Perhaps no other work of Basil of Caesarea displays such a peculiar reception history or undergone such conflicting assessment as his Ad adolescentes. The subject of human formation was a central and reoccurring trait in the life and work of Basil. His understanding of the human person is permeated by the image of man’s dynamic and primordial constitution, of the human person who in freedom is called to development and come to full maturity by means of a virtuous life; of a teleologism that directs man’s actions to his immanent goal and simultaneously to that greater goal of the good of his immortal soul, to which everything must be subordinated. In this sense Basil also speaks of the disposition of “utility” to which every earthly reality can be employed with the spirit of discernment, to reach this greater goal. These elements are all to be found in Ad adolescentes. This therefore allows us to describe the work as an educational treatise in which Basil’s anthropological ideals are realised by means of his evaluation of the obligatory Greek literature of students of grammar.
No comments:
Post a Comment