From Inseparable Operations to the Unity of God: Analytic Readings of Gregory of Nyssa’s Trinitarian Argumentation

Agnieszka Czepielik

doi:10.18290/rf26741.6

Published : 2026-03-25

Vol. 74 No. 1 (2026)

From Inseparable Operations to the Unity of God: Analytic Readings of Gregory of Nyssa’s Trinitarian Argumentation

Agnieszka Czepielik

https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1449-0491

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rf26741.6

Abstract

In contemporary analytic philosophy, there is an ongoing discussion on how the Christian doctrine of the Trinity can be consistent, that is, how three divine Persons can be one God. To solve this problem, many authors go back to the fourth-century sources. In this article, I reconstruct one of Gregory of Nyssa’s Trinitarian arguments presented in Ad Ablabium, which starts from the inseparable operations of the Persons to show that there is one God. I then examine contemporary analytic interpretations of this argument proposed by Beau Branson and William Hasker. Finally, I show two ways of defending the argument against objections by adopting either a stronger or a weaker version of the inseparable operations thesis.

Keywords:

Trinity, Gregory of Nyssa, inseparable operations

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Czepielik, A. (2026). From Inseparable Operations to the Unity of God: Analytic Readings of Gregory of Nyssa’s Trinitarian Argumentation. Roczniki Filozoficzne, 74(1), 123–147. https://doi.org/10.18290/rf26741.6

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