Paul Helm
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199590391
- eISBN:
- 9780191595516
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199590391.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics/Epistemology
The book is a new edition of Eternal God first published in 1988, and contains four new chapters. It offers a defence of divine timeless eternity. After sketching the nature of such eternity in the ...
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The book is a new edition of Eternal God first published in 1988, and contains four new chapters. It offers a defence of divine timeless eternity. After sketching the nature of such eternity in the first two chapters, a number of philosophical objections are considered, such as the argument from personality and from the incompatibility of divine eternity and indexical knowledge. A number of standard objections are discussed, and the account is further developed in the light of these. Among them are the nature of an eternal God's foreknowledge of what happens in time, and its relation to human choice, and how and in what manner such divine foreknowledge differs from fatalism. This leads to a consideration of foreknowledge and human responsibility, the sense in which timeless divine choice is free, and how it is possible to refer to an eternal God. The first of the final four new chapters explores the view of W. L. Craig that God is timeless sans creation but temporal thereafter. This leads to a consideration of timelessness and causation, in connection with creation, and then the importance of the distinction between a timeless God's perspective on his creation and those of agents in time. Assuming that God is triune, the final chapter discusses the relation between the three persons of the divine, first if God is considered to be in time, and then if he is eternal.Less
The book is a new edition of Eternal God first published in 1988, and contains four new chapters. It offers a defence of divine timeless eternity. After sketching the nature of such eternity in the first two chapters, a number of philosophical objections are considered, such as the argument from personality and from the incompatibility of divine eternity and indexical knowledge. A number of standard objections are discussed, and the account is further developed in the light of these. Among them are the nature of an eternal God's foreknowledge of what happens in time, and its relation to human choice, and how and in what manner such divine foreknowledge differs from fatalism. This leads to a consideration of foreknowledge and human responsibility, the sense in which timeless divine choice is free, and how it is possible to refer to an eternal God. The first of the final four new chapters explores the view of W. L. Craig that God is timeless sans creation but temporal thereafter. This leads to a consideration of timelessness and causation, in connection with creation, and then the importance of the distinction between a timeless God's perspective on his creation and those of agents in time. Assuming that God is triune, the final chapter discusses the relation between the three persons of the divine, first if God is considered to be in time, and then if he is eternal.
Matthew Levering
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199604524
- eISBN:
- 9780191729317
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199604524.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, History of Christianity
Why have Christian theologians returned again and again over the course of the centuries to the topic of predestination? This book argues that the reason for the recurrent interest in predestination ...
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Why have Christian theologians returned again and again over the course of the centuries to the topic of predestination? This book argues that the reason for the recurrent interest in predestination is that Scripture teaches the core elements of the doctrine of predestination. When Second Temple Jewish theologies took up the election of Israel, their affirmation of an eternal Creator God resulted in the doctrine of predestination. For the New Testament authors as well, God from eternity governs everything in his providence, electing some by grace and permitting others to rebel permanently. The claim that Scripture teaches predestination has been highly controverted in the Christian tradition. This book explores the views of sixteen key figures representing a wide spectrum of views: Origen, Augustine, Boethius, and John of Damascus (patristic period); John Scottus Eriugena, Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, and Catherine of Siena (medieval period); John Calvin, Luis de Molina, Francis de Sales, and G. W. Leibniz (Reformation/early modern period); and Sergius Bulgakov, Karl Barth, Jacques Maritain, and Hans Urs von Balthasar (20th century). The final chapter offers a constructive approach to the topic, rooted in Aquinas's theocentric metaphysics and doctrine of God's permission of sin, and in Catherine's and Francis's emphasis on God's superabundant love for all rational creatures.Less
Why have Christian theologians returned again and again over the course of the centuries to the topic of predestination? This book argues that the reason for the recurrent interest in predestination is that Scripture teaches the core elements of the doctrine of predestination. When Second Temple Jewish theologies took up the election of Israel, their affirmation of an eternal Creator God resulted in the doctrine of predestination. For the New Testament authors as well, God from eternity governs everything in his providence, electing some by grace and permitting others to rebel permanently. The claim that Scripture teaches predestination has been highly controverted in the Christian tradition. This book explores the views of sixteen key figures representing a wide spectrum of views: Origen, Augustine, Boethius, and John of Damascus (patristic period); John Scottus Eriugena, Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, and Catherine of Siena (medieval period); John Calvin, Luis de Molina, Francis de Sales, and G. W. Leibniz (Reformation/early modern period); and Sergius Bulgakov, Karl Barth, Jacques Maritain, and Hans Urs von Balthasar (20th century). The final chapter offers a constructive approach to the topic, rooted in Aquinas's theocentric metaphysics and doctrine of God's permission of sin, and in Catherine's and Francis's emphasis on God's superabundant love for all rational creatures.
