Leibniz on the Trinity and the Incarnation: Reason and Revelation in the Seventeenth Century
Maria Rosa Antognazza
Abstract
Throughout his long intellectual life, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz penned his reflections on Christian theology, yet this wealth of material has never been systematically gathered or studied. This book addresses an important and central aspect of these neglected materials—Leibniz's writings on two mysteries central to Christian thought, the Trinity and the Incarnation. From this study emerges a portrait of a thinker surprisingly receptive to traditional Christian theology and profoundly committed to defending the legitimacy of truths beyond the full grasp of human reason. This view of Leibniz di ... More
Throughout his long intellectual life, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz penned his reflections on Christian theology, yet this wealth of material has never been systematically gathered or studied. This book addresses an important and central aspect of these neglected materials—Leibniz's writings on two mysteries central to Christian thought, the Trinity and the Incarnation. From this study emerges a portrait of a thinker surprisingly receptive to traditional Christian theology and profoundly committed to defending the legitimacy of truths beyond the full grasp of human reason. This view of Leibniz differs strikingly from traditional perceptions of the philosopher as a “hard” rationalist and quasi-deist. It also sets Leibniz's writings in the context of the important theological controversies of his day.
Keywords:
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz,
Christian theology,
Trinity,
Incarnation,
human reason,
rationalism,
quasi-deism
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2008 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780300100747 |
| Published to Yale Scholarship Online: October 2013 |
DOI:10.12987/yale/9780300100747.001.0001 |
