"This first volume in the new series, The Fathers of the Church Shorter Works, is the first complete English translation of St. Gregory of Nyssa's treatise On the Six Days of Creation (In Hexaemeron). It was most likely written in 380-381, and is designed as both a defense and a critique of his recently deceased brother St. Basil's better known homilies on the creation story as set out in the first chapter of Genesis. At the same time it incorporates Gregory's own observations on the Genesis text, which reflect his desire to show the consistency between Scripture and the philosophy and natural science of his day. A notable feature is Gregory's presentation of God's creation of the world as what has been called a "substantification" of God's own will, creatio ex Deo rather than creatio ex nilhilo. Other ideas of Gregory's seem interestingly to foreshadow those of modern science. The original language is Ancient Greek"--