Gregory of Nyssa as Biographer

Weaving Lives for Virtuous Readers
1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-3-16-157558-7
Verlag: Mohr Siebeck

Buch, Englisch, Band 123, 290 Seiten, Format (B × H): 232 mm x 156 mm, Gewicht: 460 g

Reihe: Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum / Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity

In this study, Allison L. Gray analyzes three biographical narratives by the fourth-century Christian theologian Gregory of Nyssa (335-395 CE). When the Life of Moses, the Life of Macrina, and the Life of Gregory Thaumaturgus are examined in light of Greco-Roman rhetoric, biography, hagiography, and the history of education, it becomes evident that Gregory's attention to audience is critical to understanding the texts' form and function. Gregory recounts the lives of exemplary figures to inform his readers about lived virtue while simultaneously preparing them to be skilled readers and interpreters. He adopts and adapts familiar rhetorical and literary techniques to imagine, construct, and teach a new sort of ideal audience, training Christians to interpret Scripture. This study contributes to a more complete picture of how early Christian biographical writing shaped an emerging Christian paideia.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gray, Allison L.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Kirchengeschichte Theologenbiographien, Religiöse Führer

Über Autor(innen)

Gray, Allison L.
Born 1983; 2016 doctorate in New Testament and Early Christian Literature from the University of Chicago; currently Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in Theology at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas.