Basil, Adversus Eunomium 3.1

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Stirling Bartholomew
Posts: 1141
Joined: August 9th, 2012, 4:19 pm

Basil, Adversus Eunomium 3.1

Post by Stirling Bartholomew »

This morning I was finishing up reading of the first English translation of Basil, Adversus Eunomium[1] when I paused to notice Basil agreeing with Eunomius:
The Son is second to the Father in rank [τάξει] because he is from him. He is second to the Father in dignity [άξιώματι] because the Father is the principle and cause by virtue of which he is the Son’s Father and because we approach and access the God and Father through the Son. Even so, the Son is not second in nature [φύσει δὲ ούκέτι δεύτερος], since there is one divinity [ή θεότης . . . μία] in both of them. Likewise, it is clear that, even if the Holy Spirit is below the Son in both rank and dignitysomething with which we too are in total agreement [όλως συγχωρήσωμεν]—it is still not likely that he is of a foreign nature.

A Summary of Basil’s Against Eunomius, Book 3, Skylar D. McManus
https://skylarmcmanus.com/2019/08/19/a- ... ius-book-3
Ὡς γὰρ ὁ Υἱὸς τάξει μὲν,
δεύτερος τοῦ Πατρὸς, ὅτι ἀπ’ ἐκείνου· καὶ ἀξιώματι,
ὅτι ἀρχὴ καὶ αἰτία, τῷ εἶναι αὐτοῦ πατέρα,
καὶ ὅτι δι’ αὐτοῦ ἡ πρόσοδος καὶ προσαγωγὴ
πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν καὶ Πατέρα· φύσει δὲ οὐκέτι (10)
δεύτερος, διότι ἡ θεότης ἐν ἑκατέρῳ μία· οὕτω δη
λονότι καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, εἰ καὶ ὑποβέβηκε τὸν
Υἱὸν τῇ τε τάξει καὶ τῷ ἀξιώματι (ἵνα καὶ ὅλως
συγχωρήσωμεν, οὐκέτ’ ἂν εἰκότως, ὡς ἀλλοτρίας
ὑπάρχον φύσεως, ἀκολουθεῖν, ἐκεῖθεν δῆλον.
Lampe Lemma: τάξις, ‑εως, ἡ
1. body of troops, in gen., band, company, 2. post or place in the line of battle, 3. order, 4. orderliness, regularity of the stars, 5. order, discipline in Church, 6. monastic rule, 7. order, ordinance, 8. rank, position, 9. role, office, 10. principle, 11. class, group, order, 12. plur., records, acts, 13. form, order, 14. phrases: κατὰ τάξιν, in order, πρὸς τάξιν, in due order, μετὰ τάξεως, in an orderly way, εἰς τ. ἄγω, bring into order, ἐν τ., in due order, in the position in the character of, of things, in the way of, by way of, in the form of, under the form of

Lampe Lemma: ἀξίωμα, ‑ματος, τό

1. honour, high reputation, 2. worth, value, 3. dignity, high status, worthiness, 4. rank, position, 5. honourable person, dignitary, 6. proper quality
This is perfectly orthodox. (Sounded sketchy but I haven't thought about it for 45 years.)


[1] Against Eunomius (Fathers of the Church Patristic Series) Hardcover – March 28, 2011
by Basil of Caesarea (Author), Mark DelCogliano (Translator), Andrew Radde-Gallwitz (Translator)

Postsript: Time Travel (off topic)

Looking for citations of this passage from Basil, Adversus Eunomium 3.1, I stumbled across a 2011 article by H. Wayne House. Reading it was like time travel back to winter quarter 1975 hearing lectures and reading exactly the same sources cited in the article. I have reason to suspect H. W. House might have had access to a copy of W. Robert Cook's Systematic Theology in Outline Form.

http://hwhouse.com/images/House,_Eterna ... Recent.pdf
C. Stirling Bartholomew
Peng Huiguo
Posts: 93
Joined: April 28th, 2019, 2:02 am

Re: Basil, Adversus Eunomium 3.1

Post by Peng Huiguo »

Basil agreeing with Eunomius
More like a concede-n-refute (nice change from Asthanasius/Origen's ad hominem). I don't think "total agreement" is the right translation for ὅλως συγχωρήσωμεν; it's more like "on the whole we agree, but still it's not like (οὐκέτ’ ἂν)... as if (ὡς)..." I also think "it is clear that" for δηλονότι is a bit off, breaking the link to δῆλον (the delic in psychedelic, "psyche manifest") at the end. But these are small points, the translation on the whole is serviceable.
I'm surprised by your age. Dead language is a time sink.
Barry Hofstetter
Posts: 2159
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: Basil, Adversus Eunomium 3.1

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

Peng Huiguo wrote: March 9th, 2020, 9:55 pm
Basil agreeing with Eunomius
More like a concede-n-refute (nice change from Asthanasius/Origen's ad hominem). I don't think "total agreement" is the right translation for ὅλως συγχωρήσωμεν; it's more like "on the whole we agree, but still it's not like (οὐκέτ’ ἂν)... as if (ὡς)..." I also think "it is clear that" for δηλονότι is a bit off, breaking the link to δῆλον (the delic in psychedelic, "psyche manifest") at the end. But these are small points, the translation on the whole is serviceable.
♦ adv. ὅλως completely, totally, absolutely, through and through...

Montanari, F. (2015). M. Goh & C. Schroeder (Eds.), The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek. Leiden; Boston: Brill.

οὐκέτι...② marker of inference in a logical process, not...

Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 736). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

So I think the translation here reads it correctly.
I'm surprised by your age. Dead language is a time sink.
I'm not sure what this means. Do you think that because someone started their ancient languages 40 or 50 years ago that they just stop as some point? Some time ago I learned about a 95 year old lady who decided it was time to learn to read her GNT. She took the Moody Bible School's correspondence Greek course, and finished two years later with her certificate and a nearly 100% average (after which she wanted to start Hebrew). You are never too old.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
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