Gregory of Nyssa's Tabernacle Imagery in Its Jewish and Christian Contexts

Ann Conway-Jones

Oxford Early Christian Studies

Explores the Jewish roots of Christian mysticism with an in-depth case study.
Initiates a conversation between two different fields of study: patristics and early Jewish mysticism.
Investigates the tabernacle imagery in Gregory of Nyssa's treatise The Life of Moses.
Identifies Gregory's biblical sources as well as the influences of both his Alexandrian predecessors (Philo, Clement, Origen) and his fourth century theological context.
Compares and contrasts Gregory's work with Hellenistic and Late Antique heavenly ascent texts, Jewish and Christian. The scholarship on these texts is mined for new questions to be asked of Life of Moses.
Presents a well-rounded, nuanced understanding of Gregory's exegesis, in which mysticism, theology, and politics are intertwined.

Gregory of Nyssa's Tabernacle Imagery in Its Jewish and Christian Contexts

Ann Conway-Jones

Oxford Early Christian Studies

Description

Intergrating patristics and early Jewish mysticism, this book examines Greogry of Nyssa's tabernacle imagery, as found in Life of Moses 2. 170-201. Previous scholarship has often focused on Gregory's interpretation of the darkness on Mount Sinai as divine incomprehensibility. However, true to Exodus, Gregory continues with Moses's vision of the tabernacle "not made with hands" received within that darkness. This innovative methodology of heuristic comparison doesn't strive to prove influence, but to use heavenly ascent textsas a foil, in order to shed new light on Gregory's imagery. Ann Conway-Jones presents a well-rounded, nuanced understanding of Gregory's exegesis, in which mysticism, theology, and politics are intertwined.

Heavenly ascent texts use descriptions of religious experience to claim authoritative knowledge. For Gregory, the high point of Moses's ascent into the darkness of Mount Sinai is the mystery of Christian doctrine. The heavenly tabernacle is a type of the heavenly Christ. This mystery is beyond intellectual comprehension, it can only be grasped by faith; and only the select few, destined for positions of responsibility, should even attempt to do so.

Gregory of Nyssa's Tabernacle Imagery in Its Jewish and Christian Contexts

Ann Conway-Jones

Oxford Early Christian Studies

Dedication
Preface
Abbreviations
1. Gregory, the Tabernacle, and Heavenly Ascent
2. Gregory of Nyssa and Life of Moses
3. Biblical Contexts
4. Alexandrian Context
5. Heavenly Ascent Context
6. Darkness
7. The Tabernacle Not Made with Hands
8. Christological Interpretation
9. Divine Names
10. Heavenly Powers
11. The Earthly Tabernacle
12. Heavenly and Earthly Worship
13. The Holy of Holies
14. The Priestly Vestments
15. The Value of Heuristic Comparison
Conclusions
Appendix: Translation of Life of Moses 1.46-56, 61; 2.162-201
Glossary
Bibliography

Gregory of Nyssa's Tabernacle Imagery in Its Jewish and Christian Contexts

Ann Conway-Jones

Oxford Early Christian Studies

Author Information

Ann Conway-Jones is an Accredited Lay Worker of the Church of England, who has worked in a parish and as a university chaplain. She has long been involved in Jewish-Christian relations, and is now joint Honorary Secretary of the Council of Christians and Jews. Dr Conway-Jones teaches theology in both academic and church settings; and has been appointed an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham.

Gregory of Nyssa's Tabernacle Imagery in Its Jewish and Christian Contexts

Ann Conway-Jones

Oxford Early Christian Studies

Reviews and Awards

"Conway-Jones has produced a marvelous volume...This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the relationship between early Jewish and Christian traditions of interpretation. It represents an important study of a key figure from the early centuries of Christianity...Gregory of Nyssa's Tabernacle Imagery in Its Jewish and Christian Contexts will be of interest to any scholar working in Greek patristics, early Christian thought and interpretation, the history of biblical exegesis, the complex relationship between early Jewish and Christian traditions of interpretation, Christology, Jewish and Christian mysticism, heavenly ascent texts, and, of course, Gregory of Nyssa or the Cappadocian Fathers."--Review of Biblical Literature

Gregory of Nyssa's Tabernacle Imagery in Its Jewish and Christian Contexts

Ann Conway-Jones

Oxford Early Christian Studies

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