The Mystical and Moral in Gregory of Nyssa: Recovering a Critical Link

Abstract

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.