“Numbed with Grief”: Gregory of Nyssa on Bereavement and Hope

Abstract

How ought we to deal with our embodied existence–-and particularly the emotion of grief–-in the light of the gospel? Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-c. 395) recognizes the embodied character of our emotional lives, but he refuses to exempt the passion of grief from moral evaluation. While the Cappadocian father is attuned to the powerful role that the emotion of grief plays in our lives, he is also keenly aware of the fallen character of the body and of the problematic character of the passions. For Nyssen, grief and moral theology do not belong to two separate worlds.