Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Gregory of Nyssa’s understanding of anthropology is anything but one-di-mensional. Characteristic of his thinking is the gradual move away from a Platonic, dualistic conception towards a holistic one, which was developed both in dialogue with contemporary philosophical currents and based on biblical revelation. It is therefore not surprising that his anthropology continues to pose a challenge to scholars studying the teachings of the Church Fathers on the human person. Wi-thin this holistic horizon, man is methorios – a boundary – precisely because he exists at the interface between the spiritual and the material order, as a creature that is both an embodied and a psychic being. Ontologically, this liminality is expressed in the soul, while morally it manifests itself in desire, which leads man either to a virtuous life or to servitude under sin. Finally, man, created in the ima-ge of God, is also, through divine providence, the threshold between created exi-stence and the uncreated God. The ontological gulf that separates them cannot be bridged or dissolved by a human person and her endeavours. It is overcome in Jesus Christ, who unites the uncreated divine and created human nature in his person. In communion with him – and thus through grace – a human being is ena-bled to transcend his own limitations and participate in divine life
Author: Arko, Alenka
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7118114708
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