Presenting a Practical Way of Life Through Biographical Discourse: The Examples of Gregory of Nyssa and Marinus

Details

Ressource 1Request a copy Under indefinite embargo.
UNIL restricted access
State: Public
Version: Final published version
License: Not specified
Serval ID
serval:BIB_50CA87E2C270
Type
Inproceedings: an article in a conference proceedings.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Presenting a Practical Way of Life Through Biographical Discourse: The Examples of Gregory of Nyssa and Marinus
Title of the conference
Tradition and Transformation: Dissent and Consent in the Mediterranean : Proceedings of the 3rd CEMS International Graduate Conference
Author(s)
Goarzin Maël
Publisher
Solivagus-Verlag
ISBN
978-3-943025-32-3
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2016
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Editor
Mitrea Mihail
Language
english
Abstract
This article aims at presenting a specific aim of late antique biographical discourse: presenting to the reader an ideal, but nonetheless practical, way of life to put into practice. Gregory of Nyssa and Marinus’s biographical texts, The Life of Moses and The Life of Gregory Thaumaturgus on the one hand, and Proclus or concerning happiness on the other, provide a good example of this more or less explicit aim. Furthermore, these two texts are particularly interesting to determine the reason why late antique authors from the 4th and the 5th century CE used biographical discourse to present an ideal way of life and how this specific aim was achieved. By giving a concrete or practical example of the good life, biographical discourse can indeed be seen as a particularly adequate type of discourse to present and exhort the reader to imitate a particular way of life. By providing a practical exemple of the good life, biographical discourse facilitates the imitation of such a life, more than a theoretical discourse would do.
Keywords
Biography, Late Antiquity, Philosophy, Way of Life, Neoplatonism, Christianity, Gregory of Nyssa, Marinus, Proclus
Create date
14/03/2017 12:53
Last modification date
21/06/2020 5:21
Usage data