Presence
and Thought: Essay on the Religious Philosophy of Gregory of Nyssa
By: Balthasar, Hans Urs Von
Publication Date: 1995/04
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Format: Trade Paper, 194pg.
ISBN: 0898705215
Our Price $17.95
Related Books: Christianity
and Hesychasm, Prophets,
Saints, Sages and Teachers
Vincent Rossi
The outstanding quality of Hans Urs von Balthasar's
thought stems, I believe, from his early, pioneering work in Patristics.
He wrote three seminal studies of three of the greatest and most
influential of the patristic writers, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa and
Maximus the Confessor, and he drew the core principles of his own
systematic thinking from the writing of these giants of Christian
metaphysics and spirituality. This book is the second of these studies,
and it simply is one of the best and most perceptive analyses of St.
Gregory in print. Everything Balthasar says about beauty as a key to
theology and spirituality, for example, can be found in the writings of
St. Gregory of Nyssa, the patristic apostle of beauty as a Divine
attribute and gift. This book is a must for both those interested in St.
Gregory and for those looking for an insight into von Balthasar.
Table of Contents
| Foreword |
9 |
|
Introduction |
15 |
| Pt. 1 |
The Philosophy of Becoming and
Desire |
|
| 1 |
The Concept of Spacing |
27 |
| 2 |
Becoming and the Immanent Infinite |
37 |
| 3 |
Spirit and Matter |
47 |
| 4 |
Real Becoming |
57 |
| 5 |
Ideal Becoming |
65 |
| 6 |
The Solution to the Anthropological
Problem |
71 |
| 7 |
Desire and Knowledge |
89 |
| 8 |
The Twofold Mystical Paradox |
97 |
| Pt. 2 |
The Philosophy of Image |
|
| 1 |
The Definition of Nature |
111 |
| 2 |
Monad, Mirror, and Window |
121 |
| Pt. 3 |
The Philosophy of Love |
|
| 1 |
Human Nature and Incarnation |
133 |
| 2 |
Transposition of Becoming |
153 |
| 3 |
Transposition of the Image |
163 |
|
Conclusion |
171 |
|
Final Note |
181 |
|
Bibliography |
183 |
|
Bibliographical Note |
189 |
|
|