Wisdom in Christian Tradition

Following a survey of the biblical and classical background <em>Wisdom in Christian Tradition</em> offers a detailed exploration of the theme of wisdom in patristic Byzantine and medieval theology up to and including Gregory Palamas and Thomas Aquinas in Greek East and Latin West respectively. Three principal levels of Christian wisdom discourse are distinguished: wisdom as human attainment wisdom as divine gift and wisdom as an attribute or quality of God. This journey through <em>Wisdom in Christian Tradition</em> is undertaken in conversation with modern Russian Sophiology one of the most popular and widely discussed theological movements of our time. Sophiology is characterized by the idea of a primal pre-principle of divineâhuman unity (âSophiaâ) manifest in both uncreated and created forms and constituting the very foundation of all that <em>is</em>. Sophiology is a complex phenomenon with multiple sources and inspirations very much including the Church Fathers. Indeed fidelity to patristic tradition was to become an ever-increasing feature of its self-understanding and self-articulation above all in the work of its greatest exponent Fr Sergius Bulgakov (1871â1944). This âunmodern turnâ (as it is here christened) to patristic sources has however long been fiercely contested. This book is the first to evaluate thoroughly the nature and substance of Sophiologyâs claim to patristic continuity. The final chapter offers a radical re-thinking of Sophiology in line with patristic tradition. This constructive proposal maintains Sophiologyâs most distinctive insights and most pertinent applications while divesting it of some its more problematic elements.