Against Pure Reason

Sample

von Bernd Manuel Weischer

In the early fifth century the Christian world was racked by one of the most fierce theological disputes it had known since the Arian crisis of the previous century. The center of debate turned on the nature of the personhood of Christ, and how divine and human characteristics could combine in Jesus without rendering his subjectivity hopelessly divided, or without reducing his authentic humanness to an insubstantiality. These arguments soon polarized in the conflict between two great churches, Alexandria and Constantinople, and their powerful archbishops, St Cyril (d. 444) and Nestorius (d.c. 452) respectively. Cyril is, arguably, the most important patristic theologian ever to deal with the issues of Christology. The text here translated is one of his most important and approachable writings, composed in the aftermath of the Council of Ephesus (431) to explain his doctrine to an international audience. He argues here for the single divine subjectivity of Christ, and describes how it encompasses a full and authentic humanity in Jesus - a human experience that is not overwhelmed by the divine presence but fostered and enhanced by it. Accordingly, for St Cyril, Christology becomes a paradigm for the transfigured and redeemed life of the Christian. . This book is essential reading for all those interested in the theology and spirituality of the fathers, in the ancient church's use of scripture, and the way in which the church once creatively expressed its thinking through the media of philosophy and the natural sciences.

Sample

Buffon

THEORIEDE LATERREPREMIER DISCOURSDE LA MANIERE D'ETUDIER ET DE TRAITER L'HISTOIRE NATURELLEl'histoire naturelle, prise dans toute son etendue, est une histoire immense ; elle embrasse tous les objets que nous presente l'univers. Cette multitude prodigieuse de quadrupedes, d'oiseaux, de poissons, d'insectes, de plantes, de mineraux, etc.., offre a la curiosite de l'esprit humain un vaste spectacle dont l'ensemble est si grand, qu'il parait et qu'il est en effet inepuisable dans les details. Une seule partie de l'histoire naturelle, comme l'histoire des insectes, ou l'histoire des plantes, suffit pour occuper plusieurs hommes ; et les plus habiles observateurs n'ont donne, apres un travail de plusieurs annees, que des ebauches assez imparfaites des objets trop multiplies que presentent ces branches particulieres de l'histoire naturelle, auxquelles ils s'etaient uniquement attaches : cependant ils ont fait tout ce qu'ils pouvaient faire, et bien loin de s'en prendre aux observateurs du peu d'avancement de la science, on ne saurait trop louer leur assiduite au travail et leur patience, on ne peut meme leur refuser des qualites plus elevees ; car il y a une espece de force de genie et de courage d'esprit a pouvoir envisager, sans s'etonner, la nature, dans la multitude innombrable de ses productions, et a se croire capable de les comprendre et de les comparer ; il y a une espece de gout a les aimer, plus grand que le gout qui n'a pour but que des objets particuliers, et on peut dire que l'amour de l'etude de la nature suppose dans l'esprit deux qualites qui paraissent opposees, les grandes vues d'un genie ardent qui embrasse tout d'un coup d'oeil, et les petites attentions d'un instinct laborieux qui ne s'attache qu'a un seul point.

Sample

St. Augustine

This work was written by St. Augustine late in his life with the intention of supplying a well-educated Roman layman with a brief but comprehensive exposition of the essential teachings of Christianity. It contains many of his most profound and mature definitions of his thoughts on sin, grace and predestination, and is regarded as an indispensable guide to Augustinian Christianity.

Sample

Robert B. Pippin

"In Henry James and Modern Moral Life, Professor Robert Pippin argues that James's fiction reveals a sophisticated theory of moral understanding and moral motivation. Pippin claims that James is engaged in a distinctive kind of original thinking and reflecting on modern moral life in his novels and short stories.". "Pippin further contends that James, in his sensitivity to the precarious and confusing situation of moral understanding in modern societies, both avoids skepticism and powerfully presents the nature of moral claims and dependence.". "Professor Pippin offers new interpretations of Portrait of a Lady, The Wings of the Dove, The Ambassadors, The Golden Bowl, and several of James's short stories, including The Beast in the Jungle and The Turn of the Screw, to support his case for James's moral philosophy."--BOOK JACKET.