This book is an English translation of Jean Daniélou’s seminal 1944 book Platonisme et théologie mystique: doctrine spiritualle de Saint Grégoire de Nysse (originally his 1943 dissertation with a second edition published in 1953) that in many ways sparked the renewed interest in the study of Gregory of Nyssa. Daniélou’s work is an impressive feat: he has gathered together from Gregory’s wide corpus a systematic vision of the spiritual life. To do this, Daniélou uses the traditional framework of the spiritual life: purgation, illumination, and union. While not original to Gregory, it is a helpful framework that allows Daniélou to paint a coherent and persuasive picture of Gregory’s thought.

For Gregory, we are first united to God in baptism which sets us on a course to radically change our behavior no longer living according to the flesh but according to the spirit. This is the first way of purgation. Here, the concept of apatheia (passionlessness) is important. It is not so much that we become “apathetic” or have no desires, but that we develop apatheia for our sinful desires (chapters 1–3). In the second way, illumination, we start to think differently about the world around us and begin to see how it all points to God. Creation is not an end in itself, but its purpose is to always point us back to God (chapters 4–5). Finally, in the third way, we leave the world and our thoughts behind and are united in love to God who is beyond all knowledge and understanding. As we progress in these stages, we slowly begin to apprehend the presence of the Word—Jesus—in our own souls which has been there all along since baptism though we could not fully grasp it. Interestingly, the apprehension of the Word within us simultaneously points us outward to God. The more we see God working in our own souls, the more we are pushed outward to fuller union with God, a union that will never be complete because God can never be fully comprehended (chapters 6–8).

There is much more that can be said regarding Nyssa’s view of the spiritual life, but one thing that should be noticed is how much grace pervades every aspect of it. This can often be lost both when one is unfamiliar with how someone like Gregory speaks of the spiritual life, but even more so for contemporary evangelicals who have developed their own way of speaking about God’s grace in our justification, sanctification, and glorification. But for Gregory, the grace of God in Christ descending to become incarnate comes before any human action or choice (12) and is present throughout the spiritual life, even if at times Gregory’s language is not as clear as we may wish it to be.

Take, for another example, purification. Purification language is common in platonist thinkers such as Plotinus, and many times Gregory will sound very much like him, if not even directly copying his phraseology. However, when we look closer, we start to notice some important differences. Plotinus, for example, has one remove the filth of vice (or created nature) in order to see the godlike nature already always present within the human being. For Gregory, one must remove the filth of vice in order to turn to God and from God receives the image of or likeness to God. This godlikeness is a gift (grace) from God, not something that is proper to human nature itself (253–4).

In light of the explosion of Nyssan scholarship since the mid-twentieth century, the editor, Rev. Ignatius Green, has done an excellent job of adding notes scattered throughout the book that clue the reader into some of the debates and advances in Nyssan scholarship without distracting from Daniélou’s original work. Additionally, modern English translations of patristic sources are included in the footnotes as well, which is itself a testament to the influence of Daniélou’s life and work and the bibliography of Nyssa’s works at the end is a treasure trove for anyone interested in reading Gregory in his own words.

But why would anyone want to read the writings of a 4th-century bishop? What could he offer a pastor in 21st-century America? As someone who has spent a lot of time studying the early church, it can be easy for me to scoff at the question, but it is not an unreasonable thing to ask. With all the responsibilities of ministry, why should someone carve out time to either read Gregory or about his thought? I think Daniélou’s book is valuable for two reasons. The first is that he challenges the pervasive myth that still inexplicably is peddled in popular and even academic studies of the Hellenization of Christianity in the early Church. The second is that in considering how someone from another time, place, and culture read and interpreted Scripture, we are forced to recognize how our own understandings of the Bible are shaped by our time, place, and culture. Gregory, thanks to the expert guidance of Daniélou, will challenge those assumptions as we read Scripture. It is impossible to walk away from Daniélou’s book and not realize just how deeply Gregory’s thought is shaped by Scripture in a deep and profound way. For that reason, I cannot recommend enough this translation of Daniélou’s groundbreaking work and thank the editor and translators for their service to the church.

