#1686: Part 7 of On the Soul and the Resurrection by St. Gregory of Nyssa

On the Soul and the Resurrection continues. St. Macrina discusses Jesus’ parable of Dives the rich man and Lazarus the poor man, and why it’s good to get your suffering done on Earth. Then just in time for Halloween, we even have a patristic discussion of ghosts!
St. Macrina is such a theology/science geek. I mean, [...]

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#1682: Part 6 of On the Soul and the Resurrection by St. Gregory of Nyssa

On the Soul and the Resurrection continues, as St. Macrina moves back into more speculative territory. She really seems to have liked the idea of the soul swanning around in the world in atoms. Well, that hadn’t all been worked out yet, so she had a right to speculate.
We also get some very fun similes, [...]

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#1678: Part 5 of On the Soul and the Resurrection by St. Gregory of Nyssa

On the Soul and the Resurrection continues, as St. Macrina argues for evolution as the divine plan.
Well, okay, not really. But you could pretty clearly use this kind of recapitulation argument that way. And why not? It would be really amusing to watch Dawkins’ head explode if you did argue from the divine. St. Mac [...]

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#1674: Part 4 of On the Soul and the Resurrection by St. Gregory of Nyssa

On the Soul and the Resurrection continues the dialogue between St. Macrina and her brother St. Gregory of Nyssa. In this installment, we have some kinda iffy Greek ideas about atoms, emotions, and the soul, but there’s a strong ending.
Part 4.
21:12.

Btw, it turns out that icons of St. Macrina the Younger (ie, this one, not [...]

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#1670: Part 3 of On the Soul and the Resurrection by St. Gregory of Nyssa

On the Soul and the Resurrection continues, as St. Macrina talks on her deathbed about Greco-Roman automata. Yep, it’s steampunk patristics!
Part 3.
17:49.

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#1665: Part 2 of On the Soul and the Resurrection by St. Gregory of Nyssa

On the Soul and the Resurrection continues, as St. Macrina starts arguing with Mr. Dawkins. Er, her brother, rehearsing the arguments of a Roman materialist or atheist.
Part 2.
21:56.

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#1664: Part 4 of The Life of St. Macrina by St. Gregory of Nyssa

The Life of St. Macrina ends with an account of her funeral, and a career soldier’s story of one of her deeds.
Part 4.
28:05.

This stuff is really amazing. You don’t often get this sort of detailed personal eyewitness account of an event from the ancient world, much less of a private citizen’s family event.

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#1663: Part 3 of The Life of St. Macrina by St. Gregory of Nyssa

The Life of St. Macrina continues, as we hear about the saint’s last hours from her brother’s point of view.
Part 3.
17:20.

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#1655: Part 1 of On the Soul and the Resurrection by St. Gregory of Nyssa

On the Soul and the Resurrection is a philosophical and theological dialogue between St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Macrina, when she was on her deathbed, and he was freaking out. (Another brother, St. Basil the Great, had just died a few months back, and St. Gregory was still mourning him when he found out [...]

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#1654: Part 2 of The Life of St. Macrina by St. Gregory of Nyssa

The Life of St. Macrina continues, as she persuades her mother to turn the household into a religious community.
Part 2.
18:14.

I have to say that I really love the 4th century habit of calling the religious life or the Christian life “philosophy”, and of calling religious and hermits “philosophers”. It’s beautiful and fitting, but also [...]

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#1653: Part 1 of The Life of St. Macrina by St. Gregory of Nyssa

The Life of St. Macrina is a biography — or to be exact, a panegyric or praise — of a brilliant, well-educated, well-born, rich, and beautiful lady of the Roman Empire, (from what today is Turkey) who chose the religious life over any other form of happiness. (Also, there’s a lot about her mother, St. [...]

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#1647: Chs. 27-31, Bk. 4, On Christian Doctrine by St. Augustine of Hippo

On Christian Doctrine ends at last: with talk about how a preacher is most believable when he lives the way he talks; why wise truth is more important than eloquent expression (if you have to choose one, which hopefully you don’t); the permissible use of speechwriters; and an apology for how long this sucker [...]

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#1646: Chs. 22-26, Bk. 4, On Christian Doctrine by St. Augustine of Hippo

On Christian Doctrine reaches its penultimate post of chapters, with a great deal of talk about what styles preachers should use, and how they should use them.
Book 4, Chapters 22-26.
18:39.

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#1641: Ch. 21, Bk. 4, On Christian Doctrine by St. Augustine

On Christian Doctrine continues, with more examples of oratorical styles.
Book 4, Chapter 21: Examples of various styles in the doctors of the Church.
18:56.

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#1636: Ch. 20, Bk. 4, On Christian Doctrine by St. Augustine

On Christian Doctrine continues its segue from Biblical interpretation to oratory principles for Christian teachers, as it heads back toward finding oratorical styles in the Bible.
Book 4, Chapter 20: Examples, drawn from Scripture, of the various styles.
19:53.

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