Gregorius Nazianzenus De Theologia (Orat. 28) 14

ed. Arthur James Mason

Table of Contents

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

De Theologia (Orat. 28). Gregorius Nazianzenus. ed. Arthur James Mason. Germany. 2014.

Sponsored by University of Leipzig.

Funding provided by European Social Fund Saxony.

Current edition First1KGreek

De Theologia (Orat. 28) (Greek) (Gregory of Nazianzus. The Five Theological Orations. Mason, Arthur James, translator. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1899.)

Notes on the current edition

De Theologia (Orat. 28)

1. 3 φύσει] + καὶ e || 10 ποιησαι] σασθαι e ǁ 11 om ἐστιν e
2. 1. τίς οὖν ἡ μ. κτλ.] By what contrivance, he asks, can we construct an imagnation of God out of these materials and yet not identified with them? How can we use words like ‘light’ and ‘love’ to help us in representing Him to our minds, and yet eliminate from the representation notions which are of the very essence of ‘light’ and ‘love’ as known to us?—The sentence is elliptical: ἡ μηχ. is not the φαντασία which we attempt to form ἐκ τούτων·. in full it would be something like τίς ἡ μηχ. ἐκ τούτων τε συλλέγεσθαι φ. κ. μ. τ.
3. 2. ἢ πῶς τ. π.] Supposing the difficulty last stated to be sur- mounted, how can we reconcile the thought of God's absolute unity with that of a combination of separate images, even when these images are carried to their perfection?
4. 3. κάμνει] ‘wearies itself...so long ἃς it investigates.’
5. 8. σφαδάζουσα] ‘to plunge,’ a restive horse.
6. 9. δεύτερον π. πλοῦν] a well- known proverb, like ‘trying the second string.’ The mind itself unable to comprehend God, but it cannot give up trying. Two alternatives lie before it; either to fall into idolatry, or to use nature as a suggestion of what is above nature.
7. 10. κακῶς κακῶς εἰδυῖα] ‘and it makes a great mistake.’
8. 15. ζημιωθῆναι θ.] It was the fear of this ζημία, as Gr. has said, which led to idolatry (in the wide sense of the word); and by idolatry they incurred it.
9. 14. Some, impatient of the struggle, sink into worship of natural objects, or of images.
10. 17. ἐντεῦθεν] sc. διὰ τῆς μεγαλοπρ. τ. ὁρ. Cp. Wisd. xiii 3.