Jacob Rosen and Marko Malink
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199644384
- eISBN:
- 9780191743344
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199644384.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
In Prior Analytics 1. 15, Aristotle states the following rule of modal logic, which we may call the possibility rule: given the premiss that A is possible, and given a derivation of B from A, it can ...
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In Prior Analytics 1. 15, Aristotle states the following rule of modal logic, which we may call the possibility rule: given the premiss that A is possible, and given a derivation of B from A, it can be inferred that B is possible. Aristotle is the first philosopher known to state this rule, and it stands among his most significant contributions to philosophical thought about modality. He applies the possibility rule in arguments that are central to his physical and metaphysical views, in works such as the Physics, De caelo, De generationeetcorruptione, and the Metaphysics. These arguments have proved difficult to understand, largely because the exact nature of the possibility rule and its role in each argument is often unclear. The chapter offers a comprehensive treatment of the arguments throughout Aristotle's works, resulting in a better understanding both of the possibility rule and of the individual arguments in which it appears.Less
In Prior Analytics 1. 15, Aristotle states the following rule of modal logic, which we may call the possibility rule: given the premiss that A is possible, and given a derivation of B from A, it can be inferred that B is possible. Aristotle is the first philosopher known to state this rule, and it stands among his most significant contributions to philosophical thought about modality. He applies the possibility rule in arguments that are central to his physical and metaphysical views, in works such as the Physics, De caelo, De generationeetcorruptione, and the Metaphysics. These arguments have proved difficult to understand, largely because the exact nature of the possibility rule and its role in each argument is often unclear. The chapter offers a comprehensive treatment of the arguments throughout Aristotle's works, resulting in a better understanding both of the possibility rule and of the individual arguments in which it appears.
Wallace Matson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199812691
- eISBN:
- 9780199919420
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199812691.003.0021
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Spinoza, more concerned than Hobbes with the ancient conception of the role of philosophy in delineating the Good Life, made Substance, God, and Nature into synonyms. God is eternal, free, and ...
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Spinoza, more concerned than Hobbes with the ancient conception of the role of philosophy in delineating the Good Life, made Substance, God, and Nature into synonyms. God is eternal, free, and all-powerful, but in no way personal, operating for no end, but from the necessity of its nature. Nothing is contingent. This entity, of whose infinite Attributes we know two, Thought and Extension, and whose Modes are the particular things (including us) of our experience, is all there is. Mind and Body are “the same thing, expressed in two ways.” A particular mind is composed of Ideas –beliefs, active entities, not the “dumb pictures on a tablet” of Descartes. Some ideas are adequate, others are inadequate, “confused and fragmentary.” The more we replace our inadequate ideas by adequate ones, the closer we attain to blessedness, and indeed share in the eternity of God.Less
Spinoza, more concerned than Hobbes with the ancient conception of the role of philosophy in delineating the Good Life, made Substance, God, and Nature into synonyms. God is eternal, free, and all-powerful, but in no way personal, operating for no end, but from the necessity of its nature. Nothing is contingent. This entity, of whose infinite Attributes we know two, Thought and Extension, and whose Modes are the particular things (including us) of our experience, is all there is. Mind and Body are “the same thing, expressed in two ways.” A particular mind is composed of Ideas –beliefs, active entities, not the “dumb pictures on a tablet” of Descartes. Some ideas are adequate, others are inadequate, “confused and fragmentary.” The more we replace our inadequate ideas by adequate ones, the closer we attain to blessedness, and indeed share in the eternity of God.
Rory Fox
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199285754
- eISBN:
- 9780191603563
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199285756.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This book examines 13th century views about time, particularly the views of Thomas Aquinas and his contemporaries in the middle of the century. As medieval thinkers considered time to be just another ...
