Acknowledgements
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
No intellectual project comes to its fruition without the help of others. First and foremost, I am truly indebted to my doctoral supervisor, Rowan Williams, for seeing the potential of the project in the first place. As a supervisor and theological mentor, Rowan taught me how to pursue scholarship that combines philosophical rigor, historical sensitivity, and theological humility. His enduring support and encouragement kept me going in times of darkness. Gregory’s description of his experience studying with Origen captures well my years in Cambridge learning the craft and discipline of theology under Rowan with fellow supervisees: Οὗτος παράδεισος ἀληθῶς τρυφῆς, αὕτη ἀληθὴς εὐφροσύνη καὶ τρυφή, ἥν ἐτρυφήσαμεν (Paner. 16. 184).
A special note of thanks must go to Christian Hengstermann and Isidoros Katsos, who organized the intensive Origen reading seminars in the Divinity Faculty at Cambridge during the 2016–17 academic year. These seminars provided the perfect laboratory for developing and experimenting with presenting the arguments in this book (always accompanied by earthly goods such as Coca-Cola, sweets, and pizzas). Christian and Isidoros: This book would not be possible without your friendship. My attention to Platonism (chapters 1 and 2) and the “metaphysical-ethical synthesis” (chapter 5) bear the marks of your intellect.
A great number of people have contributed to my research. Samuel Fernández introduced me to Antonio Orbe and Manlio Simonetti, whose works on the polemical context of Origen’s Trinitarian theology inspired me to build the argument that now forms chapters 6 and 7. I must also thank Stephen Waers, whose expertise on Monarchianism has been a constant help. Stephen read through drafts of chapters 6 and 7 carefully, offering detailed comments and suggestions that saved me from many errors. In my first-year examination, Janet Soskice and Sarah Coakley pushed me to clarify the philosophical meaning of simplicity, a concern that inspired the early chapters. In the viva, Ian McFarland helped me pluck up the courage to confront the problems in the structure of the original dissertation. Lewis Ayres graciously offered support and advice at every stage of research despite not having any formal obligation to do so. I especially thank him for the suggestion that I include a chapter on Middle Platonism, which has improved the overall structure of the book. Conversations with Michel Réne Barnes, Andrew Radde-Gallwitz, and John Behr at the Colloquium on Divine Simplicity in 2015 at Wheaton College led to my decision to focus on ante-Nicene developments in the book. I thank George Kalantzis for kindly giving me the opportunity to attend the colloquium and Ryan and Jenni Clevenger for their hospitality during my stay.
This book would not have seen the light of day without the generous support of various institutions. A substantial portion of the manuscript was revised during 2018–19, while I was departmental lecturer in patristics at Oxford. I owe Carol Harrison, Graham Ward, and Brian Young for the opportunity to work on the initial revision of the manuscript in such an intellectually stimulating environment. A special note of thanks goes to Mark Edwards, who took time to answer my questions, comment on various drafts, and share his encyclopedic knowledge of patristic scholarship. His concern with holding doctrinal analysis together with rigorous historical scholarship modeled the way I seek to do historical theology in this project (see the introduction). Ilaria Ramelli offered invaluable comments during her stay at Christ Church when I was revising the Origen chapters. The final revisions were carried out during the 2019–20 academic year, when I started my current position at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion. I am indebted to Robert White, Denis Alexander, Keith Fox, and Hugh Rollinson for offering me a stable environment back in Cambridge to complete the revisions.
As with any projects of this scale, this book would be impossible without the generous engagement and guidance of many people over the years. Johannes Hoff far-sightedly set me down the path toward patristics when I was immersed in modern Trinitarian theology. Ruth Görnandt explained the complexity of the critique of metaphysics in German Protestant theology. Hugh Burling, Jonathan Carter, Ryan Mullins, and David Torrance helped me appreciate contemporary philosophers’ worries about divine simplicity. On patristics, over the years I have learned a great deal from Hans Boersma, Alfons Fürst, Thomas Graumann, Theo Kobusch, Giulio Maspero, Xavier Morales, Joseph O’Leary, Marcin Podbielski, Richard Price, Giovanni Hermanin de Reichenfeld, Luke Steven, Jonathan Teubner, and Anna Zhykova. In Oxford I have valued interactions with the patristics graduate community, especially Nicole Chen, Joseph Hamilton, Harry Lines, Michael Murray, Jenny Rallens, John Whitty, and Andrew Wong. In Cambridge I have enjoyed stimulating conversations with Alex Abecina, Barnabas and Silvianne Aspray, Johannes Börjesson, Ragnar Misje-Bergem, Rozelle Bosch, Yin-An Chen, Daniel de Haan, Victor Emma-Adamah, Andrew Fellows, Sam Fornecker, Yong-Hua Ge, Ryan Haecker, Emily Kempson, Simone Kotva, Vika Lebzyak, Nathan Lyons, Philip McCosker, Philip Moller, Julian Perlmutter, Daniel Soars, Jon Thompson, Daniel Tolan, and Mohammad Saleh Zarepour. Philip Pattenden and Neil Wright were miracle workers who taught me Greek and Latin, respectively. To all of you, I am grateful for your kindness and generosity.
I am indebted to Stephen Little at the University of Notre Dame Press, who first approached me about this project. Stephen’s enthusiasm, encouragement, and professional support have made the process of publication a truly enjoyable one. I thank Eli Bortz for bringing this project to completion after Stephen moved to a different role. Barnabas Aspray, Jordan Barrett, Christian Hengstermann, Jonathan Platter, Jonatan Simons, Mark S. Smith, and Stephen Waers commented on various drafts. Vito Limone and Sotiris Mitralexis generously reviewed Greek-related matters in the manuscript. Of course, all mistakes remain my sole responsibility.
Without love, every effort becomes futile, as St. Paul reminds us. It is difficult to know where to begin when it comes to my parents, Wallace Pun Ming Ip and Yvonne Yee Chu Yeung. Without their courageous decision to relocate the family from Hong Kong to England, I would never have written this book. I am grateful for the sacrifices they made over the years. My sister Winnie Wing Yin Ip has been a long-suffering and willing listener. Over the years, she has had to put up with my (not infrequent) incomprehensible attempts to explain academic theology to her. To my family: Thank you for your selfless love, which has sustained and nourished me over the years.
Above all, thank you, Natasha, my wife and friend. You have made all this possible. This book is literally and figuratively the fruit of the sacrifices you gifted me in the past ten years. We have learned to suffer together, laugh together, grow together, pray together, and persevere together. Your unwavering simplicity in your devotion to love has inspired and enabled my contemplation of the simplicity of God. This book is a testament to the power of the truth you held onto throughout these years: ἡ ἀγάπη οὐδέποτε πίπτει (1 Cor. 13:8). It is to you I dedicate this book.
Pui Him Ip
Cambridge, September 2021