a sense of ancient authorship as craft. The ancient concept of craft (ars, technē) spans ‘high’ or ‘fine’ art and practical or applied arts. It unites the beautiful and the useful. It includes both skills or practices (like medicine and music) and productive arts like painting, sculpting, and the composition of texts. By using craft as a guiding concept for understanding fourth-century Christian authorship, this book recovers a sense of them engaged in a shared practice which is both beautiful and theologically useful, which shapes souls but which is also engaged in the production of texts. It focuses on Greek writers, especially the Cappadocians (Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa) and John Chrysostom, all of whom were trained in rhetoric. Through a detailed examination of their use of two particular literary techniques—ekphrasis and prosōpopoeia—it shows how they adapt and experiment with them, in order to make theological arguments and in order to evoke an active response from their readership.


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