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This book examines 13th century views about time, particularly the views of Thomas Aquinas and his contemporaries in the middle of the century. As medieval thinkers considered time to be just another duration alongside the durations of aeviternity (the aevum) and eternity, the scope of the study covers all three durations, culminating in an examination of God’s relationship to time. Chapter 1 opens the discussion by examining some of the key language and terminology which 13th century thinkers used. Chapters 2-5 examine the topological properties of time: the properties that determine its shape and structure. Chapter 6 investigates the metrical properties of time: the properties pertaining to time when it is considered as a measure. Chapter 7 looks at the criteria, factors, and language which 13th century thinkers typically took as entailing that a particular would be in time. Chapter 8 explores how 13th century thinkers discussed existence outside of time, particularly as it was applied to aeviternity and aeviternal beings. Chapter 9 examines the content of the medieval concept of eternity, and how these ideas are best rendered in contemporary language. Chapter 10 examines the specific question of how 13th century thinkers viewed God’s relationship to time.Less
This book examines 13th century views about time, particularly the views of Thomas Aquinas and his contemporaries in the middle of the century. As medieval thinkers considered time to be just another duration alongside the durations of aeviternity (the aevum) and eternity, the scope of the study covers all three durations, culminating in an examination of God’s relationship to time. Chapter 1 opens the discussion by examining some of the key language and terminology which 13th century thinkers used. Chapters 2-5 examine the topological properties of time: the properties that determine its shape and structure. Chapter 6 investigates the metrical properties of time: the properties pertaining to time when it is considered as a measure. Chapter 7 looks at the criteria, factors, and language which 13th century thinkers typically took as entailing that a particular would be in time. Chapter 8 explores how 13th century thinkers discussed existence outside of time, particularly as it was applied to aeviternity and aeviternal beings. Chapter 9 examines the content of the medieval concept of eternity, and how these ideas are best rendered in contemporary language. Chapter 10 examines the specific question of how 13th century thinkers viewed God’s relationship to time.
André Gallois
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199261833
- eISBN:
- 9780191698798
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199261833.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Occasions of Identity is an exploration of timeless philosophical issues about persistence, change, time, and sameness. The author offers a critical survey of various rival views about ...
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Occasions of Identity is an exploration of timeless philosophical issues about persistence, change, time, and sameness. The author offers a critical survey of various rival views about the nature of identity and change, and puts forward his own original theory in the face of the prevailing orthodoxy. He argues that it is coherent and helpful to suppose that things can be identical at one time, but distinct at another — in other words, that there are genuine occasional identities. The author then defends this view against objections, demonstrates how it can solve puzzles about persistence dating back to the ancient Greeks, and investigates the metaphysical consequences of rejecting the necessity and eternity of identities.Less
Occasions of Identity is an exploration of timeless philosophical issues about persistence, change, time, and sameness. The author offers a critical survey of various rival views about the nature of identity and change, and puts forward his own original theory in the face of the prevailing orthodoxy. He argues that it is coherent and helpful to suppose that things can be identical at one time, but distinct at another — in other words, that there are genuine occasional identities. The author then defends this view against objections, demonstrates how it can solve puzzles about persistence dating back to the ancient Greeks, and investigates the metaphysical consequences of rejecting the necessity and eternity of identities.
Rory Fox
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199285754
- eISBN:
- 9780191603563
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199285756.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter examines one of the most significant 13th century atemporal terms, aeternitas. The English word typically used to translate this term is ‘eternity’, and is used by contemporary ...
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This chapter examines one of the most significant 13th century atemporal terms, aeternitas. The English word typically used to translate this term is ‘eternity’, and is used by contemporary philosophers in both an everlasting (extensional) and timeless (non-extensional) sense. It is shown that medieval minds did not necessarily think of eternity in the durational way that contemporary philosophers do. They often preferred to construe eternity in terms of limitlessness and the different ways in which a particular could be limitless. As a result, there were at least ten different ways in which 13th century thinkers could use the word aeternitas (eternity). To distinguish between uses of aeternitas which were intended to convey notions of extensional or nonextensional existence, medieval thinkers distinguished between ‘less proper’ and ‘more proper’ uses of the word, reserving the more proper uses for non-extensional notions.Less
This chapter examines one of the most significant 13th century atemporal terms, aeternitas. The English word typically used to translate this term is ‘eternity’, and is used by contemporary philosophers in both an everlasting (extensional) and timeless (non-extensional) sense. It is shown that medieval minds did not necessarily think of eternity in the durational way that contemporary philosophers do. They often preferred to construe eternity in terms of limitlessness and the different ways in which a particular could be limitless. As a result, there were at least ten different ways in which 13th century thinkers could use the word aeternitas (eternity). To distinguish between uses of aeternitas which were intended to convey notions of extensional or nonextensional existence, medieval thinkers distinguished between ‘less proper’ and ‘more proper’ uses of the word, reserving the more proper uses for non-extensional notions.
