Contra Eunomium

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.

This volume, a new version of the Proceedings of the 6th International Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa, offers a revised English translation of the Contra Eunomium I accompanied by an original series of supporting studies from a broad philological, philosophical and theological perspective.

The Brill Dictionary of Gregory of Nyssa is the fruit of wide-ranging collaboration between experts in Philology, Philosophy, History and Theology. These scholars shared the desire to develop a comprehensive reference work that would help attract more people to the tudy of the 'Father of Fathers' and assist them in their work. Gregory of Nyssa's thought is at once quintessentially classic and modern, as it speaks directly to the contemporary reader. As interest in Gregory has increased along with the number of works devoted to him, the need for a comprehensive introduction and bibliographical reference work has arisen. In order to meet this need, more than forty scholars from various disciplines and perspectives have contributed to this work. In two hundred articles, the Brill Dictionary of Gregory of Nyssa provides a symphonic vision of the studies on Gregory of Nyssa and his thought.

This book presents 37 letters of Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-379) translated into English and equipped with scholarly notes. It includes a biography, testimonia from Basil and Gregory Nazianzen, 30 letters established by G. Pasquali and seven additional letters reassigned to Gregory.

Annotation. This volume completes the Commentary on all the Psalms written by Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus, in the decade before the Council of Chalcedon held in 451, "a triumph of Antiochene theology", in the words of J. N. D. Kelly. The work thus bears the marks of the theological currents of those years, especially as Theodoret was instrumental in convening that Council and was involved in the Christological and trinitarian debates of the period.Theodoret's work of commentary offers readers a great spiritual classic that has contributed to Christian spiritual formation and received the attention of eminent commentators from Antioch and Alexandria in the East, and from the likes of Augustine of Hippo in the West. As this volume closes, Theodoret claims modestly to have offered his readers the best of his predecessors' work (including Alexandrian commentators) together with his own insights into "the Spirit's hidden mysteries". He writes as a teacher, not a preacher in his pulpit, with the purpose simply of dispelling ignorance, concerned that "those singing [the Psalter] daily and uttering the words by mouth do not enquire about the force of the ideas underlying the words".This translation respects the conciseness which the bishop sets as one aim for himself, his other principle being to let the text speak for itself. Theodoret emerges in this work as a measured commentator and balanced exponent of his school's hermeneutical and theological principles.

What comes to mind when you hear the term "primacy of Christ"? Perhaps that Jesus is number one, or that he is the Lord of the universe? Using the wealth of our tradition on Christ's primacy, this book compels us to pause and search the profound depths of our basic Christian claim on the universal preeminence of Christ. Upholding the writings of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI as exemplary representation of how the early Christian awareness of Christ's primacy helps us to interpret the present age, this book displays a symphonic harmony between our ancient Christian heritage and the ongoing conversations about the authentic interpretation of Scripture, the human person, the last things, and the church. Central to this symphonic harmony of our tradition is the use of analogy whereby the incarnation helps us to better understand the similarity between the created things and the mystery of God. To better understand how Ratzinger uses the writings of the fathers of the church to draw us more deeply into the depths of Christ is what the correctives offered to some scholars in this book intends to accomplish. What emerges is the ecumenical significance of Joseph Ratzinger's contribution to the modern debate on analogy of being (analogia entis), identifying Christ's primacy as the point of synthesis between analogia entis and analogia fidei.

Does the Holy Spirit proceed only from the Father—or also from the Son? Protestants and Roman Catholics might immediately answer the latter and wonder why their Orthodox friends protest. Historically one of the major obstacles to Christian unity across the East-West divide, the Filioque—the part of the Latin translation of the Nicene Creed claiming the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son—still bedevils Trinitarian theologians today. How can the church possibly achieve unity in the face of this dogmatic difference, implacable for over a millennium? Giulio Maspero shows us how the answer can be found in history. In the fourth century, when Pneumatomachians denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit, the Cappadocian Fathers came to a relational understanding of the most elusive person of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit was conceived of as the glory and power eternally exchanged between the Father and the Son. In fact, this understanding is still fundamentally shared by Eastern and Western Christians. Examining Syriac traditions as an example, Maspero observes that both Syriac and Latin lack the linguistic precision to describe the nature of the Holy Spirit’s procession from the Trinity in the same way as Greek, hence the ambiguous Filioque. Yet what might be seen on the surface as a mere translation error reveals deep questions about the triune nature of God. With rigorous theological argument, Maspero ultimately proposes a way forward for East and West—one based not on centuries of polemics, but on a common tradition established by the Greek Fathers. Essential reading for the ecumenically minded theologian, Rethinking the Filioque with the Greek Fathers takes a crucial step toward Christian unity.

This book explores Basil's Trinitarian thought as the meeting place of the worlds within which he lived, that of ancient Greek culture and learning, and that of Christian faith lived in the liturgy and expressed in the Scripture.