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This rich and welcome book is an English translation, by the late Gerald Parks, of a revised version of Maria Rosa Antognazza's Trinità e Incarnazione: Il rapporto tra filosofia e teologia rivelata nel pensiero di Leibniz (Vita e Pensiero: Milan, 1999). It is a historical-philosophical account of Leibniz's writings on the Trinity and incarnation doctrines, including his mostly unpublished comments on the controversial writings of others. The approach is historical rather than topical, which introduces some repetition; those interested in pursuing specific arguments or topics in detail will find themselves flipping around a lot, and frequently diving into the copious endnotes. Those interested in the historical angle will appreciate these endnotes (occupying 112 of the book's 322 pages), the fruits of countless hours chasing down and translating obscure manuscripts. And those who only (or primarily) read English will appreciate her broad scholarship, which draws on recent German, French, and Italian secondary literature. The book sports a solid index, and is clearly written and organized. The main audience will be those interested in historical philosophical theology, particularly readers of Leibniz's 'Preliminary discourse on the conformity of faith with reason' which begins his Theodicy. Readers of Dixon's (2003) book, Nice and Hot Disputes will be interested as well, as she also expounds Leibniz's thoughts on the fascinating Trinitarian controversy among Anglicans in the 1690s.
Antognazza reveals a Leibniz who is a confident, but careful and tolerant apologist for traditional Christianity. Not unlike present-day Christian analytic philosopher-apologists, Leibniz never tires of claiming that these doctrines haven't been proven contradictory, taking this to be the main point of unorthodox interlocutors - that they are demonstrably contradictory.
In the face of sophisticated objections, he's quick with the logical judo, in a way which is not always convincing. As an example, Leibniz considers this argument by Polish Socinian Andrew Wissowatius (a.k.a. Andrew Wiszowaty) (1608-1678): 'The one most high GOD is that Father from whom all things come. The son of GOD JESUS CHRIST is not that Father from whom all things come. Therefore the Son of GOD JESUS CHRIST is not the one most high God' (22). A natural way (at least, to most present-day philosophers) to analyse this argument is as follows:
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