This book presents the first modern critical edition of the work of Gregory of Nyssa, On the Human Image of God (formerly known as On the Making of Man, De hominis opificio) and the first English translation since the nineteenth century. This treatise is one of the most important of Gregory's texts. Paralleling the structure of Plato's Timaeus, Gregory's work begins by offering two analyses of the human being. The first presents the human being as the culmination of the ascent made by nature through the various levels of life, and as made, body and soul, in the image of God. The second considers why this is not immediately apparent, the need for time to be able to grow, individually and collectively, to this status, as the body of Christ, the image of God, and the role of sexuality within this growth. The third part of the work brings both analyses together, to see the same movement in the life-span of each person. The extensive introduction provided in this volume examines the philosophical and theological background of Gregory's text, beginning with Anaxagoras, Plato (the Timaeus), Philo, and Origen, and also compares aspects of Gregory's work with that of Irenaeus of Lyons and Maximos the Confessor.

Provides the first full-length analysis of Gregory Nazianzen's multifaceted account of the image of God against the backdrop of biblical themes.

St Gregory of Nyssa is the most important author of the fourth century in relation to theological anthropology, and was one of the most outspoken of the early Church Fathers on the subject of slavery. Gregory’s theology is built upon his perception that Jesus Christ was truly human; therefore, to be human is to be made in the image of Christ. We cannot justify slavery if we accept that humans are made in God’s image, because slaves are no less made in the image of God than those who are free. This book examines Gregory’s theology, how he understood and taught about the relationship of human beings to God, and how he applied this theology to the practical issue of slavery.

Gregory of Nyssa is firmly established in today's theological curriculum and is a major figure in the study of late antiquity. Students encounter him in anthologies of primary sources, in surveys of Christian history and perhaps in specialized courses on the doctrine of the Trinity, eschatology, asceticism, or the like. Gregory of Nyssa's Doctrinal Works presents a reading of the works in Gregory's corpus devoted to the dogmatic controversies of his day. Andrew Radde-Gallwitz focuses as much on Gregory the writer as on Gregory the dogmatic theologian. He sets both elements not only within the context of imperial legislation and church councils of Gregory's day, but also within their proper religious context-that is, within the temporal rhythms of ritual and sacramental practice. Gregory himself roots what we call Trinitarian theology within the church's practice of baptism. In his dogmatic treatises, where textbook accounts might lead one to expect much more on the metaphysics of substance or relation, one finds a great deal on baptismal grace; in his sermons, reflecting on the occasion of baptism tends to prompt Trinitarian questions.

“This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth ,” saith the Scripture, when all that is seen was finished, and each of the things that are betook itself to its own separate place, when the body of heaven compassed all things round, and those bodies which are heavy and of downward tendency, the earth and the water, holding each other in, took the middle place of the universe; while, as a sort of bond and stability for the things that were made, the Divine power and skill was implanted in the growth of things, guiding all things with the reins of a double operation (for it was by rest and motion that it devised the genesis of the things that were not, and the continuance of the things that are), driving around, about the heavy and changeless element contributed by the creation that does not move, as about some fixed path, the exceedingly rapid motion of the sphere, like a wheel, and preserving the indissolubility of both by their mutual action, as the circling substance by its rapid motion compresses the compact body of the earth round about, while that which is firm and unyielding, by reason of its unchanging fixedness, continually augments the whirling motion of those things which revolve round it, and intensity is produced in equal measure in each of the natures which thus differ in their operation, in the stationary nature, I mean, and in the mobile revolution; for neither is the earth shifted from its own base, nor does the heaven ever relax in its vehemence, or slacken its motion.

It seems that the wish to benefit all, and to lavish indiscriminately upon the first comer one’s own gifts, was not a thing altogether commendable, or even free from reproach in the eyes of the many; seeing that the gratuitous waste of many prepared drugs on the incurably-diseased produces no result worth caring about, either in the way of gain to the recipient, or reputation to the would-be benefactor. Rather such an attempt becomes in many cases the occasion of a change for the worse. The hopelessly-diseased and now dying patient receives only a speedier end from the more active medicines; the fierce unreasonable temper is only made worse by the kindness of the lavished pearls, as the Gospel tells us. I think it best, therefore, in accordance with the Divine command, for any one to separate the valuable from the worthless when either have to be given away, and to avoid the pain which a generous giver must receive from one who treads upon his pearl,’ and insults him by his utter want of feeling for its beauty.