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. 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
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXIV – Papers presented at the Sixteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2011
Volume 12: Ascetica; Liturgica; Orientalia; Critica et Philologica
Volume 64
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXXIX – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 5: Clement of Alexandria
Volume 79
Studia Patristica. Vol. XLIV – Archaeologica, Arts, Iconographica, Tools, Historica, Biblica, Theologica, Philosophica, Ethica
Volume 44
Studia Patristica. Vol. XC – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 16: Christ as Ontological Paradigm in Early Byzantine Thought
Volume 90
Studia Patristica. Vol. LIV – Papers presented at the Sixteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2011
Volume 2: Biblical Quotations in Patristic Texts
Volume 54
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXV – Papers presented at the Sixteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2011
Volume 13: The First Two Centuries; Apocrypha; Tertullian and Rhetoric; From Tertullian to Tyconius
Volume 65
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXXX – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 6: The Classical or Christian Lactantius
Volume 80
Studia Patristica. Vol. XLV – Ascetica, Liturgica, Orientalia, Critica et Philologica, First Two Centuries
Volume 45
Studia Patristica. Vol. XCI – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 17: Biblica; Philosophica, Theologica, Ethica; Hagiographica; Ascetica
Volume 91
Studia Patristica. Vol. LV – Papers presented at the Sixteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2011
Volume 3: Early Monasticism and Classical Paideia
Volume 55
Studia Patristica. Vol. CII – Including Papers Presented at the Seventh British Patristics Conference, Cardiff, 5-7 September 2018
Volume 102
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXVI – Papers presented at the Sixteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2011
Volume 14: Clement of Alexandria; The Fourth-Century Debates
Volume 66
Studia Patristica. Vol. LXXXI – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 7: Health, Medicine, and Christianity in Late Antiquity
Volume 81
Studia Patristica. Vol. XLVI – Tertullian to Tyconius, Egypt before Nicaea, Athanasius and his Opponents
Volume 46
Studia Patristica. Vol. XCII – Papers presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015
Volume 18: Liturgica and Tractatus Symboli; Orientalia; Critica et Philologica; Historica
Volume 92
Studia Patristica. Vol. LVI – Papers presented at the Sixteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2011
Volume 4: Rediscovering Origen
Volume 56
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