Rory Fox
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199285754
- eISBN:
- 9780191603563
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199285756.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter examines the question of how 13th century thinkers viewed God’s relationship to time. It is argued that mid-13th century accounts of God’s relationship to time are trying to affirm ...
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This chapter examines the question of how 13th century thinkers viewed God’s relationship to time. It is argued that mid-13th century accounts of God’s relationship to time are trying to affirm something that does not fall within the ambit of the concepts and thought patterns used by contemporary philosophers. Taking as their point of departure a universe populated and organized very differently from contemporary philosophical models, it should not be surprising that their thought refuses to be categorized and confined by the parameters of contemporary distinctions, such as that between timelessness and everlastingness.Less
This chapter examines the question of how 13th century thinkers viewed God’s relationship to time. It is argued that mid-13th century accounts of God’s relationship to time are trying to affirm something that does not fall within the ambit of the concepts and thought patterns used by contemporary philosophers. Taking as their point of departure a universe populated and organized very differently from contemporary philosophical models, it should not be surprising that their thought refuses to be categorized and confined by the parameters of contemporary distinctions, such as that between timelessness and everlastingness.
Steven Kepnes
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195313819
- eISBN:
- 9780199785650
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195313819.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter attends to Rosenzweig's attempt to reestablish the relationship God–word–world, which was shattered in modernity. This provides the basis to rehabilitate a notion of miracle and the ...
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This chapter attends to Rosenzweig's attempt to reestablish the relationship God–word–world, which was shattered in modernity. This provides the basis to rehabilitate a notion of miracle and the signs of liturgy for contemporary Jews. For Rosenzweig, liturgy is a form of reasoning about time that provides answers to the age‐old aporias that Augustine exposed in his Confessions. The first part of the chapter ends with an analysis of the psalms that are chanted in the Hallel service as keys to the liturgical relation to eternity. The second part of this chapter focuses on Rosenzweig's liturgical reasoning with each of the central festivals of the yearly Jewish calendar. These festivals are presented as expressions of three theological terms (creation, revelation, redemption) and the temporal tenses (past, present, future). The chapter concludes with an attempt to revise Rosenzweig's theology of Christianity through the Jewish‐Christian‐Islamic movement of “Scriptural Reasoning.”Less
This chapter attends to Rosenzweig's attempt to reestablish the relationship God–word–world, which was shattered in modernity. This provides the basis to rehabilitate a notion of miracle and the signs of liturgy for contemporary Jews. For Rosenzweig, liturgy is a form of reasoning about time that provides answers to the age‐old aporias that Augustine exposed in his Confessions. The first part of the chapter ends with an analysis of the psalms that are chanted in the Hallel service as keys to the liturgical relation to eternity. The second part of this chapter focuses on Rosenzweig's liturgical reasoning with each of the central festivals of the yearly Jewish calendar. These festivals are presented as expressions of three theological terms (creation, revelation, redemption) and the temporal tenses (past, present, future). The chapter concludes with an attempt to revise Rosenzweig's theology of Christianity through the Jewish‐Christian‐Islamic movement of “Scriptural Reasoning.”
Gerald SJ O'Collins
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203130
- eISBN:
- 9780191707742
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203130.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
The self‐giving love of God deployed in the redemptive events creatively brings about a new and lasting mode of existence. The powerful and ‘performative’ language of Jesus transformed people. Then ...
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The self‐giving love of God deployed in the redemptive events creatively brings about a new and lasting mode of existence. The powerful and ‘performative’ language of Jesus transformed people. Then love exposed him to suffering and death, which brought the joyful union of risen life that will last forever. This chapter illuminates the nature of redemption by analysing love.Less
The self‐giving love of God deployed in the redemptive events creatively brings about a new and lasting mode of existence. The powerful and ‘performative’ language of Jesus transformed people. Then love exposed him to suffering and death, which brought the joyful union of risen life that will last forever. This chapter illuminates the nature of redemption by analysing love.
