Substance, body, resurrection according to the ancient Christian authors

The high valuation of physicality is one of the most striking features that Christianity brought to the culture and thought of late antiquity. The belief in God incarnate also influenced the idea of man. According to the ancient Christian authors of the Greek language, which are the main concern of this book (Clement of Alexandria, Origenes, Gregory of Nyssa and others), man is not just a being, to whose identity belongs the individual body, but moreover a being firmly integrated into the cosmic order. The Christian hope in the resurrection of the body is thus, in their terms, the hope of the salvation and transformation of all human beings, indeed of the whole universe. This message also makes the Christianity of these authors interesting for the 21st century person who is beginning to understand again the cosmic dimension of his or her responsibility, and at the same time, in a world reduced to digital media, is becoming aware again of the importance of physicality for his or her identity and for communion with others.