Studia Patristica. Vol. CI – Gregory of Nyssa’s Mystical Eschatology
Edited by G. Maspero Edited by M. Brugarolas Edited by I. Vigorelli
This volume investigates the point of view of eschatology itself, seeking to indicate the importance of mysticism in its development, focusing on Gregory’s Commentary on the Song of Songs, where the eschatological dimension is clearly highlighted and illuminates the concept of apokatastasis.
Studies on Gregory of Nyssa are flourishing. In this highly valuable bibliography, two areas stand out: mysticism and eschatology. The former has also been at the centre of a lively controversy, concerning the possibility that Gregory could be described as the actual initiator of mysticism. Eschatology, on its part, has received particular attention, especially in the areas of epektasis and apokatastasis. But these dimensions are connected, as shown by Gregory’s Commentary on the Song of Songs, a mystical text par excellence, which offers numerous eschatological insights, which this volume tries to present. The issue is all the more interesting in that Gregory’s eschatology is marked by a hermeneutical tension which is reflected in a dichotomy present in the studies devoted to it. Clearly, Gregory has been inspired by the apokatastasis of Origen, but for him, as for the Alexandrian, is it possible to speak of a universal salvation? If the human being is simply a soul which has to be restored to its initial state, what is the value of its history? And the body? And freedom? These questions seem to be linked to the tension between the “circular” dimension of apokatastasis and the “linear” dynamic of epektasis. This is approached through the lens of Christology and ontology, two areas which, in the context of Nyssa studies as a whole, are among the least studied. Therefore, the chapters of the book are aimed at covering the themes in such a way as to reveal the profound relationships between the two foci of theological reflection on the mystery of Christ: on the one hand, the Christological focus proper, on the other, the ontology which emerges from Christological and Trinitarian considerations. Thus, we shall be able to identify the influences and relations, intrinsic and systematic, between the thought about being, the protology and the eschatology, of classical origin, and the thought about Christ in which the divine and the human are united in and through history. This volume, therefore, is arranged in three main parts. The first, most fundamental, approximates to the question of the point of view of eschatology itself, seeking to indicate the importance of mysticism in its development. The second part of the volume is devoted precisely to Gregory’s Commentary on the Song of Songs, where the eschatological dimension is clearly highlighted. The third and last part of the volume is devoted to the apokatastasis. Here the different, even contrasting positions, are presented, providing, simultaneously, some tools which could assist a deeper penetration into the tensions of eschatology through the mystical perspective which is characteristic of the Commentary on the Song of Songs. In particular, the Christological and ontological elements linked to epektasis seem to promise a greater immersion into Gregory’s eschatology and appreciation of its theological significance, not despite its tensions but precisely by means of them.
- Edited by G. Maspero
- Edited by M. Brugarolas
- Edited by I. Vigorelli
Other Titles in this Series
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXX – Papers presented at the Sixteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2011
Volume 18: St Augustine and his Opponents
Volume 70
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXXXV – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 11: Ambrose of Milan
Volume 85
Studia Patristica. Vol. XXIII – Late Greek Fathers, Latin Fathers after Nicaea, Nachleben of the Fathers, Index Patrum and Index Auctorum of Vols. XIX-XXIII
Volume 23
Studia Patristica. Vol. XCVII – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 23: From the Fourth Century Onwards (Latin Writers); Nachleben
Volume 97
Studia Patristica. Vol. LX – Papers presented at the Sixteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2011
Volume 8: New Perspectives on Late Antique spectacula
Volume 60
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXXV – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 1: Studia Patristica; Platonism and the Fathers; Maximus Confessor
Volume 75
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXXI – Including Papers presented at the Conferences on “Early Roman Liturgy to 600” (14.11.2009 and 27.02.2010) at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford, UK
Volume 71
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXXXVI – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 12: Augustine on conscientia
Volume 86
Studia Patristica. Vol. XXII – Cappadocian Fathers, Chrysostom and his Greek Contemporaries, Augustine, Donatism and Pelagianism
Volume 22
Studia Patristica. Vol. XL – Liturgia et Cultus, Theologica et Philosophica, Critica et Philologica, Nachleben, First Two Centuries
Volume 40
Studia Patristica. Vol. XCVIII – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 24: St. Augustine and his Opponents
Volume 98
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXI – Papers presented at the Sixteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2011
Volume 9: The Holy Spirit and Divine Inspiration in Augustine
Volume 61
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXXVI – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 2: El platonismo en los Padres de la Iglesia
Volume 76
Studia Patristica. Vol. L – Including Papers presented at the National Conference on Patristic Studies held at Cambridge in the Faculty of Divinity under Allen Brent, Thomas Graumann and Judith Lieu in 2009
Volume 50
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXXXVII – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 13: Augustine in Late Medieval Philosophy and Theology
Volume 87
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXXII – Including Papers presented at the Fourth British Patristics Conference, at the University of Exeter, 5-7 September 2012
Volume 72
Studia Patristica. Vol. XLI – Orientalia, Clement, Origen, Athanasius, The Cappadocians, Chrysostom
Volume 41
Studia Patristica. Vol. XCVI – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 22: The Second Half of the Fourth Century; From the Fifth Century Onwards(Greek Writers); Gregory Palamas' Epistula III
Volume 96
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXII – Papers presented at the Sixteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2011
Volume 10: The Genres of Late Antique Literature; Foucault and the Practice of Patristics; Patristic Studies in Latin America; Historica
Volume 62
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXXVII – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 3: Becoming Christian in the Late Antique West (3rd-6th Centuries)
Volume 77
Studia Patristica. Vol. LI – Including Papers presented at the Conference ‘The Image of the Perfect Christian in Patristic Thought’ at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine, under Taras Khomych, Oleksandra Vakula and Oleh Kindiy in 2009
Volume 51
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXXXVIII – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 14: Latreia and Idolatry: Augustine and the Quest for Right Relationship
Volume 88
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXXIII – Including Papers presented at the Conference on ‘Early Christian Iconography’, held in Pécs, Hungary
Volume 73
Studia Patristica. Vol. XLII – Other Greek Writers, John of Damascus and Beyond, The West to Hilary
Volume 42
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXIII – Papers presented at the Sixteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2011
Volume 11: Biblica; Philosophica, Theologica, Ethica
Volume 63
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXXVIII – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 4: Literature, Rhetoric, and Exegesis in Syriac Verse
Volume 78
Studia Patristica. Vol. LII – Including Papers presented at the British Patristics Conference, Durham, September 2010
Volume 52
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXXXIX – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 15: The Fountain and the Flood: Maximus the Confessor and Philosophical Enquiry
Volume 89
Studia Patristica. Vol. LIII – Papers presented at the Sixteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2011
Volume 1: Former Directors
Volume 53
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