The Power of God

"This exceedingly stimulating and very wide-ranging book explores the prehistory of the use of the word 'power' in the various philosophical and theological contexts from the fifth century BC to the fourth century AD. [A] lucid and profound study of God's productive power...." — Journal of Theological Studies

"This thoroughly researched volume proposes a groundbreaking reinterpretation of Gregory's Trinitarian theology in which [power] is a central concept. To support his claim about this concept's importance, Barnes provides a carefully nuanced, extensive, and largely convincing historical survey of the word's meaning in Greek philosophical and medical writers as well as in Christian authors up to Gregory's time." — Journal of Early Christian Studies

"Examining Gregory of Nyssa's use of the Greek term dunamis (power), Michel Barnes offers a novel argument about the strong role of technical Greek philosophical ideas and terminology in Gregory's Trinitarian theology.... Sweeping and provocative... brilliant... [His work] has the potential to recast not only the scholarly field of patristic Trinitarian theology but also current debates about the possibility and/or desirability of rehabilitating classical Trinitarian orthodoxy in contemporary theology." — Theological Studies

"[W]ritten with the lucidity and lightness of touch that is characteristic of Barnes's work. In the case at hand, this means that Barnes traces the antecedents of Gregory of Nyssa's understanding of dynamis ('power'—though, as Barnes shows, the term is more supple than that) back to the Presocratics, and does so in a way that is informative and even pleasant to read." — Heythrop Journal

"Barnes's work contributes positively to the task of 're-examining' Gregory of Nyssa that has rightfully been undertaken by patristic scholars of late. His willingness to move beyond schemes dominant in previous scholarship has far-reaching implications not only for the understanding of Gregory's thought, but also for ecumenical dialogue and bridging the difference between eastern and western theological methods."— Nova et Vetera