Gregory of Nazianzus on the Trinity and the Knowledge of God: In Your Light We Shall See Light Oxford Studies in Historical Theology.

Aus der Bibliothek von Prof. Wolfgang Haase, langj�igem Herausgeber der ANRW und des International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT) / From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - Schutzumschlag leicht berieben, sonst neuwertiger Zustand / Dust jacket lightly worn, otherwise as new. - reface This book is a study of the greatest theologian of the Christian fourth century and the subject he held most dear: St. Gregory of Nazianzus on the Holy Trinity. A man of exceptional learning and intellectual talent, Gregory Nazianzen (329-390) pioneered several new forms of Greek literature; he preserved numerous lines of classical poetry and composed thousands of his own; and he later became the chief model of Byzantine homiletical and prose style. Yet his greatest devotion in all of life was the doctrine and the worship of the Trinity. It was Gregory, more than anyone before him, who made the Trinity the centerpiece and the cardinal doctrine of orthodox Christianity. In recognition of his magisterial achievement, the Council of Chal- cedon in 451 deemed him �the Theologian,� a title that he shares only with St. John the Divine and the Byzantine monk St. Simeon the New Theologian, who was being compared to Gregory. In due time, Gregory the Theologian came to be regarded as one of the three �universal teachers� of Eastern Orthodoxy, together with St. Basil the Great, who was renowned for his monastic legislation, and the golden-mouthed preacher St. John Chrysostom. Gregory�s immense impact on Christian tradition can be seen from the fact that his work is the most widely published in the Greek manuscript tradition, second only to the Bible.1 GREGORY of Nazianzus (329�390 CE . �the Theologian,� is the premier teacher on the Holy Trinity in Eastern Christian tradition, ret for over a century historians and theologians have largely neglected his work. Christopher Beeley�s groundbreaking study� the first comprehensive treatment in modern scholarship�examines Gregorys doctrine of the Trinity within the full range of his theological and practical vision. Following an overview of Gregorys life and major works, Beeley traces the central soteriological meaning of Gregorys doctrine in the spiritual dialectic of purification and illumination; the dynamic process of divinization (theosisy the singular identity of Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God; the divinity and essential presence of the Holy Spirit; and the interpretation of Scripture �according to the Spirit.� The book culminates in Gregorys understanding of the Trinity as a whole�which is �theology� in the fullest sense�rooted in the monarchy of God the Father and uniquely known in the divine economy of salvation. Finally, Beeley identifies the Trinitarian shape of pastoral ministry, on which Gregory is also the foundational teacher for later Christian tradition. Beeley offers new insights in several kev areas, reinterpreting the famous Theological Orations and Christological epistles within the full corpus of Gregory�s orations, poems, and letters. Gregory stands out as the leading ecclesiastical figure in the Eastern Roman empire and the most powerful theologian of his age, who produced the definitive expression of Trinitarian orthodoxy from a characteristically Eastern tradition of Ori- genist theology, independent of the work of Athanasius and in several respects more insightful than his Cappadocian contemporaries. Long eclipsed in modern scholarship, Gregory Nazianzen is now brought into full view as the major witness to the Trinity among the Greek fathers of the Church. ISBN 9780195313970