Exegetic Homilies: On the Hexameron and On the Psalms

Basil the Great, Agnes Clare Way

• Publisher: Paeroa House
• Year: 2026
• eBook ISBN:
  9781779797780
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Imagine standing at the threshold of creation itself, hearing the voice of one of history's most electrifying theological minds explain, with breathtaking clarity and passion, what it all means. That is precisely the experience awaiting readers who open Exegetic Homilies, a collection of scriptural sermons delivered by Basil the Great, the fourth-century bishop whose intellectual fire and spiritual depth left an indelible mark on Christian thought for centuries to come. These are not dry theological lectures preserved in amber. These are living, breathing addresses that crackle with urgency, wonder, and the kind of fearless inquiry that dares to ask the deepest questions about God, humanity, and the cosmos. Translated with remarkable care and sensitivity by Agnes Clare Way, this 1963 volume brings Basil's original Greek brilliance into English with a faithfulness that preserves both the power and the poetry of his original words. The homilies gathered here range across some of scripture's most profound and challenging terrain. Basil moves through the opening passages of Genesis with the eye of a scientist and the heart of a mystic, wrestling with the nature of light, the ordering of the heavens, and the origin of all living things. He addresses the Psalms with a pastor's tenderness and a philosopher's precision, drawing out meanings that resonate far beyond the ancient world and speak directly to the anxieties, longings, and questions of any searching human soul. There is drama here in every paragraph, a sense that something genuinely consequential is at stake in every argument, every image, every carefully chosen word. Way's translation captures the rhythm of a master orator at work, someone who believed profoundly that the truth he was preaching could change lives, and who preached accordingly. For readers today, whether students of theology, lovers of patristic literature, or simply anyone hungry for encounters with towering minds grappling honestly with ultimate questions, this volume delivers something rare and genuinely nourishing. Basil the Great stands as one of the Fathers of the Church for reasons this book makes unmistakably clear. His homilies illuminate not only the texts he examines but the very act of reading scripture with seriousness and devotion. Exegetic Homilies is an invitation to think more deeply, believe more richly, and engage with ancient wisdom that has lost none of its astonishing vitality.

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• SAINT BASIL EXEGETIC HOMILIES
• INTRODUCTION
• HOMILY 1
• HOMILY 2
• HOMILY 3
• HOMILY 4
• HOMILY 5
• HOMILY 6
• HOMILY 7
• HOMILY 8
• HOMILY 9
• HOMILY 10
• HOMILY 11
• HOMILY 12
• HOMILY 13
• HOMILY 14
• HOMILY 15
• HOMILY 16
• HOMILY 17
• HOMILY 18
• HOMILY 19
• HOMILY 20
• HOMILY 21
• HOMILY 22