Creation According to Gregory of Nyssa and the Problem of Its Initial Unextendedness

尼撒額我略所認為的創造與它的初步的未擴展性的問題

Denis WALTER

ἐν ἀρχῇ ； Epiphenomenon ； Logoi ； Matter ； Substance ； 起初 ； 副現象 ； 聖言 ； 質料 ； 實體

哲學與文化

50卷5期（2023 / 05 / 01）

47 - 70

英文;繁體中文

Creation is according to Gregory separate from God but comes about from his wilful act. Gregory explains ἐν ἀρχῇ of Gen 1,1 as an unextended point in geometry, as an instant in time or as an atom in body, all of which seem to be opposed to the most important characteristic of creation according to Gregory, namely its διάστημα. It thereby remains unclear if he intends to say that ἐν ἀρχῇ refers to the Logos of the Trinity as direct cause of creation, or for what reason he maintains that ἐν ἀρχῇ is already creation itself. We will argue that Gregory intends ἐν ἀρχῇ to be part of creation despite the difficulties raised by his alleged clarification. In the following paper we want to elaborate on this problem looking also at the role numbers as well as the potentiality-activity pair play.

根據額我略，創造是與神分離的，但是卻出自於神的任意的行為。額我略把《創世記》第一章第一節裡的「起初」解釋為一種在幾何學上的一個未擴展的點，在時間上的一個瞬間或者在物體上的一個原子。所有這些似乎是與額我略所說的創造的最重要的特徵，即它的間隙（διάστημα）相對立。因此，是否他有意去說「起初」指的是作為創造的直接原因中的三位一體中的聖言，這仍然不清楚，還是出於甚麼的原因，他堅稱「起初」已經是創造本身。我們將論證額我略打算將「起初」當作創造的部分，儘管由他所謂的澄清帶來了許多的困難。在以下的文章裡我們想要詳細說明這個問題，同時審視數字以及潛能－實現這一對所扮演的角色。

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