Discusses Gregory’s understanding of faith (pistis) as a faculty of apophatic union with God. After presenting an overview of important work done on Gregory’s understanding of faith and announcing the lines of argument the will pursue, we analyse how Gregory views the mind and its varying cognitive states, and how the mind responds to scripture, baptism, and the presence of God. This is followed by a detailed examination of Gregory’s use of the word ‘faith’ as a technical term for apophatic union with God. This apophatic union, however, is only one side of this coin: at the apex of an apophat ... More

Discusses Gregory’s understanding of faith (pistis) as a faculty of apophatic union with God. After presenting an overview of important work done on Gregory’s understanding of faith and announcing the lines of argument the will pursue, we analyse how Gregory views the mind and its varying cognitive states, and how the mind responds to scripture, baptism, and the presence of God. This is followed by a detailed examination of Gregory’s use of the word ‘faith’ as a technical term for apophatic union with God. This apophatic union, however, is only one side of this coin: at the apex of an apophatic ascent, faith unites with God the Word, but by virtue of this union the believer takes on the qualities of the Word, who speaks (logophasis) in the deeds and discourse of the believer. Finally, this study redresses Gregory’s over-identification with a ‘mysticism of darkness’ and shows that he proposes no less a ‘mysticism of light’.