Divine Transcendence and Human Transformation: Gregory of Nyssa’s Anti–Apollinarian Christology

Abstract

Gregory of Nyssa’s treatment of the person of Christ has puzzled modern scholars, because it does not fit easily into the dogmatic categories that have been developed, in the light of the Chalcedonian definition, to distinguish orthodox from heretical or deficient Christology. This essay argues that the main focus of Gregory’s Christology, even in his debate with the Apollinarian school, is not so much on the unity and distinctions to be observed in Christ’s person, but on the transformation Christ has accomplished in his own humanity by irradiating it with his own divine presence, a transformation that is the “first–fruits” of a divinization which will include the whole human race.