Basil of caesarea on anthropology

1. Basil of Caesarea
Part Two
I, Human

2. Two Sermon Series
The Six Days of Creation (The Hexaemeron)
On the Human Condition

3. On the Human Condition
“...the most difficult of sciences is to know
one’s self.” (Hex. p. 106)
“For just as our eyes see external things but do not see themselves
…our mind does not see itself otherwise than by examining the
Scriptures.” (1.1)

4. On the Human Condition
“...the most difficult of sciences is to know
one’s self.” (Hex. p. 106)
“For just as our eyes see external things but do not see themselves
…our mind does not see itself otherwise than by examining the
Scriptures.” (1.1)
The Limitations of Ancient Science

5. On the Human Condition
“Thus the creation story is an education in human life.” (1.17)

6. On the Human Condition
“Do not despise the wonder that is in you. For
you are small in your own reckoning, but the
Word will disclose that you are great.” (1.2)
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.”
(Psalm 139)

7. On the Human Condition
“From this small work of construction (human body), I understand
the great Fashioner.” (1.2)

8. On the Human Condition
On the Image of God
“Put away from you heart unseemly fantasies…
God is without structure and simple. …Do not
enclose God in bodily concepts, nor
circumscribe him according to your mind.” (1.5)
The Image is not Physical.

9. On the Human Condition
On the Image of God
“…we do not have that which is according to the image in our
bodily shape.” (1.6)

10. “God in not born or made. He is of an ever-abiding nature without
beginning and without end. He is immortal, perfect, and
incomprehensible.
Now, when I say that He is ‘perfect,’ I mean that there is no defect
in Him and that He is not in need of anything.
Rather, all things are in need of Him... He has
no name, for everything that has a name is
related to created things. He has no form, nor
any bodily members... He is neither male nor
female. The heavens do not limit him.”
Aristides of Athens (2nd cent)

11. “Whatever is a property of physical bodies cannot be attributed to
either the Father of the Son.”
Origen of Alexandria (184-253)

12. “He cannot be seen – He is too bright for vision. He cannot be
comprehended, for He is too pure for our discernment. He cannot
be estimated, for He is too great for our perception. And, therefore,
we are only worthy estimating Him when we say that He is
inconceivable... He is one, and His entirety is everywhere
diffused.”
Cyprian of Carthage (d. 258)

13. On the Human Condition
On the Image of God
“It speaks of the inner human being.” (1.7)
“ ‘according to our (God’s) image’ …the superiority of reason.”
(1.7)

14. “For by the hands of the Father, that is by the Son and the Holy
Spirit, man, and not a part of man, was made in the likeness of
God.”
Irenaeus of Lyons (130-200)
Not everybody is in the same boat.

15. On the Human Condition
The Likeness
“By creation we have the first (image), and by
our free choice we build the second (likeness).
In our initial structure co-originates and exists
our coming into being according to the image of God.
By free choice we are conformed to that which is according to the
likeness of God. And this is what is according to free choice: the
power exists in us but we bring it about by our activity.” (1.16)

16. On the Human Condition
The Likeness
“For I have that which is according to the image
in being a rational being, but I become according
to the likeness in becoming a Christian.” (1.16)
“If you become a hater of evil, free of rancor…. If you become
brother-loving and compassionate…. If you forgive your enemy
from you heart… you are like God…. Put on Christ, and drawing
near to him is drawing near to God” (1.17)

17. On the Human Condition
The Likeness
“But now the one (image) is given, the other
(likeness) is left incomplete; that you may
complete yourself, become worthy of the
recompense by God.” (1.17)
“What is Christianity? Likeness to God as far as is possible for
human nature.” (1.17)

18. Basil on the Image and Likeness
1. Image is viewed as Substantive (Reason).
2. Image and Likeness are two different things.
3. We have the Issue of “Free Will”.

19. On the Image and Likeness of God
1. Substantive
The Image is in the Psychological or Spiritual.
Reason, Will, Morality
2. Relational
The Image is Dependent on being in Relationship with God.
3. Functional
The Image refers to a Role or Task.

20. On the Human Condition
What am I?
“Therefore the body is an instrument of the
soul, and the human being is principally the soul
in itself.” (1.7)
“The human being is a rational creature of God, having come into
being according to the image of his Creator.” (1.11)

21. What is the Soul?

22. What is the Soul?
“...the human being is
principally the soul in
itself.” (1.7)

23. Moses and the Ancient Hebrews
Physiology and the Meanings of Words
Nephesh
Soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind,
living being, desire, emotion, passion
PsycheSoul

24. What is the Soul?
Matthew 10: 28
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body (sóma) but cannot kill
the soul (psuché). Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy
both soul and body in hell.”

25. What is the Soul?
Matthew 10: 28
1 Thessalonians 5: 23
“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and
through. May your whole spirit (pneuma), soul (psuché) and body
(sóma) be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

26. What is the Soul?
Matthew 10: 28
1 Thessalonians 5: 23
Hebrews 4: 12, 13
“For the word (logos) of God is alive and active. Sharper than any
double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul (psuché)
and spirit (pneuma), joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and
attitudes of the heart (kardia).
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is
uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must
give account.”

