Early Church · 380

The Five Theological Orations

Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 329-390)

Five orations delivered in Constantinople in 380 to defend the full divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit against the Eunomians, who reduced the Son to a creature. Gregory opens by insisting that theology is not a sport for clever debaters but a discipline for the pure and reverent, then argues across the remaining four discourses that the Father, Son, and Spirit are one God in three persons, equal in nature and distinct in relation. The orations won Gregory the title "the Theologian," shaped the final form of Nicene Trinitarian doctrine, and remain the most influential patristic statement of the doctrine of the Trinity in the Greek tradition.

3 hrs total · 5 chapters