The Trinity and the Rainbow: Colour in Gregory of Nyssa’s Letter to Peter of Sebaste

Letter 38, which is normally located in the corpus of Basil of Caesarea’s correspondence but is actually written by his brother Gregory of Nyssa, is a profound reflection upon the vital necessity of distinguishing between the terms person and being in language about the divine Trinity. As an aid to...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Haykin, Michael A. G. 1953- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2025
In: Reformed theological review
Year: 2025, Volume: 84, Issue: 3, Pages: 167-178
Further subjects:B Trinity
B Gregory of Nyssa
B Rainbow
B Person
B Being
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Letter 38, which is normally located in the corpus of Basil of Caesarea’s correspondence but is actually written by his brother Gregory of Nyssa, is a profound reflection upon the vital necessity of distinguishing between the terms person and being in language about the divine Trinity. As an aid to thinking about this distinction, Gregory employs the analogy of the rainbow. While the rainbow had a positive meaning in the Judaeo-Christian tradition, it had very different connotations in pagan Graeco-Roman culture. Drawing, in part, upon Aristotelian thought about the rainbow’s nature, Gregory not only aids Trinitarian reflection but also provides this natural phenomenon with new meaning for his Graeco-Roman context.
ISSN:0034-3072
Contains:Enthalten in: Reformed theological review
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.53521/a443