Name George Stead | ||
Died May 28, 2008, Ely, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom Books Divine substance, Philosophy in Christian antiquity, Doctrine and Philosop, The Birth of the Steam Locomoti | ||
Rev. George Christopher Stead (April 9, 1913 – May 28, 2008) was the last Ely Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. He is best known for his work on the philosophy of the Church Fathers, his 1977 book Divine Substance being widely cited among Patristic scholars. He studied under G.E. Moore and Ludwig Wittgenstein while an undergraduate at Cambridge. He was a Priest and Canon of the Diocese of Ely in the Church of England, having also served briefly as Curate of St. John's, Newcastle upon Tyne in 1939.
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Stead was particularly interested in the application of the Aristotelian concept of substance (ousia) to Christian theology and in the use of the term 'homoousios' initially in a context deemed heretical (Paul of Samosata) by the Council of Antioch, subsequently more authoritatively by the Council of Nicaea (325 A. D.) but in turn giving rise to over half a century of heated discussion. Stead's interest (taking in on route Marius Victorinus and Gregory of Nyssa) extended to Augustine and John Philoponus' use of the concept.