Face to face: the Beatific Vision according to Gregory of Nyssa and Thomas Aquinas

Abstract

Abstract: This dissertation aims to retrieve the doctrine of the beatific vision from the works of Gregory of Nyssa and Thomas Aquinas, hence the research question is: What are the respective understandings of the beatific vision in the works of Gregory of Nyssa and Thomas Aquinas? The method used in this dissertation is descriptive content analysis and it is written in the theory or tradition of Theologies of Retrieval. One of the main results is Gregory’s and Thomas’ respective solution to the Biblical paradox of the eschatological promise to see God face to face and the impossibility to see God, where Gregory suggests that the beatific vision is of God’s energies rather than God’s infinite essence and Thomas suggests that the beatific vision is the ontological union with God, in the noetic identity. Although Gregory of Nyssa and Thomas Aquinas come to different conclusions on some points on the doctrine, both proficiently combine anthropology, philosophy and theology in their elaborate suggestions of what the beatific vision might infer.