Human Nature and the Limits of Plasticity: Revisiting the Debate Concerning the Supernatural

Kathryn Tanner's recent work rehabilitates the decades-long debate concerning the supernatural, in which the church fathers feature as principal interlocutors. It is her particular ressourcement of Gregory of Nyssa that I want to consider and contest, especially her interpretation of his understanding of human nature as wholly apophatic, or "plastic". Tanner's self-described "apophatic" anthropology consists of a critique of naturalism, opening the way for her to posit an expansive supernaturalism that makes grace intrinsic to human nature. I offer an alternative reading of Gregory to show that a theological naturalism may obtain, namely, that human nature has integrity and autonomy of its own, even if it also may exceed its economy of finitude in pursuit of grace that is wholly other.