Eros Transformed: Same-Sex Love and Divine Desire
Eros Transformed: Same-Sex Love and Divine Desire
Reflections on the Erotic Vocabulary in St. Gregory of Nazianzus’s Speech on St. Basil the Great
This chapter examines the issues of same-sex love and divine desire in Gregory of Nazianzus' funeral oration for Basil of Caesarea. It suggests that Gregory's understanding of friendship as a reciprocal loving relationship between two equals united in their quest for divine truth was irreconcilable with Basil's status as prince of the Church. Gregory's model of male friendship also had to give way to the master-disciple relationship that was for centuries to become the standard model of Christian love.
Keywords: same-sex love, divine desire, funeral oration, Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil of Caesarea, male friendship, Christian love, master-disciple relationship
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