"Gregory of Nyssa's" Reading Summary

The reading evaluates the notion of spiritual progress towards God’s infinity as the mightiest calling of humans, as stipulated by Gregory of Nysa. According to him, the act of God revealing himself to Moses in the form of a dark cloud is contradicting. The knowledge and understanding of the scripture stipulate that religious knowledge only appears in the form of light, but Moses sees God in the form of darkness (Poe, 2018). What was seen as the opposite of religion was darkness, which is only escaped when people participate in light. As the human mind advances and comes to capture reality, it contemplates the divine nature of God. The Bible in the Book of John states that no one has ever seen God, and therefore, his divine essence cannot be attained by either men or any other intelligent creatures (King James Bible,1769/2017, John 1:18).

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After God revealed himself to Moses in a cloud of dark smoke, his knowledge advanced, and he knew that everything Divine could not be comprehended or understood by man. What Moses had learned in the dark smoke was then taught by word, and the divine voice made the doctrine firmer for everyone (Poe, 2018). In the beginning, the divine word was forbidden from being likened to anything known by human beings. This is because every concept coming from a human is either by either guessing or approximation which cannot capture the divine nature of God and, therefore, cannot be a representation of Him.

To further contemplate the passage of God, revealing himself in darkness, the promise of divine voice proved to be true when Moses arose and saw the back of his caller. The understanding of people who seek God is slim, and his concept is incorrect (Poe, 2018). The concepts of back and front apply to objects with shape, and every shape has its limits. Therefore, every individual who perceives God to have a shape will not know that God does not exist in bodily form (Poe, 2018). Additionally, since every object is composite, decomposes, and exists by joining different elements, God cannot exist in bodily form.

Moses' experience with God belongs to the souls of those who desire and love beautiful things. The revelation of God in darkness agreed to the fulfillment of Moses' desire to see God but did not promise its ending. What Moses was yearning for was satisfied by things that gave him more unsatisfied desires (Poe, 2018). Whoever thinks of God as something to be comprehended or understood does not have life since he has turned from the right path to what his mind perceives as God. Again, the divine word was forbidden from being likened to anything known by human beings.

References

Poe, G. R. (2018). Light to Darkness: From Gnosis to Agape in the Apophatic Imagery of Gregory of Nyssa. Baptist History and Heritage, 53(1), 57. https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-540797323/light-to-darkness-from-gnosis-to-agape-in-the-apophatic