Saturday 11 April 2015

Ilaria Vigorelli: Souls' dance in Plotinus and Gregory of Nyssa

Both Plotinus and Gregory of Nyssa have recourse to the metaphor of the souls' dance around a choripheus in order to describe rational natures' assimilation to the Divine. The origin of this image goes back to Plato's Theaetetus that was later reinterpreted by Clement of Alexandria according to a Christian meaning. The paper studies the differences in these uses of the same metaphor on the background of the distinct conceptions of relation (schesis) and assimilation to God in Plotinus and Gregory. This analysis highlights the importance of Clement's contribution in the resematization of some Platonic categories in Christian theological thought.

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