Abstract

This dissertation clarifies the nature and extent of Gregory of Nyssa's influence on Eriugena. Research began with the identification of those portions of De opificio hominis, the only work by Gregory known to Eriugena, which play the most direct role in Eriugena's Periphyseon; and of those loci in Eriugena's thought where he makes use of Gregory's authority. It then moved to a thematic analysis in which the philosophical and theological doctrines of the two authors were compared. To this conceptual analysis was added the philological labor of translating all quotations from Gregory and Eriugena in order to identify any significant issues arising from Eriugena's translation of Gregory's Greek text into Latin. The fruits of this research are presented using a thematic organization that also follows the general lines of development in the Periphyseon. The presentation is both argumentative and expository and highlights Eriugena's appropriation and transformation of Gregorian material. This appropriation and transformation is illumined by comparison with Eriugena's use of other sources when necessary. The dissertation demonstrates that throughout the Periphyseon, Eriugena's account of man's bodily existence, of the relation of soul to body, and of the nature of the divine image depend heavily on Gregory of Nyssa's views and authority. Eriugena approaches these doctrines with the conviction that man's true life is an angelic one. This fundamental presupposition is Gregory's most important contribution to Eriugena's thought. The dissertation concludes with the suggestion that further research should be devoted to considering Gregory's influence on Eriugena within the historical context of Origenism and the divergent ways in which Eastern and Western orthodoxies dealt with its challenge