c. A.D. 330 – 379

Basil of Caesarea

Worth knowing

The eldest of the three Cappadocian Fathers and brother of Gregory of Nyssa. Their sister Macrina shaped them both.
As bishop of Caesarea from 370 he fed the city through a famine and built a large hospital and poorhouse outside it.
His book On the Holy Spirit defends giving glory to the Father with the Son together with the Spirit, and shows from Scripture that the Spirit is honoured equally with the Father and the Son.
He died in 379, two years before the Council of Constantinople confirmed what he had argued for.

In Scholar’s Dream, Basil of Caesarea has three books

HexaemeronBasil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Six DaysExegesisNatural Theology

On the Holy SpiritBasil of Caesarea, De Spiritu SanctoTheology Proper

Basil’s CorpusThe Works of Basil of CaesareaTheology ProperEthics

Basil of Caesarea’s quotes in the game

Every quotation from Basil of Caesarea that a player meets in Scholar’s Dream, attached to the move that says it. Or see them as a plain list →

In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other, and each thing a book can do in a debate is called a move. Every quote below is spoken by one of those moves. Open “How it works in the game” under a quote to see the move, which books learn it, and which arguments it answers best.

“If He is a creature of course He serves with all the rest, for ‘all things,’ it is said ‘are thy servants,’ but if He is above Creation, then He shares in royalty.”
Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit 20.51 (trans. Blomfield Jackson, NPNF² 8, public domain).public domain

How it works in the game: the move Shares in Royalty

Theology ProperArgument · power 68 · 100% accurate

In the gameAnswers "he is not a slave, not a master, but free" directly: a creature serves like everything else does. Only what stands above creation can share its rule.

Learned byOn the Holy Spirit (Lv 1)

Strong against

×3Against the Spirit’s Deitya book · why?

Basil answered this exact line, in these words, at the council that settled it.

“Deceived by their inherent atheism it appeared to them that nothing governed or ruled the universe, and that … all was given up to chance. To guard us against this error the writer on the creation, from the very first words, enlightens our understanding with the name of God.”
Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron 1.2 (trans. Blomfield Jackson, NPNF² 8, public domain). The ellipsis after “and that” covers a slip in CCEL’s electronic text, which reads “and that was all was given up”; the extra word is not Jackson’s. In 1.7 he presses it further: “He does not say ‘God worked,’ ‘God formed,’ but ‘God created.’”public domain

How it works in the game: the move The Six Days

ExegesisArgument · power 62 · 100% accurate

In the gameBasil preached Genesis 1 to labourers, morning and evening, and kept insisting the text was about a world God actually made.

Learned byHexaemeron (Lv 1)

Strong against

×2.5Ambrose’s Sermonsa book · why?

Ambrose preached on the six days of creation after Basil had, and he followed Basil’s teaching.

“If we simply read the words of Scripture we find only a few short syllables… but if we enquire into the meaning of these words, then the great wonder of the wisdom of the Creator appears. What a difference He has foreseen among winged creatures! How He has divided them by kinds!”
Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron 8.1 (trans. Blomfield Jackson, NPNF² 8, public domain). The ellipsis is Basil quoting Genesis 1:20.public domain

How it works in the game: the move Order in Creation

Natural TheologyArgument · power 58 · 100% accurate

In the gameThe world is arranged, and arrangement is the fingerprint of a mind. Basil catalogues it in front of you until the point makes itself.

Learned byHexaemeron (Lv 16)

Strong against

×2.5Ambrose’s Sermonsa book · why?

Ambrose preached on the six days of creation after Basil had, and he followed Basil’s teaching.

“…even when the artisan has disappeared, serve to show an industrious intelligence and to cause the architect, the worker in brass or the weaver, to be admired on account of his work. Thus, then, to show that the world is a work of art displayed for the beholding of all people; to make them know Him who created it, Moses does not use another word.”
Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron 1.7 (trans. Blomfield Jackson, NPNF² 8, public domain). (trimmed quote)public domain

How it works in the game: the move Argument from Design

Natural TheologyArgument · power 76 · 100% accurate

In the gameA made thing argues for its maker. The body stands upright with its senses set high like a garrison; the world goes on being worth looking at long after the workman has gone. Either one is evidence, and neither had to be that way.

Learned byHexaemeron (Lv 20)

Strong against

×2.5Nein!an argument · why?

Paul did not preach to Athens from the Word alone. He started with their altar and their poets. If Barth is right, Acts 17 should not have been written.

“But to whom do we do any harm by building a place of entertainment for strangers, both for those who are on a journey and for those who require medical treatment on account of sickness, and so establishing a means of giving these men the comfort they want, physicians, doctors, means of conveyance, and escort?”
Basil of Caesarea, Letter 94, to Elias, Governor of the Province (trans. Blomfield Jackson, NPNF² 8, public domain).public domain

How it works in the game: the move A Place for Strangers

EthicsArgument · power 78 · 100% accurate

In the gameFamine emptied Caesarea in 369 and Basil sold his inheritance to feed it. Then he built: a hospital, a hostel for travellers, workshops, and a house for lepers. People called the whole complex the Basiliad. A provincial governor was told the bishop had overreached, and this letter is what came back.

