The aim of the project was to study the development of a specific anthropology and aesthetic within Christian Orthodox theology. The project was centred on the Cappadocian Church Fathers (4th century AD), in particular Gregory of Nazianzus, and their impact on subsequent Byzantine theologians, such as Dionysios the Areopagite (c. AD 500) and Maximus the Confessor (7th century AD).

Cappadocian anthropology represented something new: it was based on the mystery of the Incarnation and on the theology of the Trinity as it was worked out by the Cappadocians. A central concern of the project was the role of the Cappadocians for Byzantine aesthetics and the theology of the icon, an aspect of Orthodox tradition that sets it apart form Judaism and Islam as well as from Western theology.

The Orthodox doctrine of the deification of man has left deep traces in the anthropology of all Orthodox peoples, not least in Russia; in the novels of Dostoevsky and Pasternak, for instance, this idea still determines the representation of the characters. By studying key texts of these leading Greek thinkers, the project set out to illuminate the relationship between anthropology and aesthetics in the early Orthodox tradition.

For this purpose, we brought together an international group of experts on various aspects of the period from the mid-fourth to the mid-seventh century AD: history, literature, philosophy, and theology. Each of us singled out for study a limited set of Greek texts central to our aims – with the three Cappadocians as the key authors – and worked intensively with these texts, both individually and in interaction with the other members of the group, studying the constitutive concepts and their background and development. Our work was thus first and foremost based on the study of texts.

Our stated ambition was not to arrive at a totally new and comprehensive picture of this creative phase in the history of Orthodox theology, but rather to amplify, differentiate, and put into perspective the picture outlined briefly above.

The results of our collective work will be presented in an international publication, containing separate studies by the members of the project, enclosed between an introduction which defines the common aims (by the editors), and an epilogue which brings the threads together and discusses the wider implications (by Philip Rousseau). In addition to the contributions of the members of the basic team, the book will also include chapters written by scholars invited to present their studies at our international symposium in May 2003 or in our colloquia held throughout the academic year at the Centre. The book is in preparation and will be published in 2004 by the Museum Tusculanum Press (Copenhagen) under the (preliminary) title Gregory of Nazianzus: Images and Reflections, eds. J. Børtnes & T. Hägg.

Apart from contributing towards the common goal, the participants were also encouraged to pursue other studies of their own free choice during their stay at the Centre. We considered it important that the unique period of undisturbed research in a congenial setting that an extended stay at the Centre means could also be utilized for the kind of individual long-term projects that most academics in the humanities foster but usually have little time to develop in the daily routines of teaching and administration. The details will emerge from the following list of participants and research activities. It goes without saying that the informal discussion of these “other” research undertakings within patristic studies was an added bonus for all during this richly privileged year.

With regard to the goals of the project as a whole, it is difficult at this point in time to assess in a meaningful way the overall results reached during our stay at CAS. A first assessment is only possible when the various contributions to our joint publication on Gregory of Nazianzus have been worked through and analysed; the introduction and epilogue to the book will involve attempts at a synthesis.

In addition, we have included in our project, and our budget, a follow-up conference in two years’ time. This will be the proper occasion for a more comprehensive evaluation of our contribution to a deeper understanding of the anthropology and aesthetics of the Cappadocians.