This is one of the most difficult books I have had to read in a long time. It was difficult primarily because of my unfamiliarity with world history and the subsequent difficulty in knowing the position the characters play, and partly because of the way the book is laid out. The book is not chronological or linear, except in an iterative way. Not having a detailed table of contents made it difficult to see the development of thought and the flow of the book.
For these reasons, I would suggest
reading a hardcopy of the book, rather than with an eBook reader. I found the eBook version hard to reread
previous sections and keep track of where I was in the general framework of the
book. Below is my attempt to give a rough outline that might prove helpful to
those reading the book.
1.
Basil’s life: An overview
2.
Conversion and theology
a.
Salvation
i.
Asceticism
ii.
Asceticism, Arianism and the church
iii.
Theological development(Homoiousios, Homoousios and Hypostasis phases)
iv.
Bishop Basil
v.
Marcellus
vi.
Marcellus, Athanasius, and Basil
b.
Pastoral Public Ministry
i.
Ministry of the Word
ii.
Worship
iii.
Preaching
iv.
Continuing Theological Development
v.
Reward in heaven
vi.
Basil’s contribution to Evangelicalism (The Scriptures and the Church)
vii.
Theological Development
3.
Solace in the desert
a.
Intro
b.
Saint Anthony, the Anchoritic monk
c.
Pachomius, the Coenobitic monk
d.
Monastic trip
e.
Monastic reform
i.
The rationale for coenobitic reform
f.
Basil’s contribution to Evangelicalism
i.
Holiness in the church
ii.
The moral Rules and the Large Asceticon
4.
Development of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
a.
The Nicene Creed
b.
The Arian resurgence
c.
Athanasius’s contribution to the doctrine of the
Holy Spirit
d.
Didymus the Blind
e.
Contribution to Evangelicalism
5.
Basil’s Contribution to the Doctrine of the Holy
Spirit
a.
Arianism in the Late 360s
b.
Basil’s On
the Holy Spirit
c.
Prepositions and deity
d.
Council of Constantinople
6.
Basil’s Hexaemeron
a.
Allegory versus literal
b.
The witness of the Hexaemeron
c.
Richard Lim’s theory
d.
The Content of the Hexaemeron
e.
The sovereignty of God
f.
Six literal days for creation
g.
Creation instantaneous and ex nihilio
h.
Young earth and evolution
i.
Contribution of the Hexaemeron
j.
Contribution to Evangelicalism
7.
Basil Speaks Today
a.
Ecclesiastical contributions
b.
Theological contributions
Overall I found the book quite helpful in understanding the
importance of knowing the struggles that are behind the very concise, precisely
worded creeds left to us by our forefathers in the faith. In addition, I found
the excellent discussion of monasticism and asceticism quite helpful and
relevant to the issues now facing the church.
One of my favorite quotes from the book (Kindle location 1301-1302)
“Again, Basil seemed to reject the
isolationism of the monastic movement simply because his devotion to the
Scriptures compelled him to think ecclesiologically.”
I received this book for free
from Christian Focus via Cross Focused Reviews for this review. I was not
required to write a positive review.
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