The Worldview of Personalism

Jan Olof Bengtsson teaches the history of ideas at Lund University.

Once in a great while a book comes along that is so crucial to an area of study as to be assured of setting the tone in that domain of scholarship for many decades to come... The fuller story of personalism's history was delayed largely because the research required to unearth it would have to be done in Europe and England and by a person fully fluent in at least English, German, and French. What was needed was a first-rate historian of ideas, and one willing to invest a decade in the project. Fortunately for us, such a scholar eventually appeared. Jan Olof Bengtsson has completed the book many other scholars awaited and sincerely hoped someone else would write. The result has been gratifying. The book... will become the handbook of those who study personalism and the reference book for those whose areas touch upon it... The book is economical in its language but grand in its sweep.

• Introduction ; 1. The current view of personalism and its origins ; 2. Personal 'reason' and impersonal 'understanding' ; 3. The personal absolute ; 4. Personal unity-in-diversity ; 5. Early personalism and its meaning