Brian Dunkle, S.J.: From Divinized Flesh to Sacramental Union: Developments in Ambrose’s Thoughts on Deification

Ambrose employs the so-called “formula of exchange” only once in his corpus, in his earliest work, De uirginibus. Arguing for virginity’s heavenly status, he writes: “A virgin conceived and the Word became flesh that flesh might become God.” In Ambrose’s subsequent writings the language of exchange and biblical passages related to deification (e.g. 2 Peter 1:4) are relatively rare; indeed, the terms deificatio and deificare are entirely absent from his corpus. This paper will discuss the “formula of exchange” in Ambrose’s De uirginibus and its place in the development of the bishop’s later thought on participation in the divine life. I argue that Ambrose’s anti-Homoian polemic alters his treatment of deification for two reasons. First, Ambrose aims especially to protect the Son’s unique equality (aequalitas) with the Father so that human deification remains derivative and respects the distinctive substantial union of the Trinity. Second, the bishop shifts the setting of deification from ascetical self-mastery to sacramental participation to emphasize the ecclesiological setting for union with Christ.

Kathryn Thostenson: Serving Two Masters: Tertullian on Marital and Christian Duties

Scholars have often labelled Tertullian a ‘rigorist’ in terms of his seemingly negative position on marriage, highlighting passages where he, in the most extreme case, refers to marriage as little more than ‘legal fornication’ (‘leges uidentur matrimonii et stupri differentiam facere’, De exhortatione castitatis, 9.3). While Tertullian is certainly consistent in praising virginity as the highest form of sexual purity, clearly he and many others in his Christian community were married, and some, as the addressee for his De exhortatione castitatis, apparently also considered remarriage after the death of a spouse. Yet second marriage, or digamy (digamia), as Tertullian referred to it, should never be tolerated. Among the reasons Tertullian gives for shunning a second union is his assertion that marriage and the family commitments it requires might hinder Christians in performing their duties for the Christian community and for God. This concern is most explicit in Ad uxorem II, where he is particularly worried about Christian women who might marry non-Christian men (gentiles), and thus risk being barred from participation in Christian activities by unsympathetic husbands.  Yet far from denigrating marriage, Tertullian’s anxiety for those who are forced to ‘serve two masters’ (‘duobus dominis seruire’, Ad uxorem II.3.4) emphasizes the weight he placed on marital obligations.  This paper will explore how Tertullian thought Christians should negotiate dual commitments to faith and marriage, and question how gender influenced his understanding of these obligations.

Madalina Toca: Isidore of Pelusium’s Letters to Didymus: Content, Intent, and Attribution

Isidore of Pelusium (360-449/450?) left behind an extensive yet understudied corpus epistularum of approximately 2012 letters, transmitted initially in the monastic environment in which he was active. The sample gathered for this paper comprises 14 letters addressed to the character “Didymus,” divided as follows (6+1+7): 6 letters addressed to the “priest Didymus” (681, 682, 1249 [v. 28], 1448 [v. 167], 1515 [iv. 20], 1949 [v. 534]), 1 letter addressed to both “Didymus and Heron” (1818 [v. 433]), and 7 more to “Didymus” without any title attached (199, 201, 204, 205, 281, 330, 331). This selection is important because those letters for which the identification of the addressee as Didymus the Blind can be proven are among the oldest of the whole Isidorian corpus (shortly before 380). Yet the matter is not clear since, for instance, in letter 1448 Isidore addresses Didymus as σοφώτατε (also letter 331 seems to testify to Isidore’s personal acquaintance with Didymus the Blind), while in letter 1249 (and also in 681, 682) the priest Didymus seems rather a disciple of Isidore, and thus, the addressee is less likely to be identified with Didymus the Blind. Thus this paper will tackle (a) historical (addressee, date and place of composition), (b) literary (content, intent), and (c) exegetical issues in order to establish to what extent we can attribute any of these pieces as addressed to Didymus the Blind, and, if at all possible, to grasp some aspects of their relationship.

Camille Lepeigneux: The dance of King David (2 Reigns, 6, 14-21) : the patristic exegesis

The dance of David is one of the few episodes in 2 Reigns which gave raise to significant commentaries by the Church Fathers. The talk will investigate the different aspects of patristic exegesis, both in greek and latin, after a discussion on the textual tradition of the greek text, and a few comments about the way it should be understood and translated. This investigation is part of a broader study of the patristic exegesis of 2 Reigns in the team gathered by Sébastien Morlet for the future volume "2 Reigns" in the "Bible d'Alexandrie" collection.

Marios Benisis: Being as an atom against Communing as a person: an Orthodox patristic quest of Theology of Person

The well known in the Orthodox world as Theology of Person derives from the communion that exists between the three persons of the Holy Trinity. If someone considers as a purpose the quote “you shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1: 16), should try to implicate in his life the communion of the person, best known as community with the other. That is the aspect we will try to illuminate in this short communication, trying to base our thoughts in the works of the Fathers. We will also refer and comment the writings by John Zizioulas, Kallistos Ware, Christos Yannaras and other authors and last but not least, we will explore the meaning of the Greek words κοινωνια, ατομο, και προσωπο (Communion, atom and person) found in the patristic citations, in order to examine the Consensus Patrum in this aspect.

Mark Edwards: Some Problems in Capppadocian Logic

The teaching of Gregory of Nyssa on the Trinity has been explored in the light of late antique logic by a number of recent authors, notably Johannes Zachhuber in Human Nature in Gregory of Nyssa (De Gruyter 2000) and in his subsequent exchange of articles with Richard Cross. The evolution of Aristotelian logic in late antiquity has also been the subject of perceptive and innovative works by scholars such as Ricardo Chiaradonna, Sten Ebbesen and Steven Strange. Most of these studies have been undertaken without reference to theology; the present paper will consider whether the difficulties of Gregory’s argument could be tempered, not so much by the direct application of ancient logical theories, as by reflection on what the theorists have to say about the nature and purpose of Aristotelian logic.
A secondary goal of the paper will be to reconcile the simile of the rainbow in [Basil], Letter 38 with the meteorological phenomena, making use of other ancient writings on the same topic and of modern work on ancient perceptions of

Charlotte Koeckert: Augustine and Nebridius (epp. 3-14): Two Christian Intellectuals and Their Project of a Philosophical life

Twelve letters are extant from a larger correspondence between Augustine and his friend Nebridius. They offer valuable insights into Augustine's intellectual environment and his social circumstances after his retreat from public life in 386/87 and his return to Africa in 388. The paper analyses how and in which circumstances two Christian intellectuals pursue the project of a philosophical life, and it illuminates in particular the role of letter writing in this process.