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>'Like a Swift Fleeting Flash of Lightning Shining in Our Eyes': The Role of Mental Images in Gregory of Nazianzus's Account of Theological Language
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'Like a Swift Fleeting Flash of Lightning Shining in Our Eyes': The Role of Mental Images in Gregory of Nazianzus's Account of Theological Language
This dissertation reconstructs Gregory of Nazianzus's account of theological language through the lens of cognition and ϕalphanutaualphasigmaialpha. Gregory adopts and adapts philosophical and rhetorical ideas about cognition, ϕalphanutaualphasigmaialpha, and theological language that demonstrate how embodied creatures can have sufficient knowledge to speak about God accurately. Gregory chooses to address the Eunomian challenge of theological language differently than Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa by applying his understanding of cognition and the important role of ϕalphanutaualphasigmaialpha in a way that can be expressed in a wide range of literary genres and to an educationally diverse audience. By eschewing the constraints of reading Gregory through the lens of Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, and their important debates with Eunomius about the nature of &egr;piinuoialpha, Gregory stands on his own as a unique and sophisticated thinker, bringing the best of his classical education to bear on the theological debates of his time.;Examining the prior literature on the topic of theological language in Gregory reveals a dearth of thorough treatments on the subject, but also draws attention to the importance of ϕalphanutaualphasigmaialpha in Gregory's thought. Mapping out the terrain of classical thought, both philosophical and rhetorical, shows that by the fourth century understandings of cognition, ϕalphanutaualphasigmaialpha, and theological language were coalescing. Reconstructing Gregory's cognitive theory shows that, generally speaking, it bears the most resemblance to classically empiricist accounts of cognition. Analyzing Gregory's uses of ϕalphanutaualphasigmaialpha, ϕalphanutaualphasigmamualpha, and ϕalphanutaualpha&zgr;&egr;inu shows that it is also broadly empiricist and functions similar to Aristotelian ϕalphanutaualphasigmaialpha in the process of abstraction that leads not to a universal concept as in Aristotle but to another image of God. Looking at how Gregory speaks about God by crafting ϕalphanutaualphasigmaialpha in the mind of his audience through &egr;kappaϕ&rgr;alphasigmai&sfgr; shows how Gregory creates a pialphathetao&sfgr; proof inclining his audience to accept his position that Jesus is fully God. Finally, I show how, through Stoic logic, ϕalphanutaualphasigmaialpha can account for some of the examples Gregory gives for naming God.
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