On the Soul and the Resurrection
For For anyone who has sat with a dying person and wondered what the soul is and whether it survives; a dialogue with his sister, Christian in substance and Platonic in form, and his most approachable philosophical work.
Length About 32,000 words, about 2 hours.
Gregory of Nyssa wrote this philosophical dialogue in 382, shortly after the death of his sister Macrina, who had been his spiritual mentor and intellectual equal. Structured as a conversation between Gregory and the dying Macrina, the work addresses fundamental questions about the nature of the soul, the reality of bodily resurrection, and the ultimate destiny of human beings. Gregory presents Macrina as his teacher, drawing on her wisdom to work through doubts and difficulties surrounding Christian teaching about the afterlife.
The dialogue moves systematically through several interconnected arguments. Gregory explores whether the soul can exist independently of the body, how personal identity persists after death, and how a physical resurrection is possible when bodies decompose and their matter is redistributed. Drawing heavily on Platonic philosophy while remaining committed to biblical teaching, he argues that the soul is the form that gives life and coherence to the body, and that this form-giving capacity ensures the soul's ability to reconstitute the body at the resurrection. He addresses objections about cannibalism, infant death, and the mechanics of bodily restoration with careful philosophical reasoning. Throughout, he maintains that the resurrection body will be purified and perfected, freed from the corruption and passion that characterize earthly existence.
This work represents one of the most sophisticated early Christian attempts to reconcile Greek philosophical anthropology with biblical teaching about resurrection. Gregory's integration of Platonic psychology with Christian eschatology influenced centuries of theological reflection on the intermediate state and the nature of resurrection life. His portrayal of reasoned dialogue as a form of spiritual direction, embodied in Macrina's patient teaching, offers a model for intellectual engagement as Christian formation.
Who should read this: Students of early Christian thought who want to understand how Greek philosophy shaped Christian anthropology, and readers interested in how the church fathers approached fundamental questions about death and resurrection. Those seeking simple consolation about the afterlife may find Gregory's philosophical rigor more challenging than comforting.
Editions
External off-site sources
Free downloads
- OTHER On the Soul and Resurrection (New Advent) PDTrans. William MooreWilliam Moore's translation from the Greek, as printed in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, volume 5 (1893), on New Advent, with Moore's argument and notes. The standard free English of the dialogue; suits any reader willing to follow an argument.
- OTHER On the Soul and Resurrection (CCEL) PDTrans. William Moore · 1893William Moore's 1893 translation on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library's reading pages for volume 5 of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, with the headings for the dialogue and the NPNF footnotes kept. The same text as New Advent's, free of its revisions; for any reader willing to follow an argument.
- OTHER On the Soul and Resurrection (Wikisource) PDTrans. William Moore · 1893William Moore's 1893 translation in Wikisource's transcription of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, volume 5: one page for the text, footnotes kept, plain text that reads well on a phone. For any reader willing to follow an argument.
- PDF On the Soul and Resurrection (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.
- 🎧 AUDIO On the Soul and Resurrection (Maria Lectrix podcast (Internet Archive))Trans. William Moore · 2009A free audio reading of William Moore's translation (1893) by Maureen S. O'Brien for her Maria Lectrix podcast, released as public domain on the Internet Archive (twelve parts); complete.
- PDF On the Soul and Resurrection (Documenta Catholica Omnia (Greek, PG 46)) PD Greek and Latin1863The Greek text with its Latin translation, cut from volume 46 of Migne's Patrologia Graeca (columns 11-160) 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 On the Soul and Resurrection (Internet Archive (Krabinger 1837)) PD Greek and Latin1837J. G. Krabinger's edition of the Greek text with a Latin translation and notes (1837), the edition Migne reprinted; a Google scan from Oxford. For readers of Greek or Latin.Much harder than the work: Greek and Latin only, no English translation
- PDF On the Soul and Resurrection (Internet Archive (Migne PG 46)) PD Greek and Latin1863The Greek text with Migne's Latin translation in parallel columns, in volume 46 of the Patrologia Graeca (Paris, 1863), scanned whole on the Internet Archive; this work is at columns 11-160. For readers of Greek or Latin.Much harder than the work: Greek and Latin only, no English translation