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St. Gregory of Nyssa
On the Making of Man

CreationEschatology

On the Making of Man

St. Gregory of Nyssa · c. 379 AD

4h 44m read

Nicene

Gregory of Nyssa reflects on humanity as the image of God, the rational soul, the body, sex differentiation, and the destiny of human nature.

Table of Contents

1Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, to his brother Peter, the servant of God 2Wherein is a partial inquiry into the nature of the world, and a more minute exposition of the things which preceded the genesis of man 3Why man appeared last, after the creation 4That the nature of man is more precious than all the visible creation 5That the construction of man throughout signifies his ruling power 6That man is a likeness of the Divine sovereignty 7An examination of the kindred of mind to nature: wherein, by way of digression, is refuted the doctrine of the Anomœans 8Why man is destitute of natural weapons and covering 9Why man's form is upright; and that hands were given him because of reason; wherein also is a speculation on the difference of souls 10That the form of man was framed to serve as an instrument for the use of reason 11That the mind works by means of the senses 12That the nature of mind is invisible 13An examination of the question where the ruling principle is to be considered to reside; wherein also is a discussion of tears and laughter, and a physiological speculation as to the inter-relation of matter, nature, and mind 14A Rationale of sleep, of yawning, and of dreams 15That the mind is not in a part of the body; wherein also is a distinction of the movements of the body and of the soul 16That the soul proper, in fact and name, is the rational soul, while the others are called so equivocally; wherein also is this statement, that the power of the mind extends throughout the whole body in fitting contact with every part 17A contemplation of the Divine utterance which said--“Let us make man after our image and likeness”; wherein is examined what is the definition of the image, and how the passible and mortal is like to the Blessed and Impassible, and how in the image there are male and female, seeing these are not in the prototype 18What we must answer to those who raise the question--“If procreation is after sin, how would souls have come into being if the first of mankind had remained sinless”19That our irrational passions have their rise from kindred with irrational nature 20To those who say that the enjoyment of the good things we look for will again consist in meat and drink, because it is written that by these means man at first lived in Paradise 21What was the life in Paradise, and what was the forbidden tree?22That the resurrection is looked for as a consequence, not so much from the declaration of Scripture as from the very necessity of things 23To those who say, “If the resurrection is a thing excellent and good, how is it that it has not happened already, but is hoped for in some periods of time?”24That he who confesses the beginning of the world's existence must necessarily also agree as to its end 25An argument against those who say that matter is co-eternal with God 26How one even of those who are without may be brought to believe the Scripture when teaching of the resurrection 27That the resurrection is not beyond probability 28That it is possible, when the human body is dissolved into the elements of the universe, that each should have his own body restored from the common source 29To those who say that souls existed before bodies, or that bodies were formed before souls; wherein there is also a refutation of the fables concerning transmigration of souls 30An establishment of the doctrine that the cause of the existence of soul and body is one and the same 31A brief examination of the construction of our bodies from a medical point of view