The Logos

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." According to Greco-Roman philosophers, the Logos ("word") was the governing principle of the universe and the rational force that shaped creation. In the Hebrew scriptures the Logos is personified wisdom descending from God. Early Christian theologians followed in the footsteps of the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria (20 BC-50 AD), who described the Logos as the divine intention operating at the heart of creation. Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and Athanasius appropriated this notion of the Logos to shed light on Jesus Christ, the "Word" written about by John the apostle in the fourth gospel. In John's gospel the Logos is more than a rational principle or a divine intermediary—it is God's preexisting Word who formed creation and became flesh in Jesus Christ (John 1:1-14).

Sources: McBrien, Richard P. ed. The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1995. P 792.