Learned byBasil’s Corpus (Lv 30)

“…the worst of all is that those who are being treated ill cannot accept their sufferings in proof of their testimony, nor can the people reverence the athletes as in the army of martyrs, because the name of Christians is applied to the persecutors. The one charge which is now sure to secure severe punishment is the careful keeping of the traditions of the Fathers.”
Basil of Caesarea, Letter 243, to the bishops of Italy and Gaul (trans. Blomfield Jackson, NPNF² 8, public domain). (trimmed quote)public domain

How it works in the game: the move The Traditions of the Fathers

HistoryArgument · power 84 · 100% accurate

In the gameThe emperor Valens held the Arian side, and for thirteen years he took the churches away from bishops who did not. Basil wrote to Italy and Gaul to describe it. The one offence that reliably got you punished, he says, was keeping the faith your fathers had handed you.

Learned byBasil’s Corpus (Lv 35)

Passages you can read in the game

Longer excerpts the Scriptorium holds on screen for a player to sit and read, word for word.

“It is this man, whom God judged worthy to behold Him, face to face, like the angels, who imparts to us what he has learnt from God.”
Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron 1.1, on Moses (trans. Jackson, NPNF² 8, public domain).

from Hexaemeron

“Deceived by their inherent atheism it appeared to them that nothing governed or ruled the universe, and that … all was given up to chance… He does not say ‘God worked,’ ‘God formed,’ but ‘God created.’”
Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron 1.2 and 1.7 (trans. Jackson, NPNF² 8, public domain). The long ellipsis spans five sections. The ellipsis after “and that” covers a slip in CCEL’s electronic text, which reads “and that was all was given up”; the extra word is not Jackson’s.

from Hexaemeron

“That which was begun in time is condemned to come to an end in time. If there has been a beginning do not doubt of the end.”
Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron 1.3 (trans. Jackson, NPNF² 8, public domain).

from Hexaemeron

“I know that many artisans, belonging to mechanical trades, are crowding around me. A day’s labour hardly suffices to maintain them; therefore I am compelled to abridge my discourse, so as not to keep them too long from their work.”
Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron 3.1 (trans. Jackson, NPNF² 8, public domain).

from Hexaemeron

Words Basil of Caesarea’s books borrow from others

Moves these books can learn whose quotation comes from somebody else. The citation on each one names who actually said it.

“Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.”
James 1:19 (WEB).

How it works in the game: the move Steelman

RationalityType shift

In the gameRestate the foe’s position in its strongest form — exposing its true weak point. Lowers the foe’s Defend. Always fair; never a bad move to use.

Learned byHexaemeron (Lv 24), On the Holy Spirit (Lv 9)

“He gave him no answer, not even one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.”
Matthew 27:14 (WEB); cf. Isaiah 53:7.

How it works in the game: the move Silence

ChristologyType shift

In the gameSay nothing. Convinces no one — but the next argument lands harder. Raises the user’s Contend, after the pattern of Christ’s silence before his accusers.

Learned byOn the Holy Spirit (Lv 16)

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said.”
Acts 17:28 (WEB) — Paul at the Areopagus, quoting the Athenians’ own poets back to them.

How it works in the game: the move Affirm

Status

In the gamePick the part of the opponent’s case that is true and affirm it. That point can no longer be used against you, and the opponent’s Defend falls sharply. It deals no damage. Affirm something false and you have only agreed with an error.

Learned byOn the Holy Spirit (Lv 17), Basil’s Corpus (Lv 39)

Who else was alive

Basil of Caesarea against everyone else in the game.

A.D. 1A.D. 50A.D. 100A.D. 150A.D. 200A.D. 250A.D. 300A.D. 350A.D. 400A.D. 450

Matthew Paul John Mark Pliny the Elder Clement of Rome Ignatius An early Christian community Polycarp Claudius Ptolemy Hermas Justin Martyr Aristides Quadratus Melito Unknown authors writing under borrowed names Irenaeus The author of the Epistle to Diognetus Athenagoras Clement of Alexandria Tertullian Marcus Minucius Felix Origen Cyprian Plotinus Lactantius Eusebius Athanasius Eustathius of Sebaste Apollinaris of Laodicea Cyril of Jerusalem Epiphanius of Salamis Gregory of Nazianzus Basil of Caesarea Eunomius of Cyzicus Gregory of Nyssa Ambrose of Milan Jovinian Augustine The Macedonians Helvidius

Solid bar = firm dates · faded = approximate61 authors sit outside this window