The functional title of this book belies the excellence of its contents. Gabrielle Thomas writes that she has sought to offer ‘a new reading of Gregory Nazianzen's vision of the “divine, yet vulnerable” human eikon, vis à vis the imago Dei’ (p. 154). She does, and provides non-specialists in Nazianzen with an engaging assessment of his theology of the image of God. They may find its dynamism an antidote to today's more static arguments. However, Thomas's greatest success is in identifying and recovering the tension between the human eikon and the devil in Gregory's thought. In re-establishing that, for Gregory, talking about the eikon almost necessarily means speaking of the Satanic ruler of the world, Thomas has restored a sort of phantom limb of Gregory's image theology. One is even led to wonder whether this connection is operative, unexamined, elsewhere.
After a brief introduction that sets out the shape of the book, Thomas provides a programmatic summary of the influences on Gregory's eikon theology in chapter i. Chapter ii, which argues that the human eikon is the image of Christ, gets to the real meat of the subject and begins the pattern that subsequent chapters will follow. Thomas claims to take as her structure Gregory's own from the Poemata Arcana, moving from God to the human person. This is broadly true, but it reveals the force of Thomas's book that each chapter ends with a discussion of the struggle between the human eikon and the devil. Only chapter iii is excepted, despite the subheadings of chapter v, and it is perhaps because of this that chapter iii is the least vivid in the book.
Chapter iii concerns itself with creation and angels, and arguments in favour of eikon as referring to the human person as body and soul, as well as providing an excursus on gendered images that is worth reading for the breadth of its sources. Thomas argues that ‘[i]nterpreters must engage with all Gregory's work, rather than simply his orations, when making claims about his position on ethical concerns’ (p. 85). On this she is certainly correct, and ably demonstrates why.
Chapter iv deals directly with the relationship between the eikon and the devil, and the prose is nearly incandescent. Much of what is to be found here is fresh insight, driven by Thomas's exceptional grasp of Gregory's works. An exemplary section consists of Thomas's examination of a sequence of thirteen consecutive poems, eight of which have been translated by Dayna Kalleres as part of her own work on demons, and all of which concern the attack of the devil on the human eikon.
Chapter v is concerned with theosis and the Spirit, and Thomas draws on a wide range of texts to give a richly textured presentation of a Spirit operative in the creation and salvation of the complete human image. It is again at its best when it turns to the assault of the devil on the eikon as it is deified, and to questions such as whether the devil owes worship to the human eikon. In exploring topics that so occupied Gregory in his later years, such as the ontological degradation of the devil in contrast with the restoration of the human eikon, Thomas provides valuable insight into Gregory's theological anthropology.
This is not to say that no one will find fault with this book. While Thomas is not alone in locating Gregory's human eikon as the image of Christ and a complete person, body and soul, this is not a universally held view. If one, not unreasonably, understands that Gregory believes that the eikon is the image of the Trinity, or that by eikon he refers only to the soul or intellect, they will find much to profitably debate. Thomas is also sometimes a victim of her own ability. For example, after arguing for the image as a ‘unified, dynamic being’ (p. 67) in chapter iii she discusses women imaging Christ. She engages Gregory's poem Against women wearing ornamentation – rarely read even by specialists in Nazianzen – and argues against what amounts to a scholarly consensus that Gregory was a ‘leader in female equality’, with statements such as ‘When Gregory likens a woman to a dog, he does not intend this to be a statement of praise’ (p. 85). This seems to demand further discussion, although I do not wish to censure Thomas for her thoroughness and applaud her for bringing these passages to greater attention. Similarly, Thomas's decision to present mostly her own translations may provoke argument as much as it attracts praise. I am uncertain, for example, of her translation of ἀπαράλλακτος εἰκών as ‘identical image’. It is more commonly read as exact, although in looking I have found one instance of it translated as ‘vollkommen identisches Bild’. Thomas's argument is not much harmed by this, but she does not always provide the explanation that such decisions require.
The state of the field aside, these are minor concerns in what is otherwise a very good book. Scholars of historical theology will find much to interest them, whatever their level of familiarity with Gregory of Nazianzus. In recognising the close and dynamic relationship between the eikon and the devil in Gregory's thought Thomas has produced some genuinely fresh, engaging insights. It is a shame that the title buries the lede, with a hint of what is to come only in the quotation that she chooses to preface the work, from Nazianzus’ On baptism: ‘I too am also an eikon of God … you should worship me’ (p. v).
