Central to the early Christian community was an ethic which, on the one hand, condemned violence and bloodshed, and on the other, vigorously upheld the sanctity of life. Such an ethic had, and still has, manifold ramifications. In the case of the early Christians, it led them not only to shun the violent “pastimes” of the Roman arena, but also to eschew participation in the militarism of the Roman state. And, of great import with regard to our contemporary scene, this ethic led the early Church to articulate a clear position concerning the treatment of the unborn. In the following paper, the treatment of abortion by a key figure in the early Church, namely Basil of Caesarea (c.330-379), is examined in the hope that it may help to set the current discussion of this issue in historical perspective.
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