DE TRIBUS PRINCIPIIS, oder Beschreibung der Drey Principien Göttliches Wesens: Of the Three Principles of Divine Being, 1619, by Jacob Boehme(26 Aries Book)

Jacob Boehme’s Of the Three Principles of Divine Being, 1619, is vital for understanding his work as a whole, its relationship to its epoch, and its role in intellectual history. Reproduced here using the methods of critical edition, the original of the work and its adjacent translation, together with an extensive introduction and commentary, provide unprecedented access to this essential work of early modern thought and cast a fresh light on the revolutionary theological, philosophical, and scientific developments coinciding with the start of the Thirty Years’ War. The 1730 edition is annotated with reference to the manuscript sources to clarify ambiguities so that the translation can interpret the text without refracting its meaning. This makes it possible to interpret Boehme’s complex theories of the origin of the divine being and of nature, the human creature, and the female aspect of divinity.

About the Author :
Andrew Weeks, Ph.D. (1979), University of Illinois, is Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Illinois State University and has published monographs on Paracelsus, Weigel, and Boehme, as well as translations of their writings. Most recently he co-edited with James van der Laan The Faustian Century: German Literature and Culture in the Age of Luther and Faustus. Leigh T.I. Penman, Ph.D. (2009), University of Melbourne, is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland. He is the author of forthcoming monographs on chiliastic heresy and the cosmopolitan concept in early modern Europe, and a co-editor, with Bo Andersson, Lucinda Martin and Andrew Weeks, of Jacob Böhme and his World (2019).

Review :
"With this critical edition based on the manuscript sources and a careful English translation, detailed introduction, and comprehensive commentary, Weeks and Penman provide an indispensable tool for the study of Boehme’s complex theories on the origins of the divine essence and nature, humanity, and the feminine aspect of divinity. This impressive edition makes an important contribution to the history of German philosophy, religion, and science, and sheds new light on the theological, philosophical, and scientific developments of the early modern era." - N.M. Bauer, University of Innsbruck, in: Religious Studies Review Volume 47, Number 3 (September 2021)