Basil the Great (330-379) is one of the most important figures in christian history and a theologian and spiritual teacher of ecumenical significance. At a time when the sources of their rich spiritual heritage are being re-appropriated by Christians of many traditions, it is strange that little attention has been given to basilian spirituality.

A Life Pleasing to God tells the story of Basil's own spiritual development in the theologically turbulent fourth-century. Its core is a study of those passages of the Asceticon which illustrate his understanding of the foundation of the christian life and lay out the possibilities, and problems, of christian community.