Basil of Caesarea on Proverbs 8:22 and the Sources of Pro-Nicene Theology

Recent scholarship has increasingly questioned the traditionalassumption that Athanasius of Alexandria was a major influenceon Basil of Caesarea. This study seeks to make a concrete contributionto this debate by demonstrating that Basil's exegesis of Prov.8:22, a verse whose interpretation was hotly contested in thefourth-century Trinitarian debates, was influenced by Eusebiusof Caesarea rather than by Athanasius. Basil's use of Eusebiusof Caesarea here should prompt us to reassess more widely Eusebius’influence on Basil, thereby helping us gain a better understandingof the diverse sources of Pro-Nicene theology.