Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus by Andrew Hofer

Abstract

Reviewed by: Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus by Andrew Hofer Kevin M. Clarke Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus by Andrew Hofer, O.P. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), xiii + 270 pp. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus challenges first-time readers with his abundance of self-referential tropes throughout his orations and [End Page 1403] poetry. "Upon whom are you fixated, Gregory, yourself or Christ?" The Nazianzen seems to be the most narcissistic of all the Church Fathers. Further, Gregory does not give us the satisfaction of a "dogmengeschichtliche Christology," and so it seems one may even question the extent to which he deserves to be called the Theologian. But Andrew Hofer, O.P., in his book Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus, shows that it is not narcissism at the heart of Gregory's preaching. Instead, it is precisely Gregory's love for Christ that propels him to discover all convergences with his own life and the life and mystery of Christ. Hofer writes that Gregory's "writings exude a highly sophisticated and profoundly personal insight into the mystery of Christ. He crafts his presentation to persuade others to be purified and, with Gregory himself as their model, to become like Christ in deification" (195). The text is well-structured around Hofer's thesis. Hofer observes that Gregory is "the most autobiographical of all the Greek Fathers," but not in the modern sense of the term "autobiography" (4). Gregory is eager to set himself up as an example of discipleship to his audience. Gregory writes about his life to show Christ hidden in it. Plus, it is not only Gregory's life that is interwoven into Christ's and Christ's into his. Gregory presents other saintly figures, such as his sister, Gorgonia, an exemplar of biblical living (45). Athanasius, too, rides triumphantly into Alexandria upon a colt like "my Jesus" (206). Confronting the injustice of Emperor Valens, Basil of Caesarea becomes "the fleshless one," a bloodless martyr standing like "my Jesus before the judgment seat of Pilate" (208). For Gregory, that is the point. The commingling of one's life with that of the Incarnate Word is not only a mark of discipleship but even the path to deification. Hofer organizes the book in the following manner. He builds a case in chapter 1 for a logo-centric theology, one that remains integral throughout the book. Gregory, often referred to as the second Demosthenes for his powerful rhetoric, is interested to claim rhetoric from the secular domain for his preaching, because his love for words is really a love for the Word. Contrary to the accusations of Emperor Julian that Christians were without reason (alogos), Gregory shows that Christ has assumed our rational nature (logikē physis). Hofer makes several key points: that "Gregory's words must not be separated from his faith in the Word"; that "the attention to words should be seen in relation to Gregory's training as a rhetor who seeks to persuade others to accept this philosophy of living by the Word"; and that "the Word in Scripture is channeled through Gregory's own earthly life and teaching for people to worship rightly" (53). Hofer argues that Gregory's autobiography is "Christomorphic," a notion he develops in chapter 2. Further, Gregory's Christology is "autobiographical," which [End Page 1404] Hofer develops in three parts in chapters 3–5. Chapter 3 explores a theological challenge in the "mixture" language that Gregory uses concerning his life and that of Christ. Gregory even uses mixture language to describe the Incarnation itself, though the Word does not become a single nature after the Incarnation (94–95). When Gregory ponders the rational soul of Christ, he exclaims: "O new mixture! O unexpected blending! He who is has come to be, the uncreated one is created, the limitless one is contained, through the mediation of a rational soul standing between divinity and the coarseness of flesh" (115; quoting Brian Daley's translation of Or. 38). Chapter 4 focuses on Epistle 101 and the ten anathemas from the perspective of Gregory's own salvation, and the impossibility of...