From Glory to Glory: Texts from Gregory of Nyssa's Mystical Writings [Paperback]

Jean Danielou (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1997

This collection of the spiritual writings of St Gregory of Nyssa, selected and introduced by Jean Danielou, has long been recognized as an authoritative introduction to the 'father of mysticism,' who exploded classical antiquity's static understanding of perfection by showing the Christian life as one of never-ending growth, a true dynamic movement 'from glory to glory.' Modern thought has come more and more to appreciate the depth and insight of Gregory of Nyssa: he epitomizes, in a sense, all that is best in post-Nicean patristic thought... In Gregory's teaching of the sacred history of the story of God's dealings with men history and symbol fuse in a way that reveals all the uniqueness of the Christian message. Jean Danielou, from the Preface

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Greek (translation)

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: St Vladimirs Seminary Pr (March 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0913836540
• ISBN-13: 978-0913836545
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #179,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christian Infinity (the number eight) not Pagan infinity (the circle or Ouroborus)., March 4, 2008

By 

Henri Porter "henri" (kentucky) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Glory to Glory: Texts from Gregory of Nyssa's Mystical Writings (Paperback)

This text represents one of the first attempts at depicting St Gregory of Nyssa in English, as something other then purely an Neoplatonic Christian father. The book is an analysis of Gregory's works from the perspective that Christianity is something more then just the ideas of Numenius and Ammonius Saccas and even the wonderious Plotinus, warmed over. The work covers Gregory and Origen but more so covers what Gregory stated separated the Christian God from the Hellenic philosophy God of Plato and by proxy the Neoplatonic. The idea that God's essence (ousia) is not comprehensible where as the philosophers depicted God as the good over the demiurge as energy. And that the realities of God (the hypostasises, Father, Son, Holy Spirit) are unique as is the ultimate reality of God.
The unique in that God is not meerly something that is infinite in that it repeats itself after a certain point or event. But that God is infinite (as the Father hypostasis) in growth and newness. That God is never ending and does not repeat. This infinity is never ending. As Christians one must merge or Wed (if you will) with the infinite (though baptism) and become like God in infinite growth. Or as St Gregory put it from the words of St Paul. Heaven is glory to glory. Ever growing into greater happiness and then to greater happiness into greater happiness into infinity, forever. The growth itself is reflective, but does not to represent repetition or the creation of a pattern, since in God there is no end to the new or glory. Rather our lives are the starting point for which we can wed ourselves to the infinite. Thru humility or meekness mankind becomes part of the infinite.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars a lack of cohesion makes for a sloppy compilation., March 30, 2007

By 

Danielle J. Bilbruck "i judge my self-worth b... (colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From Glory to Glory: Texts from Gregory of Nyssa's Mystical Writings (Paperback)

As someone thoroughly interested in Gregory of Nyssa and his promotion of Paul's idea of apokatastasis, I was disappointed to read that Danielou seems to be the only Nyssa scholar (living or not) that believes that Nyssa was not a proponent of universal salvation (read: restoration.) His exclusion of Nyssa's sections from The Life of Moses that support apokatastasis was especially disappointing.

Altogether, though, I felt that the compilation was simply not a coherent stream of thought. Jumping from Imago Dei to the Song of Solomon was too much for me...I like my compilations to make a little more sense as I'm reading them--or at least have transitions from topic to topic that make the entirety of the reading a little more cohesive.