MACRINA, TAMER OF HORSES AND HEALER OF SOULS: GRIEF AND THE THERAPY OF HOPE IN GREGORY OF NYSSA'S DE ANIMA ET RESURRECTIONE

At the heart of Gregory of Nyssa's anthropology lies his concern for what he sees as a fundamental tension in human nature: As exalted creatures made in the image of an impassible God, human beings are endowed with rationality and freedom from necessity but are also creatures of the flesh sharing with irrational beasts the passions of sensual appetite that compromise conformity to the likeness of God. Smith argues that Nyssa views the passions as arising, not exclusively from the soul's desires, but from flawed judgments of the intellect not grounded in the tenets of the Christian faith.