Journal: Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal
Volume: RPTJ 01:2 (Spring 2015)
Article: Trinitarianism In The Pastoral Theology Of Gregory Nazianzen
Author: Barry J. York

RPTJ 1:2 (Spring 2015) p. 59

Trinitarianism In The Pastoral Theology Of Gregory Nazianzen

Barry J. York

Professor of Pastoral Theology
Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary

Only by extraordinary providence would a premier work on pastoral ministry, grounded upon crystalline Trinitarian theology, be written by one who fled his first charge immediately after ordination. Yet such is the case with Gregory of Nazianzus and his Oration 2.

As one of the three Great Cappodocians of the fourth century church, Gregory of Nazianzus is well known for his development, defense, and dissemination of the doctrines of the deity of Christ and his formulation of the Trinity. For instance, through his famous Five Theological Orations Gregory went beyond his mentor Basil of Caesarea in the development of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, being the first to use the Christological term homoousios to describe the Spirit’s essence as well. Such was Gregory’s ability that “for his clear and persuasive teaching on the Trinity, he was accorded the title ‘the Theologian’ by the Council of Chalcedon” posthumously in 451 A.D.1

Yet Gregory’s theological astuteness was combined with a pastoral heart for the people of God. Christopher Beeley states, “Among his many achievements, Gregory Nazianzen is one of the foremost pastoral theologians of the early church.”2 Gregory demonstrates this most clearly in Oration 2. This work was long a reference for pastoral ministry, contributing significantly two centuries later to Pope Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care, which in turn was a standard until Martin Bucer’s Concerning the True Pastoral Care of the Reformation era.3 To the church’s detriment, many treatments of Gregory fail to avoid “the bifurcation of head and heart”4 common in modern theological study. Beeley comments on this when he says of Oration 2:

Although it is a well-known patristic resource, Gregory’s teaching on pastoral ministry is usually studied independent of his teaching on Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Trinity. From this vantage point, the ministry of the Church, like the purification and illumination of the theologian, is seen to be extrinsic to his

RPTJ 1:2 (Spring 2015) p. 60

Trinitarian doctrine and his other properly theological concerns. Yet such a view could hardly be farther from Gregory’s mind. Since the doctrine of the Trinity – and all Christian theology – takes place within the divine economy in the ag...