Morwenna Ludlow

This is a really helpful book. Morwenna Ludlow summarises the ways in which Gregory of Nyssa has been read by a very wide range of contemporary authors, whose work she describes fairly and succinctly; she moderates a range of discussions about how he might profitably be read; and she proposes a framework in which we might continue to read him wisely.
This is not only a study of Gregory of Nyssa himself, then, but a study of the way in which he is read: in many ways it is the subject of responsible and nuanced reading itself which is a fundamental theme in this book about someone who is increasingly recognised as a supremely literary writer on his own account.
The book focuses on four main areas of thought - Gregory's well-known (and well-valued) concept of the 'relational Trinity', and whether and to what extent it ought properly to be compared or contrasted with Augustinian theology; Gregory's much less well-valued theology of salvation, and whether or not it is fair to describe this as 'naive'; his hugely interesting and complex ideas about gender and sex, and whether or not it is possible to get behind a patriarchal voice in Patristic theology; and the way in which postmodern writers have found great stimulus in Gregory's understanding of language, and of paradox, mystery, and the possibility (and desirability) of multiple meanings and unanswered questions.
These are complicated subjects, and Gregory's own views are - as Morwenna Ludlow affirms again and again - extremely sophisticated: the recognition of his subtlety and sophistication is something which she connects specifically to increasingly careful and 'holistic' readings of his own writings - but this book itself is extremely clear and easy to understand. For that alone it deserves real credit.
In her concluding remarks Morwenna Ludlow comes back to a theme which is implicit in the earlier sections of the book, about whether Gregory can be considered 'authoritative' or in any way normative, or whether his theological vision and method represent a different kind of contribution to our discussions - an 'alternative tradition', perhaps, or simply a starting point for new kinds of thoughts about knowledge or language or sex, for example. She describes three historiographical kinds of presupposition which we tend to bring to the scrutiny of Patristics: a 'static' model of theology (which sees Gregory as an exemplar); a 'reformatory' model (which often sees him as the source of the rot which contaminates a pristine earlier theology); and an 'adaptive' model (which finds in Gregory huge inspiration to new thought). Moderating these three basic attitudes towards Gregory and the wider Patristic heritage (or heritages), Morwenna Ludlow concludes that 'theologians are becoming much more aware of the plurality of traditions in Christianity', and that 'the more literary approaches to reading Gregory... suggest that Gregory's texts are written in such a way that they are intended to generate multiple meanings' - forcing us continually to reassess our own presuppositions, and to build on what 'he himself clearly believed to be evident in the fruitful ambiguity of Scripture itself'. The creative tension within his writing, its careful and deliberate use of metaphor, and what Morwenna Ludlow nicely calls the 'prismatic quality of his thought' are all, she thinks, reflective of Gregory's understanding of the unutterable mystery of God into which we are all being drawn; and she touchingly finishes with Gregory's own assessment of Moses 'who "shone with glory", yet who died without reaching the promised land; who constantly thirsted for God, "beseeching God to appear to him", and yet who was called by God to be "God's friend"'.
This is a stunning book, which will help us read Gregory responsibly, but still open to be led somewhere new.… (plus d'informations)