Reviewed by Ryan Clevenger

Publisher’s website: https://svspress.com/platonism-and-mystical-theology-the-spiritual-doctrine-of-st-gregory-of-nyssa/

In this book, Daniel Castelo’s main goal is to show how Pentecostalism “is decisively not a Protestant tradition generally” and “not part of contemporary evangelicalism particularly” (p. xiii). He moreover argues that pentecostal identity, spiritualty, and theological development are diminished when these foci are largely subsumed under Evangelicalism (p. xiv). He thus suggests that Pentecostalism “is best framed as a modern instantiation of the mystical stream of Christianity” (pp. xv-vi). Hence, “Pentecostalism is best understood as a mystical tradition of the church catholic” (p. xvi). Castelo thus argues that rather than immediately looking to contemporary Evangelicalism, Pentecostals can find far more congruent resources for articulating their identity, spirituality, and theology, in the historical Christian mystical tradition. In the Postscript, Castelo well summarises his purpose for this book: “Its aim has been to facilitate a theological exercise of rethinking Pentecostalism in light of mystical categories for the sake of deepening the connections of this movement within wider Christianity and also as a way of differentiating it from forms of reasoning typically associated with American evangelicalism” (p. 177).

Daniel Castelo

Besides the Introduction and Postscript, the book comprises five chapters. By framing the book’s thrust “within the domains of theological method and epistemology” (p. 1), in Chapter One (“The Challenge of Method”) Castelo substantiates his aims by demonstrating their resonance with past and ongoing pentecostal scholarship that has conceived Pentecostalism as a “spirituality” (pp. 1-6). Castelo devotes Chapter Two (“A Mystical Tradition?”) to identifying thematic aspects of the historic Christian mystical tradition which he believes are most congruent to pentecostal experience and spirituality. Here he argues that convergence can be seen between the pentecostal stress on “encountering God” as the aim of their liturgical practices (pp. 80-83) and the historic mystical stress on movement towards “union” with God (pp. 44, 55-57, 80-82). In Chapter 3 (“The Epistemological Form of Evangelical Theology”), Castelo argues the incongruence of contemporary Evangelicalism’s theological methodological approaches as a ready resource for pentecostal theological method, insofar that Evangelicalism continues its epistemological embedding within its fundamentalist-foundationalist heritage (p. 125).

It should be seen that in many ways, Castelo’s functions as a follow-up to themes and aims earlier pursued by Simon Chan in his book, Pentecostal Theology and the Christian Spiritual Tradition (Sheffield, 2000). Castelo in fact devotes a section to Chan’s earlier work (pp. 154-157). What primarily differentiates Castelo’s book from Chan’s earlier work however, is the greater analytical depth he gives towards explicating incongruence between pentecostal and contemporary evangelical (particularly North American) epistemological and theological-methodologies. Unfortunately, on this topic (chapter 3), his argumentation is quite dense and seemingly over repetitive.

I first heard of Symeon the New Theologian from one of my professors in seminary, Steven J. Land. Dr. Land defended a dissertation on Pentecostal Spirituality, which has now become a standard text for students of Pentecostal theology. One of the prime examples of proto-Pentecostal mysticism used in the text is Symeon the New Theologian, a 10^th century mystic. Since my first encounter in seminary, I have desired to examine Symeon’s writings in person and being Slavic in background I have been partially able to do so because some are available through the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Therefore, I was thrilled when St. Vladimir’s Seminary published the trilogy in English. The point I would like get across is that if you are a Pentecostal scholar, reading Symeon’s writings is a must.

Do not be scared by the word mystical. Reading Symeon, one quickly finds out that the Pentecostalism experienced in any given holiness church is much more drastic, than any mystical example Symeon may have had.

Symeon’s writings do not fit a concrete type of literature. They explain theology in laymen’s terms, while taking the reader to the depth of the most intense theological discussions of the ages. Much like a Pentecostal testimony, the words have a way of bringing the experience of God close to the heart, while at the same time exalting His glory to the highest of all.

