On the Making of Man
For For readers interested in what it means to be made in God's image, body and mind together; the richest Christian treatment of human nature before Augustine, and readable without special training.
Length About 37,000 words, about 2 hours.
Gregory of Nyssa's De hominis opificio (On the Making of Man) stands as the Cappadocian father's systematic exploration of human nature and dignity within the created order. Written around 379 as a companion to his brother Basil's Hexaemeron, this treatise addresses what Gregory saw as an incomplete account of the sixth day of creation, when God made humanity in the divine image. Where Basil had focused on the broader cosmos, Gregory turned his philosophical and theological acumen toward the crown of creation: the human person.
Gregory argues that humanity occupies a unique position as the microcosm of creation, synthesizing the material and spiritual realms. He develops his understanding of the image of God (imago Dei) not as a physical resemblance but as humanity's capacity for reason, freedom, and dominion over creation. The treatise examines the original state of human nature before the fall, proposing that sexual differentiation was added by God in anticipation of the fall, while the fundamental human nature transcends gender distinctions. Gregory wrestles with the relationship between soul and body, defending the unity of human nature against both materialist and overly spiritualized interpretations. His analysis extends to questions of human reproduction, the nature of the passions, and how the image of God persists even after the fall, though obscured and in need of restoration.
This work has endured as a foundational text in Christian anthropology, influencing Eastern Orthodox theology's understanding of human dignity and potential for theosis. Gregory's sophisticated integration of Platonic philosophy with biblical theology established patterns that would shape centuries of reflection on what it means to be human before God. His emphasis on human freedom and the dynamic nature of the divine image continues to resonate in contemporary discussions of human dignity and spiritual formation.
Who should read this: Those seeking to understand the theological foundations of Christian anthropology and the Eastern tradition's approach to human nature will find this essential, though readers should come prepared for Gregory's dense philosophical argumentation and familiarity with Platonic concepts.
Editions
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- OTHER De hominis opificio (New Advent) PDTrans. H. A. WilsonH. A. Wilson's translation from the Greek, as printed in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, volume 5 (1893), on New Advent, with the thirty chapter headings and Wilson's notes. A clear Victorian rendering of a demanding treatise; suits any serious reader.
- OTHER De hominis opificio (CCEL) PDTrans. H. A. WilsonH. A. Wilson's 1893 translation on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library's reading page for volume 5 of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, with the chapter headings and the NPNF footnotes kept. The same text as New Advent's, free of its revisions; suits readers who want the book as printed.
- OTHER De hominis opificio (Wikisource) PDTrans. H. A. Wilson · 1893H. A. Wilson's 1893 translation in Wikisource's transcription of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, volume 5: one page for each chapter, footnotes kept, plain text that reads well on a phone. For any serious reader.
- PDF De hominis opificio (Internet Archive (NPNF2-05 scan)) PDTrans. William Moore and Henry Austin Wilson · 1893A scan of the 1893 volume of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers devoted to Gregory of Nyssa (University of Toronto copy), with Moore and Wilson's translations, the prolegomena and the notes as printed. Page images of the whole book; this work is in it, for readers who want the text as published.
- OTHER De hominis opificio (Ellopos (Greek and English)) Greek and EnglishTrans. H. A. WilsonThe Greek text beside H. A. Wilson's 1893 translation, chapter by chapter and several pages to a chapter, keyed to the Patrologia Graeca columns, on Ellopos. For readers who want to check the English against the Greek.
- PDF De hominis opificio (Documenta Catholica Omnia (Greek, PG 44)) PD Greek and Latin1863The Greek text with its Latin translation, cut from volume 44 of Migne's Patrologia Graeca (columns 123-256) into a single PDF by Documenta Catholica Omnia. Just this work; for readers of Greek or Latin.Much harder than the work: Greek and Latin only, no English translation
- PDF De hominis opificio (Internet Archive (Forbes 1855, vol. I/1)) PD Abridged Greek and Latin1855George Hay Forbes's edition of the Greek text with a Latin translation (Burntisland, 1855), volume I part 1 of his unfinished Gregory, which begins On the Making of Man after the Hexaemeron; the rest is in part 2 (1861). For readers of Greek or Latin.Much harder than the work: Greek and Latin only, no English translation
- PDF De hominis opificio (Internet Archive (Migne PG 44)) PD Greek and Latin1863The Greek text with Migne's Latin translation in parallel columns, in volume 44 of the Patrologia Graeca (Paris, 1863), scanned whole on the Internet Archive; this work is at columns 123-256. For readers of Greek or Latin.Much harder than the work: Greek and Latin only, no English translation