Grant_Hemingway
Posted November 2, 2011
Lewis Ayres' is well respected theologian and for good reason, he has taught at Emory University in the United States and now at Durham University in the United Kingdom. He is well known for his book Nicaea and its legacy, a study of the Council of Nicaea. This book studies Augustine's Trinitarian theology, most widely expounded upon in Augustine's On the Trinity. Ayres addresses the common accusation that Augustine was heavily influenced by Neoplatonism in his theology and shows how this influence is often overstated while recognizing the areas where the influence is present. I recently completed a dissertation examining the correspondences between Neoplatonic cosmology and Christian Trinitarian thought and this book offered some valuable insight on the subject. While this book might be a little strenuous for a novice on the subject it is readable and Ayres' style is engaging. I would perhaps recommend reading Henry Chadwick's, Augustine: A Very Short Introduction first which would offer a good foundation to move on to this work.
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More About This Textbook
Overview
Augustine of Hippo (354-430) strongly influenced western theology, but he has often been accused of over-emphasizing the unity of God to the detriment of the Trinity. In Augustine and the Trinity, Lewis Ayres offers a new treatment of this important figure, demonstrating how Augustine's writings offer one of the most sophisticated early theologies of the Trinity developed after the Council of Nicaea (325). Building on recent research, Ayres argues that Augustine was influenced by a wide variety of earlier Latin Christian traditions which stressed the irreducibility of Father, Son and Spirit. Augustine combines these traditionswith material from non-Christian Neoplatonists in a very personal synthesis.Ayres also argues that Augustine shaped a powerfulaccount of Christian ascent towardunderstanding of, as well as participation in the divine life, one that begins in faith and models itself on Christ's humility.
Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
'Thorough and illuminating as well as refreshing.' TheologyProduct Details
Meet the Author
Lewis Ayres is Bede Professor of Catholic Theology at the University of Durham. He is co-editor with Frances Young and Andrew Louth of The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature (2004).
Table of Contents
Abbreviations; Introduction; Part I. Origins: 1. Giving wings to Nicaea; 2. Through Him, with Him and in Him; 3. Faith of our fathers: De fide et symbolo; Part II. Ascent: 4. The unadorned Trinity; Excursus 1: The dating of the De trinitate; 5. Per corporalia … ad incorporalia; 6. A Christological epistemology; Excursus 2: Polemical targets in the De trinitate; Part III. Into the Mystery: 7. Recommending the source; 8. Essence from essence; 9. Showing, seeing and loving; 10. Loving and being; Part IV. Memory, Intelligence and Will: 11. 'But it's not fur eatin'…'; 12. '… It's just fur lookin' through'; Epilogue: catching all three; Bibliography.