Traditional Christian Thought in Late Antiquity

Abstract

Writing in the second half of the fourth century, Gregory Nazianzen (330–389) provides us with one of the classic examples of traditional Christian theology. Decades after the Edict of Mediolanum (313 AD), Christianity was no longer preoccupied with the threat of imminent persecution, so the dangers from outside became increasingly a matter of the past. It was time, however, to confront the dangers from within or the quite impressive wave of teachings that originated in the Christian church but that did not reflect the dogmatic morrow of the faith handed down through almost four hundred years of history. It was in this particular historical setting that Gregory wrote his works, in close connection with what he believed to be the very core of Christianity, namely, the teaching about Jesus Christ and about God as Trinity. Keenly aware that the church’s convictions about Christ resulted in a certain type of practical behavior, Gregory was convinced that the life of those who declare themselves Christians was a life of faith, which is, in other words, a life of constant spirituality. Such a life, however, needs confirmation, but this confirmation is in itself bound to a definition. Gregory’s most essential definition of faith, which is also the basis of Christian spirituality, has to do with the fundamental tenets of the Nicene Creed and especially with the way he sees Jesus Christ.