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ABSTRACT
If the states and goals proper to the mystic are not accounted for in conceptions of moral formation and knowledge, then the object of the mystic’s pursuit – the infinitely greater God – inevitably likewise lacks the centrality it deserves. Consequently, our moral wisdom is finitized. To discover afresh a way for moral theology to take the infinitely greater God as its source and end, this paper draws on Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of Moses. I argue that Gregory’s depiction of moral progress, epektasis, along with his corresponding scriptural hermeneutic, anagogy, present a foundation from which moral and mystical theology can exist in their proper harmony. By contextualizing moral formation within the infinite mystery of God, epektasis establishes an essential continuity between seeing and following God. Likewise, in discovering behind every literal detail of Moses’ life a spiritual meaning, Gregory’s anagogic hermeneutic opens the virtuous life to the mystic’s transcending vision.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Don Duclow for his invaluable feedback on earlier drafts. Thanks also to organizers and participants of the Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Conference at Villanova University, where an earlier version of this paper was presented.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Tracy, ‘God as Infinite’, 135.
2 Ibid., 149.
3 Pinckaers, The Sources of Christian Ethics, 32.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Tracy, ‘God as Infinite’, 148.
7 McGinn and McGinn, ‘Endless Pursuit’, 142.
8 Pinckaers, The Sources of Christian Ethics, 19.
9 Ibid., 26.
10 ‘Aretaic’ from ἀρϵτή, Greek for virtue or excellence. The aretaic turn is normally said to have begun with Elizabeth Anscombe’s essay ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’ (1958). Subsequently, Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (1981) popularized the movement by leveraging a sharp critique against the state of modern ethical discourse, offering Aristotelian virtue ethics as the antidote.
11 Renaud and Daniel, ‘Introduction’, 5.
12 Ibid., 6.
13 Aquinas, Summa Theologiae (hereafter ST) III, q. 45, a. 1.
14 Aquinas, Quaestiones Disputatae de Virtutibus, q. 1, a.13, ad 16.
15 Geljon, ‘Divine Infinity in Gregory of Nyssa’; Meredith, Gregory of Nyssa, 29–30.
16 McGinn and McGinn, ‘Endless Pursuit’, 142.
17 Tracy, ‘God as Infinite’, 148.
18 See Hart, ‘The “Whole Humanity”’.
19 For more on Gregory’s ascription of infinity to God, see Krainer, ‘The Concept of the Infinity of God’.
20 Gregory of Nyssa, In Canticum canticorum, §13. Translated and compiled by Herbert Musurillo in From Glory to Glory, §78, 274.
21 Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Moses, 30; bk. I, §5.
22 See Contra Eunomium, Bk. I, §6.
23 Tracy, ‘God as Infinite’, 146.
24 Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Moses, 127; Bk. II, §288.
25 Przywara, Analogia Entis, 252.
26 Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Moses, 116; Bk. II, §243.
27 Ibid., 88; Bk. II, §136. Emphasis original.
28 Motia, ‘Three Ways to Imitate Paul in Late Antiquity’.
29 Smith, ‘Gregory of Nyssa’, 154, 155.
30 Pinckaers, The Sources of Christian Ethics, 29.
31 Smith, ‘Gregory of Nyssa’, 154.
32 Boersma, Embodiment and Virtue in Gregory of Nyssa, 18.
33 Hugh of Saint Victor, De scripturis et scriptoribus sacris III, B-C; Aquinas, ST I, q. 1, a. 10, ad 2. For more on anagogy, see de Lubac, ‘Anagogy and Eschatology’, 179–226.
34 Aquinas, ST, q.1, a.10.
35 Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Moses, 68; Bk. II, §59.
36 Ibid., 79; Bk. II, §106.
37 Ibid., 111; Bk. II, §217.
38 Ibid., 65; Bk. II, §49.
39 Ibid., 85; Bk. II, §130.
40 McGinn and McGinn, ‘Endless Pursuit’, 143.
41 Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Moses, 59; Bk. II, §20. Emphasis mine.
42 Ibid., 59; Bk. II, §22.
43 Ibid., 61; Bk. II, §26.
44 Ibid., 61; Bk. II, §27.
45 Ibid., 62; Bk. II, §33.
46 Ibid., 94–5; Bk. II, §162.
47 Ibid., 95; Bk. II, §162–163.
48 Ibid., 96; Bk. II, §166.
49 McGinn and McGinn, ‘Endless Pursuit’, 142.
50 Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Moses, 96; Bk. II, §168.
51 Ibid., 97; Bk. II, §169.
52 Ibid., 97; Bk. II, §170.
53 Ibid., 98; Bk. II, §174.
54 Ibid., 101; Bk. II, §184.
55 Ibid., 113; Bk. II, §223.
56 Ibid., 119; Bk. II, §252.
57 Gregory of Nyssa, In Canticum canticorum, §12. Translated and compiled by Herbert Musurillo in From Glory to Glory, §74, 263.
58 Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Moses, 116; Bk. II, §259.
59 Ibid., 116; Bk. II, §241.
60 Ibid., 111; Bk. II, §217.
61 Ibid., 135; Bk. II, §314. Emphasis original.
62 Ibid., 136; Bk. II, §317.
63 Ibid., 136; Bk. II, §318.
64 Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, III, q. 45, a. 1.
65 Pinckaers, The Sources of Christian Ethics, 32.
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Noah Karger
Noah Karger is a doctoral student in moral theology at the University of Notre Dame.