This study approaches Gregory of Nyssa's ascetical theology as centring on a lifelong process of erotic transformation through which desire is redirected away from bodily and worldly preoccupations and towards God. C. declares at the outset his intention to address two lacunae in the modern reception of Gregory's thought: its neglect of the theological motivations of Gregory's asceticism and of the developmental dimension of his thinking about it. C. is also keenly sensitive to the anachronism present in some readings of Gregory. Rather than invoke ‘theories of power, subversion, normalcy, and fluidity’, he seeks to approach Gregory on his own terms of ‘protology, eschatology, spiritual ascent, sin, and purity’ (p. 2), highlights the misunderstandings that arise when postmodern views of gender are imposed upon Gregory's accounts of erotic spiritual ascent, and clarifies the differences between Gregory's understanding of gender and sexuality and our own. C. notes that neither the expression ‘ascetical theology’ nor the expression ‘erotic transformation’ appears in Gregory's writings, but argues for his use of them in explicating Gregory's thought. C.'s diachronic approach to Gregory's thought necessitated establishing a chronology of his writings, which is detailed in an appendix.

Following the introduction, a ‘Prelude’ briefly contextualises Gregory's thought by reference to the fourth-century church and monastic movement and Gregory's family background. The main part of the book is divided into three sections corresponding to early, middle and late stages in Gregory's life and divided into eight chapters. Part 1, ‘The Integrative Significance of the Body in the Life of Virtue’, centres on the meanings of marriage and virginity in Gregory's De virginitate. Chapter 1, ‘Marriage, Celibacy, and Pederasty’, argues that while at this stage in his life Gregory allows that marriage can be compatible with a life of contemplation and prayer, he thinks that it brings numerous distractions and that virginity, if rightly motivated, is preferable and is the Christian counterpart of, and successor to, Platonic chaste pederasty, like which it leads to spiritual fecundity and contemplation of Beauty. C. cautions against supposing this to mean that Gregory aimed it primarily at men who are attracted to younger males since in late antiquity ‘sexual practices (as we are now inclined to think)’ were not believed to be ‘revelatory of the sexual identity of the person who enacts them’. Rather, ‘the spiritual outcomes of pederasty, understood in its specifically Platonic sense, are for Gregory mirrored in the life of Christian virginity to a superior degree and with significant modifications’ (pp. 44–5). Chapter 2, ‘The Integration of the Virtues’, focuses on Gregory's understanding of the virtues as reciprocal, noting that in contrast to Augustine, but like Evagrius, he regards gluttony rather than lust as the most pernicious form of vice. Chapter 3, ‘Gregory's Emerging Theory of Desire’, describes how the true object of erotic love is ‘Christ qua Wisdom and Bridegroom’, meaning that eros must be redirected away from ‘material beauties’ to ‘the true prototypical beauty of God’ (p. 62). Meanwhile desire is to be circumscribed by the criterion of need. Apatheia, a ‘key term’ in Gregory's writings, involves the reorientation of the passions rather than their destruction (p. 64). Gregory associates moral qualities with gender categories such that the imagery of male-female ‘does not refer to ontologically male or female referents’ but to characteristics of the soul, and ‘the soul's capacity to identify with both male and female characteristics highlights its transcendence of these fixed categories of worldly association’ (p. 70).

Part 2, ‘The Ascetical and Eschatological Mixture of Male and Female’, is devoted to the middle phase of Gregory's life and draws on a variety of his writings. Chapter 4, ‘A Worldly Life of Desire: Marriage, Children, Money, and Sex’, argues that at this stage he no longer associates distraction specifically with marriage but with corporeal life per se. Marriage and procreation should not be despised, but the problems associated with the latter in particular, including ‘entanglement in assessments of human worth based on ancestry and lineage’ (p. 78) as well as fear of one's child dying, are best avoided by prioritising spiritual values over biological ties. C. notes the inconsistency between Gregory's condemnation of human lordship over others in the context of slavery on the grounds that each human qua image of God is properly self-governing and his endorsement of the subordination of a wife to her husband. Chapter 5, ‘The Death of Siblings’, focuses on Gregory's relationship with his sister Macrina and brother Naucratius. While Gregory, in line with the Council of Gangra, opposes any confusion of the sexes in worldly contexts, in spiritual contexts he embraces the Pauline principle ‘no longer male and female in Christ Jesus’. Asceticism enabled Macrina to overcome womanish passion and Naucratius to overcome male virility, both of which are obstacles to the spiritual life. Regarding the question as to whether or not the resurrection body is gendered, C. argues that Gregory tries to harmonise certain tensions in Scripture and never reaches a settled view. Chapter 6, ‘Doctrinal Controversies: Christological and Trinitarian’, highlights Gregory's emphasis on ‘the transformation of Christ's human nature over the course of his earthly life’ (p. 107), considers the relation between spiritual maturation and physical aging, and argues that ascetic life is properly an ‘imitation of the inner life of the Trinity’ (p. 114) in its eschewal of the active/passive dynamic inherent in earthly life and bodily generation.

Part 3 focuses on ‘Erotic Intimacy with Christ and the Maturation of Desire’ and again uses several texts, now including two of Gregory's best known works, the De vita Moysis and homilies on the Song of Songs. Chapter 7, ‘Spiritual Maturation: Virginity and the Narrative of Progress’, argues that, whereas Gregory had earlier privileged physical virginity above physical marriage, he later came to understand virginity in spiritual rather than physical terms such that it denotes moral purity and is available to married Christians. The eighth and final chapter, ‘Male and Female: Diachronic Exchanges’, argues that for Gregory the soul shifts between male and female characteristics as it matures spiritually. A ‘morally questionable femininity’ associated with disordered passion is superseded by a ‘triumphant masculinity’ associated with the virtues, which in turn is superseded ‘finally – and triumphantly … by a supreme femininity’ (p. 139) associated with the spiritual passion of the mature soul as Bride for Christ as Bridegroom. Ultimately the categories of ‘male’ and ‘female’ are transcended ‘through an intense erotic participation in God, in whom there is no male and female’ (p. 152), although they continue to obtain, together with male headship, in worldly life.

The conclusion summarises the book's argument and discusses how it both challenges and might contribute to today's ethical discourse, noting, for example, that asceticism for Gregory involves not the repression of desire but its deepening and intensification, and that Gregory's integrationist ethic means that to focus on one area of moral concern to the exclusion of others ‘introduces … a pernicious form of disintegration into the moral life’ (p. 160).

There is little to criticise about this book. A couple of typos slipped in, most notably on p. 23, where the ‘river Isis’ should be the ‘river Iris’, and one wonders whether Gregory's concerns about gluttony had a medical dimension as with Evagrius. But it is a valuable study that deserves a wide readership. I particularly liked the fact that C. adheres closely to, and frequently quotes, his primary source material, thereby not only allowing Gregory's voice to be heard, but also making his own argument as transparent as possible; his sensitivity to anachronism and terminological precision; the refusal to gloss less palatable aspects of Gregory's thought; and the conviction that Gregory's ascetical theology can speak to us today. This book will be of interest not only to scholars of Gregory of Nyssa and of early Christian asceticism and mysticism, but also to anyone with an interest in virtue ethics.