“Scripture as Tradition: St. Basil of Caesarea on the Book of Genesis”.
https://doi.org/10.31802/2658-4476-2020-2-6-66-80
Abstract
This paper considers the notion of «tradition» in St. Basil of Caesarea’s Homilies in Hexaemeron, with a special focus on the relation between the terms παράδοσις and δόγμα. The author claims that Basil sees non-Scriptural παράδοσις as a result of «extraction» of the theological meaning of the Scriptural παράδοσις. This meaning, in line with the Pauline tradition, canonly be revealed by the Holy Spirit, Who bestows the power to contemplate the δόγμα hidden in παράδοσις. It is only in this sense that δόγμα, for St. Basil, is «preserved in silence» (as he says in De Spiritu Sancto). It is not a «secret» source independent of the Scripture that Basil has in mind saying that δόγμα is kept hidden, but the revelatory function of the Spirit which his theological opponents failed to recognize. His Homilies in Hexaemeron confirm this interpretation.
About the Author
O. V. Alieva
National Research University «Higher School of Economics»
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Olga V. Alieva - PhD in Philology, Associate Professor
References
1. Alieva O. V. (2017) “Pajdejja kak ‘malye misterii’: Vasilij Kesarijskij o grecheskoj literature” [“Paideia as the ‘Little Mysteries’: Basil of Caesarea on Greek Literature”]. Vestnik drevnij istorii, vol. 77, no. 2, pp. 341–355 (in Russian).
2. Alieva O. (2019) “Moses in the Wilderness: Basil of Caesarea on Formation of the Prophet”. Scrinium: Journal of Patrology and Critical Hagiography, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 133–142.
3. Alieva O. (ed.) (2019) “Vasilij Velikij. Besedy na shestodnev: Beseda pervaja” [“Basil the Great. Talks at Hexameron: Talk First”]. Filosofija. Zhurnal Vysshej shkoly ekonomiki, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 195–244 (in Russian).
4. Alieva O. (2020) “Theology as Christian Epopteia in Basil of Caesarea”. Journal of Early Christian Studies (in print).
5. Ayres L. (2009) Nicea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
6. Bornkamm G. (1967) “Mystērion, Myeō” [“Mystery, Initiate in the Mystery”]. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 4, pp. 802–808.
7. Büchsel F. (1965) “Didōmi ktl.” [“To Give, etc.”]. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 2, pp. 169–171.
8. Burkert W. (1983) Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth. Berkeley: University of California Press.
9. Courtonne Y. (1973) Un témoin du IVe siècle oriental: Saint Basile et son temps d’après sa cor respondance. Paris: Les belles lettres.
10. Courtonne Y. (ed.) (1957–1966) Basile de Césarée. Lettres. Paris: Les Belles lettres, vol. 1–3. Daniélou J. (1948) “La typologie de la semaine au IVe siècle”. Recherches de science religieuse, vol. 35, pp. 382–411.
11. Davydenkov O. (2017) Katihizis: Vvedenie v dogmaticheskoe bogoslovie [Catechism: An Introduction to Dogmatic Theology]. Moscow: PSTGU (in Russian).
12. Dörries H. (1956) De Spiritu Sancto: Der Beitrag des Basilius zum Abschluß des trinitarischen Dogmas. Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht.
13. Drecoll V. H. (1996) Die Entwicklung der Trinitätslehre des Basilius von Cäsarea: Sein Weg vom Homöusianter zum Neonizäner. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
14. Evans E. (1968) “Review: The ‘Unwritten’ and ‘Secret’ Apostolic Traditions. By Emmanuel Amand de Mendieta. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1965”. Scottish Journal of Theology, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 103–105.
15. Florovsky G. (1963) “The Function of Tradition in the Ancient Church”. Greek Orthodox Theo logical Review, vol. 9, pp. 181–224.
16. Gribomont J. (1967) “Esotérisme et tradition dans le traité Du Saint-Esprit de Saint Basile”. Oecumenica, vol. 2, pp. 22–57.
17. Gribomont J. (1984) “Eustathe de Sébaste”, in Gribomont J. Saint Basile, Évangile et Église: Mélanges. BegrollesenMauge: Abbaye de Bellefontaine, vol. 1, pp. 95–106.
18. Hadot P. (1979) “Les divisions des parties de la philosophie dans l’antiquité”. Museum Helveticum, vol. 36, pp. 201–223.
19. Hanson R. P. C. (1968) “Basil’s Doctrine of Tradition in Relation to the Holy Spirit”. Vigiliae christianae, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 241–255.
20. Haykin M. A. G. (1994) The Spirit of God: The Exegesis of 1 and 2 Corinthians in the Pneumatomachian Controversy of the Fourth Century. Leiden: Brill.
21. Hildebrand S. M. (2007) The Trinitarian Theology of Basil of Caesarea: A Synthesis of Greek Thought and Biblical Truth. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press.
22. Mendieta E. A., de (1965) “The ‘Unwritten’ and ‘Secret’ Apostolic Traditions in the Theological Thought of St. Basil of Caesarea”. Scottish Journal of Theology Occasional Papers, no. 13, pp. 1–70.
23. Mendieta E. A., de (1965) “The Pair κήρυγμα and δόγμα in the Theological Thought of St. Basil of Caesarea”. Journal of Theological Studies, no. 16, pp. 129–142.
24. Pelikan J. (1981) “The ‘Spiritual Sense’ of Scripture: The Exegetical Basis for St. Basil’s Doctrine of the Holy Spirit” in P. J. Fedwick (ed.) Basil of Caesarea: Christian, Humanist, Ascetic. A Sixteen-Hundredth Anniversary Simposium. Toronto: Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies, pp. 337–360.
25. Pruche B. (1966) “Δόγμα et κήρυγμα dans le traité Sur Le Saint-Esprit de Saint Basile de Césarée en Cappadoce”. Studia patristica, vol. 9, pp. 257–262.
26. Pruche B. (ed.) (1968) Basile de Césarée. Sur le Saint-Esprit. Paris: Cerf (SC; 17bis).
27. RaddeGallwitz A. (2009) Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and the Transformation of the Divine Simplicity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
28. Riedweg С. (1987) Mysterienterminologie bei Platon, Philon und Klemens von Alexandrien. Berlin: W. de Gruyter.
29. Rousseau Ph. (1994) Basil of Caesarea. Berkeley: University of California Press.
30. Rudberg S. Y., Mendieta E. A., de (eds.) (1997) Basilius von Caesarea. Homilien zum Hexaemeron. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
31. Simonetti M. (1975) La crisi ariana nel IV secolo. Roma: Institutum patristicum «Augustinianum». Stroumsa G. G. (2005) Hidden Wisdom: Esoteric Traditions and the Roots of Christian Mysticism. Leiden: Brill.
32. Tkachenko A. A. (2005) “Voskresen’e” [“Resurrection”]. Pravoslavnaja enciklopedija, vol. 9, pp. 448–454 (in Russian).
33. Turcan R. (1998) “Initiation”. Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, vol. 18, col. 87–159.
Review
For citations:
Alieva O.V. “Scripture as Tradition: St. Basil of Caesarea on the Book of Genesis”. Bible and Christian Antiquity. 2020;(2):66-80. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31802/2658-4476-2020-2-6-66-80
Views:
35
JATS XML
Email this article 