Overview

Evagrius of Pontus and Gregory of Nyssa have either been overlooked by philosophers and theologians in modern times, or overshadowed by their prominent friend and brother (respectively), Gregory Nazianzus and Basil the Great. Yet they are major figures in the development of Christian thought in late antiquity and their works express a unique combination of desert and urban spiritualities in the lived and somewhat turbulent experience of an entire age. They also provide a significant link between the great ancient thinkers of the past - Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Clement and others - and the birth and transmission of the early Medieval period - associated with Boethius, Cassian and Augustine. This book makes accessible, to a wide audience, the thought of Evagrius and Gregory on the mind, soul and body, in the context of ancient philosophy/theology and the Cappadocians generally. Corrigan argues that in these two figures we witness the birth of new forms of thought and science. Evagrius and Gregory are no mere receivers of a monolithic pagan and Christian tradition, but innovative, critical interpreters of the range and limits of cognitive psychology, the soul-body relation, reflexive self-knowledge, personal and human identity and the soul’s practical relation to goodness in the context of human experience and divine self-disclosure. This book provides a critical evaluation of their thought on these major issues and argues that in Evagrius and Gregory we see the important integration of many different concerns that later Christian thought was not always able to balance including: mysticism, asceticism, cognitive science, philosophy, and theology.

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’This is the first scholarly attempt to compare the spiritual anthropology of Evagrius of Pontus and Gregory of Nyssa. According to Kevin Corrigan these two towering figures of the late fourth-century church brought to birth a new understanding of Christian thought and practice by their innovative interpretation of the tradition they both received.’ Journal of Theological Studies '... this book is an intriguing, lively, and thoroughly enlightening consideration of the thinking of two philosopher-theologians of the late fourth century. ... In my view, Corrigan's work can lead to a reinvigorated discussion of these two writers, still challenging and undomesticated thanks to their own intelligence and creativity.' Journal of Religion '... a most stimulating and thoughtful book, which sheds considerable light on each of these interesting thinkers and on the links between them.' Aestimatio

'This is the first scholarly attempt to compare the spiritual anthropology of Evagrius of Pontus and Gregory of Nyssa. According to Kevin Corrigan these two towering figures of the late fourth-century church brought to birth a new understanding of Christian thought and practice by their innovative interpretation of the tradition they both received.' Journal of Theological Studies '... this book is an intriguing, lively, and thoroughly enlightening consideration of the thinking of two philosopher-theologians of the late fourth century. ... In my view, Corrigan's work can lead to a reinvigorated discussion of these two writers, still challenging and undomesticated thanks to their own intelligence and creativity.' Journal of Religion '... a most stimulating and thoughtful book, which sheds considerable light on each of these interesting thinkers and on the links between them.' Aestimatio

Author Information

Kevin Corrigan is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities and Director of the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. His most recent book publications are: Plato's Dialectic at Play: Structure, Argument and Myth in the Symposium, (with Elena Glazov-Corrigan) University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004; Reading Plotinus: a practical introduction to Neoplatonism, West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, 2004; Platonisms: Ancient, Modern and Postmodern, edited with John D. Turner, Brill: Leiden, 2007; two volumes: Reading Ancient Texts: The Presocratics and Plato. Essays in Honor of Denis O'Brien; Volume 1: The Presocratics and Plato. Volume 2: Aristotle and Neoplatonism, edited with Suzanne Stern-Gillet, Brill: Leiden, 2007; and with John D. Turner two volumes on Plato's Parmenides and its heritage, SBL Press: Atlanta, 2009: Volume 1: Plato's Parmenides: History and Interpretation from the Old Academy to Later Platonism and Gnosticism; and Volume 2: Plato's Parmenides: Its Reception in Neoplatonic, Jewish and Christian Texts.

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