With his previous translation of On the Holy Spirit, a monograph on Basil of Caesarea's Trinitarian theology, and a useful and insightful overview of Basil's theological thought, H. has over the past eleven years made a name for himself as one of the foremost scholars in the study of this central figure in late fourth-century theological discourse. Part of the renowned introductory series, Early Church Fathers, this new book demonstrates that this reputation is well-earned. Though the work is mostly constructed of translations, divided into the sensible characterisations of Basil as churchman and statesman, preacher, polemicist and ascetic (and a short section on paideia), the addition of a short life and of an outline of his theological and ecclesiastical vision to help contextualise the works translated, serves as a concise but accurate introduction to Basil's life and thought.

In the ‘Life and Times’ section, H. begins by considering Basil's upbringing and rhetorical education, particularly through the eyes of his fellow Cappadocians, the two Gregories. The following short but insightful discussion of Basil's asceticism traces his movement towards an ascetic lifestyle and rightly places focus on the involvement of his sister, Macrina, and his spiritual father, Eusthatius of Sebaste. H. also considers the Trinitarian debates in which Basil found himself embroiled, though he does leave some of the more complex issues unexplored such as his alliance with the homoian party of Basil of Ancyra and Eustathius of Sebaste at Constantinople in ad 359/60. He also asserts here that Against Eunomius was written in Pontus, an interesting idea that departs from the more traditional view advocated by P. Fedwick and P. Rousseau that Basil authored the text on the way to the synod of Lampascus in 364. I am inclined to agree with H.’s observation. The construction of the Basileiados and Basil's tireless work on behalf of the church in Caesarea before his accession – an aspect of Basil's life that is often ignored despite the fact it fits so well with his strongly holistic view of what asceticism should entail – is explored. In the section on Basil's episcopate, some works are cited but the primary intent is to discuss Basil's election and the controversy surrounding it – with a small section on the nature of the episcopate in the fourth century and his mentoring of Amphilochius of Iconium, to whom On the Holy Spirit was dedicated.

The chapter on Basil's vision is aptly divided into the subsections of scriptural thought, natural theology, anthropology, asceticism and morality, and Trinitarian theology. On scripture, most attention is given to the discussion of Basil's homilies on the Psalms and the ever-popular Hexaemeral homilies, which, as H. notes, help to provide examples of both his literal and his spiritual readings of biblical texts. With a short reference to the Moralia and some exegetical homilies on the New Testament, this part serves as a discussion of Basil's views on the provenance and meaning of scripture. This section, for its length, is deeply insightful. The section on natural theology is, as one might expect, short but informative, analysing Basil's understanding of biology and animal behaviour as exhibited in the Hexaemeron and the consistency of his framing of natural theology with biblical truth.

The section on Basil's anthropology is noteworthy. Considering his interpretation of Genesis 1:26, H. demonstrates the height of Basil's anthropology, mankind being the only created things that required a ‘deliberation’, evoked also in his discussion of Psalms – identifying the inner man as ‘made’ and the outer man as ‘moulded’ – to ensure the reader appreciates he understood this to be universally attested to in scripture. This is a longer treatment of Basil's anthropology than might be imagined, the ideas explored within it are original and innovative. At times it has been the habit of scholars working on Basil to give his anthropology less space than is necessary – H. is certainly refreshing in this regard.

The presentation of Basil's asceticism rightly asserts it to be an effective method of achieving the universal Christian calling, beautifully described by H. as ‘a single, over-arching movement from alienation to perfect communion’ (p. 38). A slightly longer discussion of the implications of this in light of his ascetic elitism would have been welcome here, since On the Holy Spirit has so often been considered in the secondary literature as having quite elitist ideas about who can come into true communion with God. The remainder of this section focuses on the rules and what Basil's idea of the monastic community is – to H. simply a more intense form of non-monastic Christian experiences. The spiritual over the practical is emphasised here, and for good reason – extracts from the rules themselves are contained within the translations provided in the work. The section on the Trinity is the longest and also the most critically engaged. This is most likely simply because most recent work has been devoted to hashing out Basil's at times – often intentionally – outwardly ambiguous language. Focus is given to the conflicts with Eunomius and Eustathius and the centrality of the Trinity to Basil's quite pro-Nicene world view (even before he confessed himself as such), with particular space afforded to his rejection of non-Nicene perspectives as creating a Christianity in which both individual and sacramental attempts to move towards the Trinitarian God are without purpose. It serves as an excellent overview of a widely-discussed topic whilst still contributing a unique perspective.

The translations are solid and accurate, with the sections of On the Holy Spirit, likely to be the most commonly read by students in this book, taken from the St. Vladimir's Seminary Press translation H. authored in 2011. H.’s choices of texts will familiarise any new student of Basil with the thrust of most of the major works. H.’s decision to include Letter 9 in conjunction with an extract from Against Eunomius is particularly useful, the former indicating a comfort with the homoousion unexplored in the latter, where the term is only mentioned once in the entire treatise. It might have been helpful to do the same for On the Holy Spirit, including excerpts from letters 125 and 223, to place it within the conflict with Eustathius of Sebaste that On the Holy Spirit represents the culmination of, though as this is a much more widely read work, it is right to give contextualising Against Eunomius priority if there were editorial constraints.

The inclusion of the Address to the Youth on Greek Literature is a wise one, and H. does well to cover both ascetically-driven letters and extracts from Basil's Regulae. The homilies translated in the section on Basil's preaching are well chosen and represent Basil's exegetical sermons on both the Psalms and the Hexaemeron, both of which are viewed as exemplars of Basil's great skill in unifying exegesis and rhetoric. The inclusion of the Homily on Greed and the martyrological Homily on Julitta help provide a breadth of sources and show Basil's capacity as a New Testament exegete and participant in the cult of the saints quite effectively. The same is true of the translations pertaining to Basil's ecclesiastical career, which show Basil responding to a variety of scenarios including pastoral, political, ecclesiological and more personal issues. Since we have over 360 letters of Basil's extant, this section is particularly impressive in that H. has managed to provide such useful examples out of such an extensive epistolary corpus.

This work serves as an excellent introduction to Basil of Caesarea for those new to his works, as well as demonstrating some small innovations within the scholarship that will be consulted and cited by established scholars. It is a fantastic contribution to both the literature on Basil and the venerable Early Church Fathers series.