Gregory of Nyssa's Sequence of Topographical Symbols As
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto Gregory of Nyssa’s Sequence of Topographical Symbols as a Pattern of Spiritual Progress Lasse Lindgren Master’s Thesis in Systematic Theology April 2017 UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI Faculty Department Theology Faculty of Systematic Theology Writer Lasse Tapani Lindgren Title of thesis Gregory of Nyssa’s Sequence of Topographical Symbols as a Patten of Spriritual Progress Discipline Systematic Theology Type of Thesis Date Number of pages Master’s Thesis April 2017 134 Abstract This study focuses on the exegesis of Gregory of Nyssa, a 4th century exegete, a Church Father, and one of the three Cappadocian Fathers. The main primary source of my thesis is Gregory’s treatise The Life of Moses, an intriguing example of Patristic exegesis based on the Exodus narrative. The main purpose of Gregory’s treatise is not to make a historical presentation of the journey of Moses and the Israelites, but to elevate the reader into a higher state of consciousness in order to perceive the spiritual meaning of the narrative. The kind of exegesis that Gregory applies is often defined as allegorical interpretation or allegorical exegesis, rich on symbols and enigmas, which was at first neglected in scholarly discussion. Fortunately, there has been a growing interest in Biblical interpretation of the Church Fathers since the mid-20th century. The main objective of my thesis is to focus on Gregory’s interpretations of topographical imagery presented in the Exodus narrative. Gregory gives symbolical interpretations to topographical locations: the city, the river, the sea, the desert and the mountain. My intention is to show that Gregory was not thinking of the various symbolical interpretations as independent units but he was seeking for a logical coherent sequence. One of the main objectives of modern research has been the reassessment of Gregory’s sources. In order to understand Gregory’s exegetical and philosophical concepts and terminology, one must be aware of the rich and profound tradition already established in classical antiquity. Gregory makes moral, ascetical, philosophical and mystical interpretations in relation to each topographical detail. These figurative interpretations are by no means based on his original ideas but are rooted in the rich tradition of Greek classical culture, as well as in the exegetical tradition of his Jewish and Christian predecessors. My purpose is to provide a systematic analysis of each term Gregory is applying and present an overall model of Gregory’s exegetical method. The final aim of my thesis is to present an analysis of Gregory’s pattern of topographical symbols as a whole. Gregory connects the topographical details with his threefold pattern of illumination, purification and participation in a fascinating way. For Gregory, the exodus narrative is a journey of a soul being liberated from the bondage of passions, temptations and materialism towards an ever-increasing awareness of God’s presence. Keywords Gregory of Nyssa, early Christianity, patristics, allegory, mysticism, interpretation, exodus Place of storage Helsingin yliopiston kirjasto, Keskustakampuksen kirjasto, Teologia Other information Table of Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Purpose of the Study, Sources and Previous Research ................................. 1 1.2. Bios – Biography and Works of Gregory of Nyssa ...................................... 7 1.3. The Life of Moses – The Form and Purpose of the Treatise ....................... 11 2. Gregory of Nyssa’s Method of Exegesis – Origins and Terminology .............. 15 2.1. Theoria and Hermeneia .............................................................................. 16 2.2. Hyponoia – Platonic and Stoic Origin ........................................................ 19 2.3. Aletheia and Doxa – Parmenidean Origin .................................................. 23 2.4. Ainigma and Metaphora – Aristotelian Origin ........................................... 25 2.5. Neoplatonic Origin ..................................................................................... 27 2.6. Symbolon – Pythagorean and Alexandrian Origin ..................................... 29 2.7. Anagoge – Origen’s Anagogical Interpretation and Its Opponents ............ 33 2.8. Allegoria and Typos – Gregory of Nyssa’s Apology on Allegory ............. 41 2.9. The Reception of Patristic Allegorical Exegesis in the West ..................... 46 3. Gregory of Nyssa’s Topographical Imagery ..................................................... 50 3.1. Categorising the Topographical Symbols ................................................... 53 3.2. The River Nile – The Stream of Life .......................................................... 54 3.3. Egypt – The Maze of This World ............................................................... 56 3.4. The Sea of Life – The Deep Water of Evil ................................................. 58 3.5. The Red Sea – The Symbol of Baptism ..................................................... 60 3.6. The Desert – The Symbol of Purification ................................................... 62 3.7. The Campsites of the Desert ....................................................................... 64 3.8. The Mountain as a Symbol of Divine Encounter ....................................... 66 3.9. First Theophany – The Burning Bush ........................................................ 68 3.10. Second Theophany – Entering the Cloud ................................................. 69 3.11. Third Theophany – The Cleft of a Rock ................................................... 72 4. The Structure of Gregory of Nyssa’s Topographical Pattern ............................ 74 4.1. Mimesis – Imitation in Gregory of Nyssa’s Exegesis ................................. 75 4.2. Akolouthia – Following a Sequence ........................................................... 80 4.3. Akolouthia in The Life of Moses ................................................................. 85 4.4. Klimakos and Bathmoi – The Ladder and the Steps ................................... 90 4.5. The Stages of the Lowlands in Gregory’s Topographical Pattern .............. 97 4.6. Gregory’s Imagery of Darkness and Light in Scholarly Discussion ........ 102 5. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 111 Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 114 Sources ............................................................................................................ 114 Biblical Sources .............................................................................................. 116 Translations .................................................................................................... 116 Dictionaries, Encyclopedias and Handbooks ................................................. 121 Secondary Sources .......................................................................................... 121 Tables .................................................................................................................. 129 The Structure of Gregory of Nyssa’s The Life of Moses Based on the Topography of the Book of Exodus ................................................................ 129 1. Introduction 1.1. Purpose of the Study, Sources and Previous Research This study focuses on Gregory of Nyssa, one of the three Cappadocian Fathers, an influential 4th century exegete, Church Father, and mystic, and on his symbolical exegesis presented especially in his work The Life of Moses. In this chapter I will present the aim and the research question of my study, the sources and scholarly debate related to the topic. This study concentrates on Gregory’s symbolical interpretations of topography presented in the Exodus narrative. As David Daube has noted, there has been a tendency in the history of Biblical interpretation of seeing the Exodus narrative as prototype or a mould “in which other stories of rescue from ruin may be cast”. The Exodus narrative has been seen as a pattern of deliverance of the soul from spiritual bondage to a deeper awareness of God. This scheme also applies to Gregory’s perception of the Exodus narrative.1 In Gregory’s symbolical exegesis, geographical locations such as Egypt, the Red Sea, the desert and Mount Sinai, function as symbols of a pattern of an inner journey of a soul of a Christian from bondage to perfection in virtue. The aim of Gregory’s exegesis was to show that the followers of Christ also follow Moses through the narrative of Exodus, not through the actual geographical locations of the journey of Moses and the Israelites, but through a pattern of symbols that the locations and events of the narrative represent. Each topographical detail in Gregory’s model represent a waypoint on the spiritual and philosophical path of a Christian aiming for perfection. The concept applied by Gregory has been defined as allegorical interpretation or allegorical exegesis. Patrick F. O’Connell has noted that in the previous research there has been a tendency to see the allegorical details of Moses’s journey in Gregory’s exegesis as an inconsistent and unorderly pattern of events. One approach has been that Gregory