Sympatheia in Basil of Caesarea's Hexameron: A Plotinian Hypothesis
By the fourth century, Christian thinkers had developed a number of detailed commentaries on the account of creation found in the opening chapters of Genesis. A notable example of this work is found in Basil of Caesarea's Hexameron, a series of nine homilies. While Basil claimed to provide a st...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Published: |
1996
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| In: |
Journal of early Christian studies
Year: 1996, Volume: 4, Issue: 3, Pages: 359-378 |
| Online Access: |
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| Summary: | By the fourth century, Christian thinkers had developed a number of detailed commentaries on the account of creation found in the opening chapters of Genesis. A notable example of this work is found in Basil of Caesarea's Hexameron, a series of nine homilies. While Basil claimed to provide a strictly literal interpretation of Genesis, his exposition reveals a reliance upon insights derived from a range of sources that include Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. But investigations of its possible Neoplatonic heritage (and more specifically, its Plotinian background) are relatively sparse. Apparently, portions of only two homilies (that is, hex. 2.7 and 6.9) have been isolated as indicators of a Plotinian influence. Accordingly, Basil's Hexameron offers a potentially fertile source for further assessments of the scope of his intellectual dependence upon Plotinus. This paper undertakes such an assessment within the context of Basil's discussion of the act of creation, with a special focus upon his use of the term sympatheia. While Basil's interpretation of sympatheia reflects the influence of the Stoic philosopher Posidonius, it strongly suggests that a Plotinian influence was operative in the Hexameron (as well as in a number of other works in the Basilian corpus). In this connection, the paper contends that Basil gained access to the notion of sympatheia and some closely related insights through the mediation of Plotinus' Enneads IV.3.–IV.4. |
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| ISSN: | 1086-3184 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of early Christian studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/earl.1996.0038 |