“Person” in Christian Tradition and the Conception of Saint Albert the Great: A Systematic Study of Its Concept as Illuminated by the Mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation by Stephen A. Hipp (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 161 Subject (1998, edited by Brian Davies, O.P.), which covers much the same ground as the present volume. These are just minor quibbles. The Thomist Tradition is by far the most authoritative, engaging, and up-to-date book in its genre. It merits a broad readership within the Catholic academic community and beyond. GREGORY M. REICHBERG International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIG) Oslo, Norway "Person" in Christian Tradition and the Conception ofSaint Albert the Great: A Systematic Study of Its Concept as Illuminated by the Mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation. By STEPHENA HIPP. Beitrage zur Geschichte der Philosophie und Theologie des Mittelalters n.f. 57. Miinster: Aschendorff, 2001. Pp. 565. ISBN 3-402-04008-5 (paper). At the end of one of his opuscula sacra discussing the nature of the Trinity, Boethius asks his friend to whom the work is dedicated, the deacon John, whether his arguments are consistent with Church teaching. A simple enough question and yet a revealing way in which to close one ofthe seminal documents on the topic in the Latin tradition. Indeed, Boethius is so concerned with the difficulties of providing a rational articulation of the doctrine that he asks John to suggest an alternative account should he have any hesitations. As Boethius's treatise is an investigation of the concept of persona, his caution concerning his attempt at philosophical understanding in light of the conciliar formulations is all the more understandable. The definition of person has been, and remains, controversial. Yet it cannot be avoided, for the problem of personhood is, for obvious reasons, among the defining issues of Christian philosophy. Thus there can be no doubt about the importance of articulating the distinction between natura and persona, which is the task taken up by Stephen Hipp's historical study on Trinitarian doctrine. While the historical scope ofthis work is rather broad, its delineation is fairly exact: it is focused on the Christian philosophy of person from the beginnings to the thirteenth century and treats Albert the Great as a seminal figure in the tradition. The book begins with a sweeping overview of the concept of person developed in connection with the Christological councils and in patristic literature. The second section is devoted to Albert's response to this tradition as well as his own attempts to articulate the differentia defining personhood. The final section provides an overview of the study and its implications as well as brief accounts of the views of Aquinas, Scotus, Suarez, and others. While the historical background for Albert's work includes both Greek and 162 BOOK REVIEWS Latin contributions, a significant portion of Hipp's treatment is dedicated to Boethius's attempts to define and distinguish natura and persona. Analyzing the concepts of nature and person as developed in the Contra Eutychen, Hipp shows how Boethius provides the metaphysical infrastructure for his famous definition of person as "naturae rationabilis individua substantia." Hipp also looks at the relation of subsistence to substance in the Cappadocian Fathers and their association of prosopon with particular subsistence. This allows a cogent comparison with Boethius's parallel treatment in the De Trinitate and De hebdomadibus as a foundation for the theological principle "substantia continet unitatem, relatio multiplicat trinitatem." Boethius's primary contribution to Christian philosophy of personhood is thus located in his formulation of the substantial yet relational character of personality. Moreover, Hipp shows this to be both a development of Greek thought and a source for the Latin tradition that influenced later treatments. Among the later treatments are those of theologians associated with the twelfth-century School of St. Victor. Especially significant is the critique of Richard of St. Victor who insisted that the Boethian focus on rational nature is insufficient to mark the distinctive reality ofpersons as persons. Returning to the Cappadocian emphasis on incommunicability, Richard attempted to draw attention away from the quality of rationality as common to all persons and redirect it to the absolute uniqueness of each person as a singularity. This uniqueness, which can only be designated by a proper name, provides a mode of definition that goes beyond the limits of essentialism. Person remains a kind of substance, but cannot be...