The Doctrine of the Infinity of God and Its Implications: Clement of Alexandria and Gregory of Nyssa

Abstract

This article aims to demonstrate that the concept of God’s infinity, as developed by Gregory of Nyssa in many of his works, may have been influenced by earlier Christian theology, rather than solely by Plotinus’ philosophy, as many contemporary scholars believe. One of the theologians who introduced this concept before Plotinus was Clement of Alexandria, who not only defined God as the infinite One, but also, like Gregory, drew important anthropological conclusions from the notion of infinity. After an introduction describing the history of research on the presence of a positively understood concept of the infinity of God in Christian theology before Plotinus, the article compares the doctrine of Clement of Alexandria with that of Gregory of Nyssa in the following three thematic sections: (1) the infinity of the incorporeal being; (2) the infinity of the Good; and (3) the infinity of the process of human assimilation to God. The method adopted in the article is a comparative analysis of ancient texts. The research carried out leads to the conclusion that both Clement and Gregory understand the nature of the infinite God similarly, use similar metaphors and argumentation, and believe that the process of human assimilation to God extends into infinity.