This book is a response to a statement made by Josiah Royce, who the author, Francis Ellingwood Abbot, feels have "...unjustifiably attacked upon my own reputation." Both individuals might have been bitter rivals, for they have opposing philosophical views, in that Abbot is a theologian who sought to reconstruct theology in accord with scientific method, while Royce's position espouses a view of a more personal construction of divinity.