In this paper, the Hexaemeron is approached using a new perspective. This perspective has been used in other papers or books on the Hexaemeron, but only briefly and without any in-depth evidence or investigation. Many scholars have pointed out, in one way or another, that the Hexaemeron contains density of philosophy, doctrine, sciences of Basil’s era, and density of literal interpretation, in addition to the interpretive and moral components; They stated that it is therefore better to consider this work as an apologetic work, instead of merely an interpretive work. But on the other hand, Basil composed this work to be preached to laypeople. So, I had inquiries about this: Why did Basil use these components to preach in front of this audience? What are his motives? And what are his goals? In this paper, the historical-critical method is used to prove that this work is actually an apologetic work composed by Basil because he found that his people are surrounded by heretical thoughts, and it is necessary for them to understand their orthodox faith in order to guarantee a good afterlife. Therefore, before his death, he conveyed his orthodox thoughts briefly, using Genesis 1. I first looked at the doctrinal and philosophical thoughts that he discussed in the Hexaemeron, and then after some investigation into his earlier works, it became clear to me that he had argued the same ideas before, so the Hexaemeron is actually a summary of his entire life. I then investigated his use of both literal and allegorical methods in dealing with Scriptures, and demonstrated that he intentionally used literal method in the Hexaemeron, rather than in the rest of his interpretational works, to extract dogma from Genesis 1. Finally, I investigated the situation of his audience to prove that his audience, regardless of their intellectual levels, need this discourse to support their faith. This paper highlights the importance of using doctrines, philosophy, and contemporary science in sermons addressed to laypeople, and not just the spirituality, in order to protect them from false doctrines, and urges priests to become familiar with them.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:ths-2523 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Maher, Muhannad (Addai) |
| Publisher | Enskilda Högskolan Stockholm, Avdelningen för östkyrkliga studier |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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