This paper will investigate how the imagery of light participates into the argumentation in defense of the divinity of the Son in Gregory of Nyssa’s Contra Eunomium III (CE III). Throughout his works, the light imagery is one of the main imageries to describe the relation between the Divine and humans in his soteriology. CE III uses this imagery in a special way – to explain the relation between the Father and the Son. This unusual usage clarifies some aspects of the imagery indicated implicitly in its soteriological uses.
In this paper I want to answer the following questions: 1. which characteristics of light are emphasized in CEIII; 2. in relation with the Father, which special position of the Son is revealed by this imagery; 3. in general, what kind of relation this imagery can demonstrate.
I will focus on CE III,6 where the light imagery appears intensively. Three paragraphs within the chapter will be analyzed closely (GNO ΙΙ.2: 190:11-27; 192.19-193.4; 203.15-204.17). In dialogue with recent studies on CE III (e.g. last year’s Gregory of Nyssa conference in Leuven), my paper will develop according to the following lines: (1) the overall argumentation and content of CE III,6; (2) the role of the three paragraphs in the argument of CE III,6; ; (3) the main questions of the three paragraphs; (4) how do these three paragraphs apply the imagery of light to answer these questions, the similarity and the difference in their using of the imagery. In the conclusion results of the analysis will be put in a broader framework discussing the significance of CE III,6 for understanding Gregory’s use of the imagery of light.
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