27. What is the Soul?
Matthew 10: 28
1 Thessalonians 5: 23
Hebrews 4: 12, 13
Luke 10: 26, 27
“’What is written in the Law?’he replied. ‘How do you read it?’
He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart (kardia)
and with all your soul (psuché) and with all your strength (ischus)
and with all your mind (dianoia)’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself.’”

28. What is the Soul?
Tripartite or Bipartite?
or Quadripartite?
Monism?
The tripartite view (trichotomy) holds that the human is a
composite of three distinct components: body, spirit, and soul.
The bipartite view (dichotomy) holds that humankind is a
composite of two, i.e. the soul and spirit are taken as different
terms for the same entity (the spiritual soul).

29. So, What Is the Soul?
Is the Soul Mortal or Immortal?
Clement of Rome
Ignatius of Antioch
Justin Martyr
Plato
Tertullian
Augustine
Historically Majority View

30. “Now that the soul lives, no one would deny. But if it lives, it
lives not as being life, but as the partaker of life; but that which
partakes of anything, is different from that of which it does
partake. Now the soul partakes of life, since God wills it to live.
Thus, then, it will not even partake (of life) when God does not
will it to live. For to live is not its attribute, as it is God’s...
...the soul leaves the body, and the man exists
no longer; even so, whenever the soul must
cease to exist, the spirit of life is removed
from it, and there is no more soul.”
Justin Martyr

31. So, What Is the Soul?
Pre-existent or Not?
Origen and a few followers Christian Majority

32. What is the Soul?
So, What Is the Soul?
Corporeal or Incorporeal?
Stoics
Tertullian
Christian Majority

33. What is the Soul?
So, What Is the Soul?
Direct Creation or Traducianism?
Pelagius
Jerome
Tertullian
Gregory of Nyssa
Undeclared
Augustine

34. What is the Soul?
So, What Is the Soul?
Tripartite or Bipartite?
Neo-Platonism
Basil
Gregory of Nyssa
Gregory of Nasianzus
Pelagius
Augustine (early years)
Martin Luther
Augustine (later years)
Roman Catholic (?)
John Calvin

35. What is the Soul?
Apollinarianism
The Pelagian Controversy
The Tripartite position became less favored due to ...

36. So, What Is the Soul?
“Therefore the body is an instrument of the
soul, and the human being is principally the
soul in itself.” (1.7)
Consciousness ?

37. So, What Is the Soul?
“In Sacred Scripture the term ‘soul’ often refers to human life or
the entire human person. But ‘soul’ also refers to the innermost
aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, that by
which he is most especially in God's image: ‘soul’ signifies the
spiritual principle in man.”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, #363)

38. What is the Soul?
Why would this be important?
The Attitude Towards our Bodies and Nature.
1. Dualism: Body and Soul
2. Radical Asceticism
3. Belittling of Nature and the Physical

39. On the Human Condition
Male and Female
“The natures are alike of equal honor, the
virtues are equal, the struggles equal, the
judgment alike.
Let her not say, ‘I am weak.’ The weakness is in the flesh, in the
soul is the power…. Soul indeed is equal in honor to soul; in the
coverings (body) is the difference.” (1.18)

41. On the Human Condition
To Rule the Earth (Gen 1: 26)
“Rule the thoughts in yourself, that you may become the ruler of
all beings.” (1.19)
“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our
image, in our likeness, so that they may rule
over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky,
over the livestock and all the wild animals and
over all the creatures that move along the
ground.”

42. On the Human Condition
To Rule the Earth (Gen 1: 26)
“But in what is the ruling principle? In the
superiority of reason.” (1.6)
“ ‘And let them rule.’ Not, ‘let us make the human being, and let
them be angry and lustful and sorrowful,’ for the passions are not
included in the image of God, but the reason is master of the
passions.” (1.7)

43. On the Human Condition
To Rule the Earth (Gen 1: 26)
“And why do you serve the passions as a slave?
For what reason do you make yourself a prisoner
of the devil? You were appointed ruler of
creation, and you have renounced the nobility of
your own nature.” (1.7)

44. On the Human Condition
To Rule the Earth (Gen 1: 26)
“And why do you serve the passions as a slave?
For what reason do you make yourself a prisoner
of the devil? You were appointed ruler of
creation, and you have renounced the nobility of
your own nature.” (1.7)
“...receiving the power to rule through the superiority of reason…”
(1.9)
“…though skill* all things become accessible to him.” (1.10)

45. On the Human Condition
The Blessing: Grow and Multiply
“ ‘And God blessed the human being, and said,
Grow and multiply and fill the earth’. This
blessing was also given to the fishes….” (1.12)

46. On the Human Condition
The Blessing: Grow and Multiply
“ ‘And God blessed the human being, and said,
Grow and multiply and fill the earth’. This
blessing was also given to the fishes….” (1.12)
“...do not fill it by settling it all, for then we would have lived
crowded together, ...but fill it by authority, which God has given us
to dominate the earth.” (1.14)
“One part (of the earth), the best, has received what is useful for
habitation, another part is necessary for cultivation, the rest is left
for the grazing of animals.” (1.14)