The Polemical Context and Content of Gregory of Nyssa's Psychology

In this article I will examine Gregory's use of thencontemporary philosophical psychology, specifically Aristotelian psychology, to support a pro-Nicene Trinitarian theology. Such arguments are offered by Gregory as part of his polemic against the antiNicene, Eunomius of Cyzicus. I will show, in particular, that Gregory's theological motives so shape his use of psychological language that the latter cannot be properly understood outside the context of the former. Previous scholarly treatments of the place of psychology in Gregory's thought generally and in his theology specifically have focused almost entirely on questions of Gregory's sources and his relationship to them. Is Gregory's psychology primarily Stoic via Posidonius, as Gronau argued? Is his psychology entirely Platonic, reflecting his true identity as a Platonist with a Christian mask, as Cherniss asserted? Or does Gregory's psychology reveal a modified Platonic understanding that represents (as much as anything) Gregory's own Christian transformation of originally Platonic material, as Danielou thought?