Early Church Reading Group: St Gregory of Nyssa's "The Life of Moses"
A reading group working through St Gregory of Nyssa’s book “The Life of Moses”, and sharing our inspiration as we go. This is one of the most important mystical texts from the Early Church, in which Gregory traces the path of Moses from his birth and slavery in Egypt to the (endless!) ascent of the Mountain, and unpacks the spiritual meaning of every step of the journey.
St Gregory of Nyssa (c.335 – 395 AD) was the youngest of the three Cappadocian Fathers, and the brother of St Basil (“the Great”) of Caesarea. Gregory wrote on a very wide range of topics including the fourth century doctrinal debates on the Trinity, the ascetic life, how best to present the essentials of the Christian faith (the “Catechetical Oration”) as well as a hagiography of his sister (the “Life of St Macrina”).
However, the focus of this reading group will be on one of his two explicitly mystical texts, “The Life of Moses” (the other being his “Homilies on the Song of Songs”) and it’s on account of these that some scholars see him as a key figure in the emergence of Christian mysticism. If you only manage to read a handful of books from the Early Church era, this should be on your list!
Where & when are we meeting?
We’ll meet in the Pusey House Library (or online) on Monday evenings, 6:30 – 8pm from Monday 19th January 2026 to Monday 9th March inclusive. Except for two dates when we will NOT be meeting (Mon 2nd Feb & Mon 23rd Feb). See below for a detailed timetable.
Which edition of the text?
You’ll be able to find a variety of editions of the text either online or in print, ranging from free to fairly large sums of money. To avoid possible confusion from people in the group reading different versions, please obtain a copy of the following text – Gregory of Nyssa: The Life of Moses (HarperCollins Spiritual Classics, 2008) – here are direct links to Amazon and Abebooks (although obviously other booksellers are available!). Note: I do receive a small commission for items purchased from Amazon via their Associates scheme from that link, but at no additional cost to you.
Please note that some sellers on Amazon/Abebooks ship from the USA (but may not be explicit about this) and delivery times can be more than a couple of weeks to the UK.
If you do already happen to have a copy of the text it is probably the “Classics of Western Spirituality” edition. The translation is identical to the HarperCollins edition, but benefits from extensive scholarly notes (which to be honest you may find quite overwhelming if you’re new to the study of the Early Church!). However, if you do have access to this edition, feel free to use it if you wish. The timetable below gives page references to both editions.
Timetable
The initial session on 19th January will provide a brief introduction to St Gregory and the text, focussing especially on his indebtedness to Origen in some aspects of his theology and exegesis. You won’t need to have read anything before this session. For the remaining sessions we’ll meet to discuss a portion of the text each week. After the last session on 9th March we’ll share a meal together.
Except for the first Introduction session, you’ll need to have read the stated passage in advance of the meeting. So, for example, for the meeting on Monday 26th January you need to have read pages 3-42 in the HarperCollins edition or 29-63 in the Classics of Western Spirituality edition.
Having already read the excerpt, each session will then provide an opportunity for us to come together and share something of the inspiration and/or questions or wrestling we’ve encountered from that text in a reflective setting.
It will really help if, as you read, you could make a note of the exact page number and ideally copy out/ highlight/ bookmark the exact passage(s) which strike/ inspire/ perplex you and come prepared to read them out.
If you do find yourself wrestling with something as you read, someone else is almost certainly thinking exactly the same thing, so please do flag it for discussion.
Do I need any specific background for this Reading Group?
No knowledge of Church history or theology is assumed.
However, if you’ve not come across Gregory of Nyssa before, or know little about him, there’s a Study Day providing an overview of his life, work and contribution on Saturday 21st February 2026. Although the Reading Group will have started by that point, the Study Day will provide a much fuller introduction to St Gregory’s own life & work.
It’s not at all required for this group, but suggestions for further background reading on St Gregory of Nyssa as well as some extracts from his work can be found on this page of the website.
Location
These sessions will be held in the Library at Pusey House, Oxford. The entrance for Pusey House is on St Giles’ – you can try the door, but may need to press the intercom buzzer to speak to someone to gain access. Once inside, go up a few steps straight ahead of you and then turn right down the corridor. Follow this corridor as far as it goes (you can’t go wrong!) and up the stairs.
Online Option
You’ll have the best experience if you can make the physical meeting at Pusey House. However, if this is not an option for you, it will also be possible to join online. Once you’ve booked, please reply to the confirmation email you’ll receive to request this, or use the Contact Form to get in touch and let me know you’d like to join online.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about this series of meetings, please get in touch. I hope you can join us, and look forward to meeting you.