If the whole of the Christian life is to be governed by the "law of love"—the twofold love of God and one's neighbor—what might it mean to read lovingly? That is the question that drives this unique book. Through theological reflection interspersed with readings of literary texts (Shakespeare and Cervantes, Nabokov and Nicholson Baker, George Eliot and W. H. Auden and Dickens), Jacobs pursues an elusive quarry: the charitable reader.

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The object of this dissertation is to investigate. Basil’s knowledge of Greek literature, and to acquire as far as possible an insight into his attitude toward it. It is hoped that this object will be attained by collecting all direct quotations, all proper names, and all expressions and ideas which may with some degree of real certainty be attributed to the Greek civilization before him. This dissertation is not a study of sources, as such studies are generally understood. The common type of source investigation is an accumulation of every word, phrase, or idea which has even the remotest possibility of indicating a point of contact between two authors. By far the greater part of such material indicates little or nothing of certainty regarding a writer’s use of the works of a predecessor. To repeat, the present study has to do only with certain or nearly certain signs of an acquaintance with, or an attitude of mind toward, the earlier Greek culture. These considerations must be borne in mind, especially in the study of the philosophers (Chapter III) to whom Basil is commonly supposed to be greatly indebted. Aeterna Press