Therefore, a true Pentecostal commentary of the trilogy must begin with Symeon’s testimony of his experience. It is hardly an enigma to recognize that Symeon speaks about the same experience, which we Pentecostals testify of – the experience of the Holy Spirit. He describes the event as “seeing the light” that is felt emotionally and physically and which transforms the soul with its divine power.

The first volume, entitled The Church and the Last Thing, begins with the Genesis stories of the Creation, Adam and Eve in the Garden, the first sin and God’s pan for salvation. For the Western reader, this approach resembles Augustine’s De Civitate Dei. For the Eastern Pentecostal reader it is similar to the sermons we were accustomed to under the Communist Regime, where the pastor would begin a message with Genesis and finish with Revelation. And for any Pentecostal, Symeon’s approach reveals God’s plan for man and His divine provision through the ages in the ultimate goal of history beginning with the first creation and finishing with the already-not-yet eschatological reality.

Eschatology for Symeon is not just the last things, but the first things now made perfect by God. It is both near and immanent, much like the Pentecostal expectation of the Lord’s return. It includes Israel, the Heavens and the Judgment Day. Interestingly, Symeon brings in the experience of a personal new beginning based on a free human will. He sees the end as closely connected to the personal choice for eternity. The terms “foreordained” and “called” are examined in the saying “Those Whom He Foreknew, the Same He Also Predestined.” The claim that some are elected and others rejected is refused by Symeon with the simple, but strong words: “Did he ever say to some: ‘Do not repent for I will not accept you?’ … Of course not!”

The second volume, dedicated to the life of the Christian believer, comes as close to a Pentecostal experience as can be imagined. Symeon is quick to point out his own experience with God identifying it with the words of the apostle, “He appeared also to me” (1 Corinthians 15:8).

He speaks of the conscious possession of the Holy Spirit, claiming that one cannot “have” the Spirit and not know about it. For Symeon, the knowledge of the Spirit is the experience of the Sprit accompanied with feelings and emotions. For “only the dead feel nothing,” but when you possess the Spirit you know because you can feel. How close is this terminology to the Pentecostal, “I’ve got the Holy Ghost” and “I feel it. I feel it?” To the skeptic, Symeon further declares: “Do not say that it is impossible to receive the Spirit of God. … On the contrary, it is entirely possible when one desires it.”

Symeon continues with the statement, that the believer is “called to see God in this life.” The conscious possession of the Holy Spirit is not only a personal experience with God, it is a present eschatological foreseeing and a prophetic anticipation of what is yet to come. According to Symeon, “Hearsay is not enough. The saints describe what they have seen” (emphasis mine); therefore, “through the Holy Spirit the saints become eyewitnesses of the world to come.”

In the last volume, Symeon speaks of the Christian sacraments clearly differentiating between the sacramental and personal experience of God. His theological overview articulates the incarnation, but refuses to explain the Trinity with human terms. Instead, Symeon calls the Church to “participate in the life of the Trinity,” again juxtaposing theological reasoning against personal experience of God. This particular practice is accompanied with an interesting note from the author about church politics. In a typical mystical manner, Symeon urges the believer to follow the mandate of the Spirit rather than the mandate of the Church.

The trilogy presents the New Theologian as new in name, but old in religion and original in the personal experience of God. This fact proves that through the ages, there have always been people searching for God with an open heart and experiencing His presence in a Pentecostal manner. It further defines the Pentecostal experience of the Spirit as the true restoration of the Early Church praxis. And finally, it proves Land’s thesis that Pentecostalism is more Orthodox than Catholic and more Eastern than Western.

When I became Pentecostal, I did not know this would become the “new fad” of 21st century spirituality. What I knew was that I experienced God personally and He personally saved my soul. Symeon’s testimony is not much different and can be summed up in one statement: one can make the reality of heaven the reality of this life by having a real experience with God.

Reviewed by Dony K. Donev