Although the reception of the Eastern Father, Gregory of Nyssa, has varied over the centuries, the past few decades have witnessed a profound awakening of interest in his thought. The Body and Desire sets out to retrieve the full range of Gregory's thinking on the challenges of the ascetic life by examining his evolving attitudes on what we now call gender, sex, and sexuality within the context of his theological commitments. Exploring Gregory's understanding of the importance of bodily and spiritual maturation for the practices of contemplation and virtue, Raphael Cadenhead recovers the vital relevance of this vision of transformation for contemporary ethical discourse.