Theosis in the Theology of Gregory of Nazianzus

Abstract

No other theologian of the first four centuries writes about deification as prolifically as Gregory of Nazianzus, the fourth-century bishop of Constantinople who coined the term ‘theosis’, and whose teachings on deification would go on to serve as the principal source of the doctrine for its most important Byzantine expositors such as Maximus the Confessor and John of Damascus. Yet, despite his significance in the history of the doctrine, Gregory’s own theology of deification has received little attention compared to that of other significant proponents of the doctrine such as Athanasius and Gregory of Nyssa. Moreover, previous scholarship on Gregory’s theology of deification has tended to address only certain aspects of his account, with the result that certain key strands of his thinking have been neglected, while no single study has succeeded in showing how diverse aspects of his account are integrated into a comprehensive theological vision. Theosis in the Theology of Gregory of Nazianzus rectifies these shortcomings by providing a comprehensive study of Gregory’s understanding of salvation as ‘theosis’ or deification, analysing Gregory’s thought across his entire corpus and in its historical and intellectual context. It shows that Gregory’s account of deification is centred on the notion of deifying union, a union Gregory understands in terms of Neo-Platonic mixture theory. This notion of deifying union forms a rich seam that permeates Gregory’s soteriological thinking and integrates a diverse range of soteriological motifs into a single, coherent soteriological vision, centred on the creature’s reception of and union with divine light. Within this vision, the motif of angelification—the transformation of the human being into an angelic or angelomorphic being—emerges as an essential, yet largely neglected, aspect of Gregory’s concept of deification. For Gregory, deification entails angelification: to be deified is to become like the angels, who are united to God from the moment of their creation, and to share in the angelic vision and worship of God.