On the six days of creation / St. Gregory of Nyssa ; translated by Robin Orton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gregory, of Nyssa, Saint, approximately 335-approximately 394, author.

Contributor:

Orton, Robin, 1942- translator.

JSTOR (Online Service)

Series:

Fathers of the Church shorter works ; volume 1.

The Fathers of the Church shorter works ; volume 1

Standardized Title:

Apologia in Hexaemeron. English

Language:

English

Greek, Ancient (to 1453)

Subjects (All):

Bible. Genesis, I--Criticism, interpretation, etc--Early works to 1800.

Bible.

Bible. Genesis, I.

Creation--Biblical teaching--Early works to 1800.

Creation.

Creation--Biblical teaching.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : The Catholic University of America Press, [2021]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

The first volume of our new series, Fathers of the Church: Shorter Works, will be available in the summer of 2021. This series, to be printed only in paperback format, will offer English translations of treatises, homilies, poems, and letters of the Church Fathers in slim, easily affordable volumes. In this way a multitude of important writings will become accessible to scholars and students as well as the reading public. This is the first complete English translation of St. Gregory of Nyssa's treatise On the Six Days of Creation (In Hexaemeron). It was probably written in 380-381, and is designed as both a defense and a critique of his recently deceased brother St. Basil's better known homilies on the creation story as set out in the first chapter of Genesis. At the same time it incorporates Gregory's own observations on the Genesis text, which reflect his desire to show the consistency between Scripture and the philosophy and natural science of his day. A notable feature is Gregory's presentation of God's creation of the world as what has been called a "substantification" of God's own will, creatio ex Deo rather than creatio ex nihilo. Other ideas of his seem interestingly to foreshadow those of modern science, notably his challenge to the idea that matter is a primary ontological category and his theory that the world as we know it developed through a process of "sequence" ( akolouthia ) from an originally simultaneous creation of everything. Gregory differs from Basil in maintaining that the "waters above the firmament" in Genesis 1 are spiritual rather than physical in nature. He uses a modified form of Aristotle's theory of elements, together with some interesting observations on geography and meteorology, to construct a detailed and ingenious account of the "water cycle." This description enables him to refute Basil's notion that there needs to be an extra supply of physical water above the firmament so that the water lost from earthly seas and rivers through evaporation can be "topped up."

Contents:

1 Date of Composition p. 3

2 The Aim and Genre of the Work p. 4

3 Gregory and Basil p. 8

4 Gregory's Sources p. 12

5 Gregory's Theological and Philosophical Interpretation of the Creation Narrative p. 12

5.1 God and creation p. 13

5.2 How everything began: The laying of the foundations p. 20

5.3 The "construction" of heaven and earth p. 25

6 Water p. 30

6.1 Basil's account of the "waters above the firmament" p. 30

6.2 Gregory's account p. 32

6.3 Gregory's explanation of the "water cycle" p. 36

On the Six Days of Creation

Translated text p. 41.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Electronic reproduction. New York Available via World Wide Web.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780813233772

0813233771

Publisher Number:

40030631313

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.