We're missing the point!

It is significant that the statement is made here, as it is in Homily 9, not in the context of explaining the creation of humanity proper but rather in the context of the Godhead: “It says, ‘Let us make,’ that you may recognize Father and Son and Holy Spirit.” In fact, it draws the hearers away from fixating on the “how” of creation and toward focusing on who is creating—the historia points to God. Basil sees it as a call to worship the Creator who creates as Trinity. This is a vital connection for Basil because “the prelude to our creation is true theology [theologia].”

The use of theologia here and in Homily 9 should not be understood as it is commonly used today. That is, today theology is a general term meant to indicate study about God. Basil does have this in mind, but there is more at work here than just a simple description like “the study of God.” He is using it in the context of a technical distinction from something called oikonomia. Theologia, as it was understood by fourth-century Christian writers like Basil, was used in a restrictive sense and concerned the divine nature (who God is). In Basil, it is a “mode of insight into the nature of God,” which is connected to seeing beyond material reality or the “material—sounding phraseology” of some passages in Scripture.”—Early Christian Readings of Genesis One, pages317–18