c. A.D. 335 – c. 395

Gregory of Nyssa

Worth knowing

The younger brother of Basil of Caesarea, bishop of the small town of Nyssa from 372, and one of the three Cappadocian Fathers.
His long Against Eunomius argues that God's being is infinite and cannot be captured by a definition. The Nicene faith of 381 rests heavily on it.
He wrote a life of his sister Macrina and a dialogue with her on the soul and the resurrection.
In a sermon on Ecclesiastes he condemned the owning of slaves outright, one of the earliest Christian writers to do so.

In Scholar’s Dream, Gregory of Nyssa has three books

Against EunomiusGregory of Nyssa, Contra EunomiumTheology Proper

Against the Followers of MacedoniusGregory of Nyssa, On the Holy Spirit: Against the Followers of MacedoniusTheology Proper

Nyssa’s CorpusThe Works of Gregory of NyssaTheology ProperRationality

Gregory of Nyssa’s quotes in the game

Every quotation from Gregory of Nyssa that a player meets in Scholar’s Dream, attached to the move that says it. Or see them as a plain list →

In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other, and each thing a book can do in a debate is called a move. Every quote below is spoken by one of those moves. Open “How it works in the game” under a quote to see the move, which books learn it, and which arguments it answers best.

“We, for instance, confess that the Holy Spirit is of the same rank as the Father and the Son, so that there is no difference between them in anything, to be thought or named, that devotion can ascribe to a Divine nature.”
Gregory of Nyssa, On the Holy Spirit: Against the Followers of Macedonius (trans. NPNF² 5, public domain).public domain

How it works in the game: the move Same Rank, No Difference

Theology ProperArgument · power 66 · 100% accurate

In the gameOne rank, one Godhead — nothing devotion ascribes to the Father or the Son is withheld from the Spirit.

Learned byAgainst the Followers of Macedonius (Lv 1)

Strong against

×3Neither God Nor Creaturea book · why?

Gregory of Nyssa answered this exact evasion, and named it as an evasion.

“The Father is without beginning and is unbegotten, and he has always been regarded as the Father.”
Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius 1.33 (trans. Gerald Bray) — quoted under fair use.in copyright · fair use

How it works in the game: the move Without Beginning

Theology ProperArgument · power 70 · 100% accurate

In the gameThere was never a Father who was not already Father. Unbegotten, without beginning — and therefore never without a Son.

Learned byAgainst Eunomius (Lv 1)

“Every operation which extends from God to the Creation, and is named according to our variable conceptions of it, has its origin from the Father, and proceeds through the Son, and is perfected in the Holy Spirit.”
Gregory of Nyssa, On "Not Three Gods" (to Ablabius) (trans. Moore & Wilson, NPNF² 5, public domain).public domain

How it works in the game: the move Not Three Gods

Theology ProperArgument · power 88 · 100% accurate

In the gamePeter, James and John share one nature and we call them three men — so why is the Father, Son and Spirit not three Gods? Because those three never act apart. There is one work, and it starts at the Father, runs through the Son, and is finished in the Spirit.

Learned byNyssa’s Corpus (Lv 31)

“Basil, great amongst the saints, had departed from this life to God; and the impulse to mourn for him was shared by all the churches. But his sister the Teacher was still living.”
Gregory of Nyssa, On the Soul and the Resurrection, opening (trans. Moore & Wilson, NPNF² 5, public domain). (trimmed quote — the sentence continues “and so I journeyed to her,” cut short of a footnote number CCEL prints inside it.)public domain

How it works in the game: the move The Teacher

HistoryArgument · power 72 · 100% accurate

In the gameBasil died in 379 and Gregory went to his sister Macrina to grieve. The family called her the Teacher. She was dying herself, and she spent the day arguing him through the case that the soul outlasts the body. He went home and wrote down her side of it.

Learned byNyssa’s Corpus (Lv 36)

Passages you can read in the game

Longer excerpts the Scriptorium holds on screen for a player to sit and read, word for word.

