Taylor Ross: Origen and Gregory of Nyssa on the "Friends of the Bridegroom"

This paper aims to begin disambiguating the styles of “speculative theology” proper to Origen and Gregory of Nyssa, and looks to do so by comparing their theoretical approaches to scripture. By “theoretical” approach I mean both their “contemplation” (θεωρία) of individual pericopes, as well as what each considers such “contemplation” to consist of. Their respective treatment of Song of Songs is fertile ground for comparison since this book, above all others in the canon, offers Origen and Gregory opportunity to test their exegetical methods and demonstrate their distinctive conceptions of scripture as a whole. I call specific attention to the way each interprets the “friends of the Bridegroom.” For Origen, by way of a shrewd connection to Moses and Elijah who flank the transfigured Christ, the Bridegroom’s “friends” figure the law and prophets, and thereby signal the unity of the biblical canon; for Gregory, in keeping with his usual adherence to the sequence (ἀκολουθία) and scope (σκοπός) of individual texts, the Bridegroom’s “friends,” their speech to the bride in particular, represent a propaedeutic phase of the Song’s program of ascent to union with the Bridegroom. The differing identities of the “friends,” I argue, typify not only how Origen and Gregory see the Song in and as scripture, but also how each envisions the task of the biblical interpreter at large. Given the exemplary status of the Song, moreover, these distinctive approaches to scripture point up differences in the sorts of “speculative theology” Origen and Gregory each practiced.