Harvard University Press takes pride in publishing the third
edition of a work whose depth, scope, and wisdom have gained it
international recognition as a classic in its field. Harry Austryn
Wolfson, world-renowned scholar and most lucid of scholarly
writers, here presents in ordered detail his long-awaited study of
the philosophic principles and reasoning by which the Fathers of
the Church sought to explain the mysteries of the Trinity and the
Incarnation.
Professor Wolfson first discusses the problem of the relation of
faith and reason. Starting with Paul, who, differentiating between
the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world, averred that he was
not going to adorn his teachings with persuasive arguments based on
the wisdom of the world, Professor Wolfson describes the
circumstances and influences which nevertheless brought about the
introduction of philosophy into matters of faith and analyzes the
various attitudes of the Fathers towards philosophy.
The Trinity and the Incarnation are Professor Wolfson's next
concern. He analyzes the various ways in which these topics are
presented in the New Testament, and traces the attempts on the part
of the Fathers to harmonize these presentations. He shows how the
ultimate harmonized formulation of the two doctrines was couched in
terms of philosophy; how, as a result of philosophic treatment,
there arose with regard to the Trinity the problem of three and one
and with regard to the Incarnation the problem of two and one; and
how, in their attempts to solve these problems, the Fathers drew
upon principles which in philosophy were made use of in the
solution of certain aspects of the problem of the one and the many.
In the final part of this volume, entitled "The Anathematized," he
deals with Gnosticism and other heresies which arose during the
Patristic period with regard to the Trinity and the
Incarnation.
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