BASIL OF CAESAREA
His life and impact
By Marvin Jones
Christian Focus. 175 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978 1 781 913 024
This is a thorough and useful book for anyone who wants to gain an understanding of the life and work of Basil of Caesarea.
The book is an addition to a series which aims to make this period of our Christian heritage more accessible to the ‘average Christian reader’.
I’m not entirely convinced that this aim is achieved. The book certainly presents the chief details of Basil’s life and conversion. It also gives a thorough review of his theological works. In particular it traces Basil’s crucial contribution to the debate concerning the personhood and deity of the Holy Spirit, which was raging during the second Arian controversy of the fourth century AD. By its nature this debate was rather complex. As a result the book contains many long words and technical terms.
Truth of the Trinity
The author gives explanations, but there are many more used without any explanation. As such, the book could be described as somewhat ‘heavy-going.’ Having said that, it is an important period of Church history, and Basil’s role in things, under God, was vital. For example, the author traces the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity, as ‘one God in three persons’, to the writing of Basil.
Basil is presented to us as one whose chief desire was to worship the true God, for which he knew that he had to understand who God truly was, as one God existing in three fully divine persons. For any reader then, willing to put in a bit of effort and serious thought, the book repays study, and the author has done probably as good a job as any in presenting clearly this theologically involved period.
He also helpfully sets out Basil’s contribution to the reform of the monastic movement, toward greater holiness in the fourth century AD, and Basil’s commitment to interpret the opening chapters of Genesis in a literal, as opposed to allegorical, manner.