“For before the brightness, of course neither was there any glory, for concurrently with the existence of the glory there assuredly beams forth its brightness; and it is impossible in the nature of things that one should be severed from the other.”
Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius 2 (trans. Moore & Wilson, NPNF² 5, public domain).

from Against Eunomius

“…no interval intervening between the Father and Him Who is of the Father.”
Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius 2 (trans. Moore & Wilson, NPNF² 5, public domain).

from Against Eunomius

“Good, as long as it is incapable of its opposite, has no bounds to its goodness: its opposite alone can circumscribe it, as we may see by particular examples.”
Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius 1.15 (trans. Moore & Wilson, NPNF² 5, public domain).

from Against Eunomius

Words Gregory of Nyssa’s books borrow from others

Moves these books can learn whose quotation comes from somebody else. The citation on each one names who actually said it.

“Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.”
James 1:19 (WEB).

How it works in the game: the move Steelman

RationalityType shift

In the gameRestate the foe’s position in its strongest form — exposing its true weak point. Lowers the foe’s Defend. Always fair; never a bad move to use.

Learned byAgainst Eunomius (Lv 16), Against the Followers of Macedonius (Lv 10)

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said.”
Acts 17:28 (WEB) — Paul at the Areopagus, quoting the Athenians’ own poets back to them.

How it works in the game: the move Affirm

Status

In the gamePick the part of the opponent’s case that is true and affirm it. That point can no longer be used against you, and the opponent’s Defend falls sharply. It deals no damage. Affirm something false and you have only agreed with an error.

Learned byAgainst Eunomius (Lv 21), Against the Followers of Macedonius (Lv 11), Nyssa’s Corpus (Lv 33)

“He gave him no answer, not even one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.”
Matthew 27:14 (WEB); cf. Isaiah 53:7.

How it works in the game: the move Silence

ChristologyType shift

In the gameSay nothing. Convinces no one — but the next argument lands harder. Raises the user’s Contend, after the pattern of Christ’s silence before his accusers.

Learned byAgainst the Followers of Macedonius (Lv 18)

“He who pleads his cause first seems right; until another comes and questions him.”
Proverbs 18:17 (WEB).

How it works in the game: the move Question the Premise

RationalityType shift

In the gameChallenge the foundation of an argument before it can be pressed. Lowers the foe’s Contend.

Learned byAgainst Eunomius (Lv 24)

“He who thinks that he knows the magnitude of God, is diminishing it; he who desires not to lessen it, knows it not.”
Minucius Felix, Octavius 18 (trans. R. E. Wallis, ANF 4, public domain). The move takes its name from the same chapter: “He can neither be seen — He is brighter than light.”public domain

How it works in the game: the move Brighter Than Light

Theology ProperArgument · power 68 · 100% accurate

In the gameGod cannot be seen — he is brighter than sight; nor grasped — he is purer than touch. The confident measurer loses the thread.

Learned byAgainst Eunomius (Lv 28)

Who else was alive

Gregory of Nyssa against everyone else in the game.

A.D. 1A.D. 50A.D. 100A.D. 150A.D. 200A.D. 250A.D. 300A.D. 350A.D. 400A.D. 450

Matthew Paul John Mark Pliny the Elder Clement of Rome Ignatius An early Christian community Polycarp Claudius Ptolemy Hermas Justin Martyr Aristides Quadratus Melito Unknown authors writing under borrowed names Irenaeus The author of the Epistle to Diognetus Athenagoras Clement of Alexandria Tertullian Marcus Minucius Felix Origen Cyprian Plotinus Lactantius Eusebius Athanasius Eustathius of Sebaste Apollinaris of Laodicea Cyril of Jerusalem Epiphanius of Salamis Gregory of Nazianzus Basil of Caesarea Eunomius of Cyzicus Gregory of Nyssa Ambrose of Milan Jovinian Augustine The Macedonians Helvidius

Solid bar = firm dates · faded = approximate61 authors sit outside this window