Christian theologians have long affirmed that God is both simple and triune—but how can both claims hold true at the same time?
Pui Him Ip offers a historical-theological framework for understanding this difficult question, tracing the emergence of the doctrine of divine simplicity in early Christianity. Through a close examination of key sources, especially the work of Origen of Alexandria, Ip illustrates how early Christians drew on Platonic philosophy in order to understand how God the Father, who was understood to be simple, could beget the distinct person of the Son.
Origen and the Emergence of Divine Simplicity before Nicaea masterfully shows how the doctrine of divine simplicity was interwoven with the formation of a Christian Trinitarian understanding of God before Nicaea. As Lewis Ayres writes, “Ip’s elegant discussion of divine simplicity in pre-Nicene theology helps us to see with new clarity the diversity of ways this doctrine was articulated, and the functions it performed. By showing us this rich diversity, Ip also offers further arguments for taking the doctrine seriously as an integral and important part of the Patristic heritage. Students of Trinitarian theology, of Irenaeus, and of Origen will all need to come to terms with Ip’s work.”
The new paperback edition is available for purchase on the Notre Dame Press website.
Pui Him Ip is tutorial programme director and research associate at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, Cambridge, and an affiliated lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge.