These are splendid times for those interested in examining more closely Gregory of Nyssa's theology of creation as well as his exegesis of the early chapters of Genesis. In the wake of Robin Orton's recent translation of Gregory's Apologia in Hexaemeron in the Catholic University of America Press's new series, Fathers of the Church: Shorter Work (not to mention a second translation forthcoming by Andrew Radde-Gallwitz), John Behr here offers readers a fine edition of facing-page Greek and English translation of Gregory's De hominis opificio. Behr has without a doubt performed another significant work of service on behalf of scholars interested in Nyssen's theological anthropology, his place within the hexaemeral tradition and his use of sources philosophical and theological.
Behr provides an extensive introduction (pp. 1–141) before presenting his edition of the Greek text and English translation (pp. 142–329) and outlining in an appendix the sixty-eight manuscripts of Gregory's On the human image of God consulted for this edition of the text. The introduction contains three chapters. In the first, ‘The text, manuscripts, and editions’, Behr explicates basic provenance on Gregory's treatise, the manuscripts he consulted in producing this critical edition, the complex history behind the title Behr has assigned to the treatise and the rationale behind the textual divisions and headings included in the text. The second chapter documents the ‘Philosophical and theological background’ to Gregory's De hominis opificio: the writings of Anaxagoras, Plato, Philo and Origen. Behr follows Panayiotis Tzamalikos (and others) in looking back to the pre-Socratic Anaxagoras as a key source for notions Gregory would adopt from Neoplatonism, especially with regard to the power of νοῦς to order and to arrange all things (see especially p. 39). Behr also builds his case that Gregory's treatise bears a threefold pattern, which corresponds to the three parts of the speech in Plato's Timaeus (see especially pp. 49–50). Gregory's reading of Genesis i–ii follows in the tradition established by Philo and Origen of Alexandria, whose common approach was to interpret the two creation accounts as unified while nevertheless differentiating the creation of the intelligible and sensible worlds. With Origen, Gregory looks to the eschatological framework entailed by the crucified, risen and exalted Christ in order to understand the beginning of creation. The third and final chapter of the introductory section consists of Behr's commentary on the contents of Gregory's treatise, including the cover letter to his brother Peter. In this account, Behr gives a considerable amount of attention to the points of commonality between Gregory's treatise and two other Fathers of the Church, Irenaeus of Lyon and Maximos the Confessor.
Behr's edition of the text builds upon that of George Hay Forbes, whose edition accounted for twenty manuscripts and takes cues from the work Emmanuel Amand de Mendieta and Stig Y. Rudberg conducted in researching the manuscript tradition of Basil of Caesarea's Hexaemeron, alongside which Gregory's treatise was often transmitted. The edition itself contains a thorough critical apparatus, which allows experts in the field to see Behr's text critical decisions as they read. Behr's translation philosophy, of which he informs his reader (p. 142), is to provide a literal, while not entirely wooden, English translation. It is worth noting that this is particularly fitting when producing facing page translations because it ensures that whether readers have expert or intermediate Greek, they may see more clearly how Behr is getting from Greek to English. As Behr forewarns, and as readers will experience, this approach leads to some very long and tedious English sentences. Generally speaking, however, Behr does a nice job of rendering the text in straightforward English prose that remains open to interpretation rather than presenting a translation that leads readers in one interpretive direction to the exclusion of others. One element all translators know they must preserve is some level of consistency, especially when it comes to technical terms. There are capacious terms like λόγος, which most readers will know has a wide variety of contextually appropriate meanings. Terms like this stand in need of varied renderings. But there are also closely related terms with distinct meanings that need to be carried over with reliable consistency into the target language, in this case English. Finally, one of the most helpful features of Behr's translation is the italicising of biblical quotations within the English translation and emboldening of any scriptural citation within the text of the edition.
In the annotations that Behr appends to his translation in the form of footnotes, he most often identifies for readers other relevant locations within Gregory's corpus (especially An. et res., Hex., Apol.), related writings of other early Christian authors (especially Origen, Basil, Gregory of Nazianzen), or potential philosophical and technical sources that may be informing Gregory's thought (especially Anaxagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus and Galen). Notes also provide readers with scriptural citations, descriptions of manuscript discrepancies above and beyond the critical apparatus, engagement with secondary scholarship, comparison to alternative translations and accounts of the treatise's reception history.
Behr's continuing commitment to the updating of editions and translations of important works from among the Greek Fathers is commendable. He locates Gregory's treatise within its historical, philosophical and theological context, offers an edition more representative of the extant witnesses to this treatise and provides a readable translation for contemporary English readers. One of the areas in Behr's project about which I have a larger question is whether relating Gregory to so many voices from across the landscape of antiquity and late antiquity illuminates Gregory's perspective or perhaps may render it less accessible for many readers. For instance, Behr begins his philosophical typology with Anaxagoras, following the work of Tzamilikos (2016) and Marmodoro (2017), which seems somewhat speculative when it assigns to this distant figure such a high magnitude of importance for the theology of Origen and Gregory. While I agree that it is crucial for readers to appreciate the philosophical tradition with which Gregory's treatise converses, for it is substantial and significant, it would seem to be at least equally as important to lay out at greater length the more immediate context of Gregory's relationship to Basil and Nazianzen, the Eunomian controversy and other late fourth-century matters shaping Gregory's philosophical sensibilities, theological pressures and exegetical decisions. While pursuing understanding of the Church Fathers as a chorus of voices still singing in the Church to this day is a worthwhile task to which I too am committed, I am a little more reticent about what may be glossed over when attempting to generate a grander narrative across philosophical and theological sources from the sixth century bce to the seventh century ce.
While there will be minor areas of disagreement regarding translation renderings and issues of interpretation present in the introduction and the notes, this work of scholarship is no doubt a gift that should be received by students of Gregory with gratitude and excitement. I am grateful to have it in my library and have already seen the fruit of using it with advanced graduate students.
