Philosophy at the Festival: The Festal Orations of Gregory of Nazianzus and the Classical Tradition / / Byron MacDougall.

• Superior document: Mnemosyne, Supplements ; 461
• VerfasserIn: MacDougall, Byron,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, 2022.
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Mnemosyne, Supplements ; 461.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (204 pages)

Gregory's festal orations are foundational for Byzantine literature. This book shows how besides his priestly role, Gregory plays that of a rhetor performing philosophy for a festival audience, channeling traditions of Classical philosophy and the Second Sophistic into Christian culture.

Table of Contents

• Intro
• ‎Contents
• ‎Acknowledgements
• ‎Introduction
• ‎1. Gregory's Life and Education
• ‎2. Gregory's Philosophical Culture
• ‎Chapter 1. Mediterranean Festival Culture and Imperial Greek Rhetoric
• ‎Chapter 2. Festival Spectatorship and Philosophical Theoria
• ‎1. The Origins of Philosophical Theoria
• ‎Chapter 3. The Prooemia of Gregory's Orations and Traditions of Exegesis
• ‎1. Platonic Preludes: Or. 2 and Gregory's "Apology"
• ‎2. Platonic Preludes at the Festival: Or. 38 "On Theophany" and the Timaeus
• ‎3. Preludes Continued: The Divine Arrangement of Or. 40 "On Holy Baptism"
• ‎4. The Influence of Gregory's Prooemia: Gregory of Nyssa on Easter
• ‎Chapter 4. Performing Philosophy: Purification, Contemplation, and Assimilation to the Divine
• ‎1. Katharsis at the Festival
• ‎2. Theosis at the Festival
• ‎3. Katharsis, Theoria, and Theosis: The Nativity Oration (38.7)
• ‎Chapter 5. The Rhetor's Art: The Audience as Theoroi
• ‎1. New Sunday and Contemplation of the Heavenly Festival
• ‎2. The Holy Spirit and the Rhetor: Enargeia and the Feast of Pentecost
• ‎Chapter 6. Gregory's Festival Theoria in Byzantium: From Pseudo-Dionysius to Photius
• ‎Conclusion
• ‎Bibliography
• ‎Index of Passages
• ‎General Index.