Abstract

This book is part of the series The Herder History of Dogma edited by Michael Schmaus and Aloys Grillmeier. This context helps to define the nature and limits of the work: it is not a philosophical but a theological work, and it is not so much concerned with creation and providence as with what various theologians have said about them. In a study that ranges from Genesis to Scheeben there can be no question of a full exploration of any particular writer or period, but the author has mastered most of the secondary source material, and the result is a comprehensive and balanced work of historical scholarship.