Books by Claude Welch

This comprehensive study analyzes the theological concerns of the major Protestant thinkers in Europe and the United States during the early part of the nineteenth century. The discussion ranges from such influential literary religious thinkers as Carlyle and Emerson to theological critics such as Feuerbach and Kierkegaard.

In the analysis of contemporary patterns of thought, which comprises Parts II and III of this book, I have had always in mind four main problems. First, the distinguishing of the principal types of attitudes toward the doctrine of the Trinity. Second, the theological ''interest'' or ''motivation'' of these attitudes. . . . Third, the relation of the various restatements to ''classical'' Christian views. . . . Fourth, the value and viability of the recent interpretations in terms of their relevance and meaning for contemprary religious problems and thought. My own constructive suggestions regarding the basis and significance of the trinitarian conception, and the systematic reformulation of the doctrine, are drawn together in Part IV. --from the PrefaceClaude Welch is Dean Emeritus and Professor of Historical Theology at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. He is also the author of In ''Protestant Thought in the Nineteenth Century'' (2 vols.) and ''The Reality of the Church.''

Unqualified divine simplicity not only contradicts the central christological and trinitarian distinctions but it also renders implausible any positive relation between God and world, God and time.