Colten Cheuk-Yin Yam: Creation in Basil of Caesarea, Kartoniert / Broschiert

Klappentext

Colten Cheuk-Yin Yam provides the first analytical commentary on Homilies 6-9 of Basil of Caesarea's Homiliae in hexaemeron . The first four chapters are a content-focused, chapter-by-chapter analysis of Basil's text, whereas the latter five chapters offer an integrated analysis on Basil's relationships to philosophical traditions and his theology of creation.

Yam's findings challenge prevailing narratives about Basil's intellectual sources. He identifies Oppian's Halieutica and Aristotle's Historia animalium 1.1 as Basil's first-hand blueprint for zoological examples. He demonstrates that Posidonius had become part of the common heritage of Stoic tradition by Basil's time and functioned as a standard Stoic framework rather than as a direct influence. He also re-evaluates Origen's influence, identifying Didymus the Blind as the more likely target of Basil's anti-allegorical polemics. Moving beyond textual analysis, he reconstructs Basil's theology of creation from its two organizing concepts - God's wisdom as nature and as wonder. He details how Basil conceives of nature as a generated cosmic force and organizing principle that acts as a mediator for ongoing creation, allowing Basil to maintain God's transcendence while explaining the world's immanent order. The author also demonstrates Basil's use of wonder as an epistemological model to justify the Bible as a scientific authority superior to rationalist pagan philosophy, establishing a knowledge system in which explanation and spiritual edification converge. The commentary shows how early Christianity engaged with Hellenistic natural science in the literal interpretation of the six days of creation.