What I have found most refreshing about reading the theology of St. Gregory
Of Nyssa is, although it sometimes strays, that his main ideas are biblically based. St. Gregory’s whole notion of body and soul is originated in Ephesians when “the Lord instructs the scribe in the Gospel that he should set before every commandment that love to God which is exercised with all the heart and soul and mind” (St. Gregory of Nyssa, p. 9). As a theologian, St. Gregory seems to be very enthralled by the glory of God. He writes about God being an artist when He created humans. It was unlike any other part of creation, as He “dr[ew] near with circumspection, so as to prepare beforehand for him material for his formation, and to liken his for to an archetypal beauty, and, setting before him a mark for which he is to come into being, to make for him a nature appropriate and allied to the operations, and suitable for the object in hand” (St.…show more content… Gregory of Nyssa writes of the mind, body, and soul while sleeping is the most indulgent and tranquil I have ever read the process of slumber described. Even when speaking of the scientific process of sleeping and what happens therein, he writes of it with a childlike wonder. Its rooted principle is similar to Plato’s theory of forms. All of St. Gregory’s thoughts seem to follow this pattern of being, becoming, and reason. Everything that happens has a reason, but it is a reason that transcends earthly perception. When writing of the scientific construction of the body in section XXX, St. Gregory does not simply diagram the body, but takes an ambiguous angle on the human body. He notes that our bodies alone cannot sustain us. Our lungs allow us to breathe, but do not give us oxygen in themselves. We have organs that digest our food, but without food, they are worthless. In all these things and more, we are self-sufficient, but not self-sufficient just as equally. We are a poor race. (St. Gregory of Nyssa, p.
