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St Basil the Great

St Basil the Great. The Revd Dr Graham Tomlin. Basil’s Conversion.

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St Basil the Great

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  1. St Basil the Great The Revd Dr Graham Tomlin

  2. Basil’s Conversion • “I had wasted much time on follies and spent nearly all my youth in vain labours, and devotion to the teachings of a wisdom that God had made foolish. Suddenly I awoke as out of a deep sleep. I beheld the wonderful light of the gospel truth, and I recognised the nothingness of the wisdom of the princes of this world. I shed a flood of tears over my wretched life, and I prayed for a guide who might form in me the principles of piety.”

  3. St Basil and the Nicene Creed • “We can add nothing to the Creed of Nicaea, not even the slightest thing, except the glorification of the Holy Spirit, and this only because our fathers mentioned this topic incidentally.”

  4. Basil the Great: On the Holy Spirit (375 AD) • The Holy Spirit belongs with the Father and the Son

  5. St Basil – Ep.189 • “We are of necessity guided in the investigation of the divine nature by its operations. Suppose we observe the operations of the Father, of the Son and of the Spirit to be different from one another, we shall then conjecture, from the diversity of operations, that the operating natures are also different... Identity of operation... proves invariability of nature.”

  6. Basil the Great: On the Holy Spirit (375 AD) • The Holy Spirit belongs with the Father and the Son • The Holy Spirit unites us with Christ • The Holy Spirit perfects created things • The Holy Spirit transforms us into the image of Christ

  7. Ellen Charry • “The Holy Spirit is equal to the other Trinitarian persons because he is holy as they are; because he is intimate with them, and because he makes possible our intimacy with God.“

  8. Life in the Spirit • Inviting the Spirit to do His work • Seeing the Holy Spirit in relation to the Father and the Son • Seeing the Holy Spirit’s primary work as transformation into the image of Christ • Seeing the Holy Spirit in the Cross • Seeing the Holy Spirit in the World

  9. Questions • Which aspects of Basil’s theology of the Spirit did you find most surprising? Or helpful? • What are the characteristic strengths and weaknesses of ‘charismatic’ churches? Are there other ways in which a Trinitarian Pneumatology helps develop those strengths or address those weaknesses? • What are the true signs of the work of the Holy Spirit in the church or the world?

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