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Acknowledgements This book had its material origin in my doctoral dissertation, completed at Southern Methodist University under the direction of Bruce Marshall. At the same time, its origin extends further than the dissertation, as I had been thinking about Christ the light since my undergraduate days, in one form or another. When I was a master’s student, William Abraham shared with me an article connecting the theology of light in Gregory Palamas with that of Jonathan Edwards; it was in this article that I first began to realize that light had an important history in Christian doctrine, a history that needed to be investigated and recovered for contemporary theology, which was the project I outlined as I applied for doctoral programs. In the SMU doctoral program, Robin Lovin was kind enough to spend a great deal of time helping me read some of the important philosophical and source material regarding light, but it was a providential encounter with Bruce Marshall one summer that inspired me to take his seminar on Aquinas, where I began to explore the theme of light in Aquinas and came to realize that I was in largely unexplored territory. I am grateful to all three of these scholars and teachers for patiently guiding me through this journey and for their willingness to let me pursue the project by following my own vision, so that I could develop my own scholarly voice. I am also grateful to Mark Johnson, of Marquette, whose feedback after my dissertation defense helped me frame this work in a way that I hope is helpful. If there are any errors in this book, they are my responsibility and are not a reflection of the quality of the teaching or learning provided by these scholars. I am also grateful for the institutional support that made this book possible. Much of the research for this book was conducted at Bridwell Library at SMU, where the excellent staff made every effort to make sure that I had all of the resources necessary to complete my research. Upon arrival at my first academic position at Our Lady of the Lake College in Baton Rouge, the library staff there has also been fully supportive of my research and has tracked down numerous obscure articles and books for me. Our Lady of the Lake also generously provided a course reduction, which greatly aided my efforts to complete this project. I also benefited greatly from a grant from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Religion and Theology, which provided support that allowed me to spend a large part of a summer focused only on this book. xi Likewise, I am grateful to the many people at Fortress Press who have worked to make this book possible. But the greatest debt of gratitude I owe is to my wife, Alicia, who provided the light, love, and friendship that made this work possible. There are not enough words to describe what her love and support means to me, so I will not try, but rather leave the whole work as a testament to her and to what Christ has done through her in my life. This book is dedicated to her and to all others who follow in the light of Christ. xii | Christ the Light ...

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