Francesca Aran Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199219285
- eISBN:
- 9780191711664
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199219285.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter argues that the grammatical Thomism of Herbert McCabe and the story Barthianism of Hans Frei are as modalist or Sabellian as the full-blown story Thomism of Robert Jenson. On the one ...
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This chapter argues that the grammatical Thomism of Herbert McCabe and the story Barthianism of Hans Frei are as modalist or Sabellian as the full-blown story Thomism of Robert Jenson. On the one hand, if one applies the descriptive or narrative method to the Trinity and its works in salvation history, one ‘person’ will appear after another, as in modalism. On the other hand, this will not even achieve its stated aim of doing justice to the temporality of salvation history, since all three persons will be actualizations of a single, static, and immobile story. Although the narrative theological dissolution of the persons of the Trinity into a series of relationships may not be wholly grounded in texts of either Barth or Aquinas, the classical Augustinian method nonetheless undermines the historical force of the Biblical salvation history, with its descriptions of the persons of the Trinity, and therefore is not a stable basis from which to avoid modalism. This chapter proposes that the modern challenge can be met to show how the economic Trinity really exhibits the immanent, eternal Trinity by considering the historical missions of Son and Spirit, not just as the reflection or illustration of, but as the ‘expression’ of the divine Love. This approach to Trinitarian theology strengthens rather than diminishes the force of its reference to three persons, by keeping the Biblical descriptions in sight.Less
This chapter argues that the grammatical Thomism of Herbert McCabe and the story Barthianism of Hans Frei are as modalist or Sabellian as the full-blown story Thomism of Robert Jenson. On the one hand, if one applies the descriptive or narrative method to the Trinity and its works in salvation history, one ‘person’ will appear after another, as in modalism. On the other hand, this will not even achieve its stated aim of doing justice to the temporality of salvation history, since all three persons will be actualizations of a single, static, and immobile story. Although the narrative theological dissolution of the persons of the Trinity into a series of relationships may not be wholly grounded in texts of either Barth or Aquinas, the classical Augustinian method nonetheless undermines the historical force of the Biblical salvation history, with its descriptions of the persons of the Trinity, and therefore is not a stable basis from which to avoid modalism. This chapter proposes that the modern challenge can be met to show how the economic Trinity really exhibits the immanent, eternal Trinity by considering the historical missions of Son and Spirit, not just as the reflection or illustration of, but as the ‘expression’ of the divine Love. This approach to Trinitarian theology strengthens rather than diminishes the force of its reference to three persons, by keeping the Biblical descriptions in sight.
Peter Adamson
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195181425
- eISBN:
- 9780199785087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195181425.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter surveys the Greek background in Plato’s Timaeus, Aristotle’s Physics and De Caelo, and the dispute between late Greek thinkers, especially Proclus and Philoponus. Against this ...
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This chapter surveys the Greek background in Plato’s Timaeus, Aristotle’s Physics and De Caelo, and the dispute between late Greek thinkers, especially Proclus and Philoponus. Against this background, al-Kindī’s arguments that only God can be eternal and that creation must be finite in time as well as space are explored. It is suggested that al-Kindī’s interest in this topic can be explained in terms of the contemporary ’Abbāsid dogma that the Koran is not eternal, but created.Less
This chapter surveys the Greek background in Plato’s Timaeus, Aristotle’s Physics and De Caelo, and the dispute between late Greek thinkers, especially Proclus and Philoponus. Against this background, al-Kindī’s arguments that only God can be eternal and that creation must be finite in time as well as space are explored. It is suggested that al-Kindī’s interest in this topic can be explained in terms of the contemporary ’Abbāsid dogma that the Koran is not eternal, but created.
T.L.S. Sprigge
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199283040
- eISBN:
- 9780191603662
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199283044.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter begins with a description of the life of Josiah Royce. It then discusses the following themes from Royce: proof of the existence of God, ethical theory, and the problem of evil in The ...
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This chapter begins with a description of the life of Josiah Royce. It then discusses the following themes from Royce: proof of the existence of God, ethical theory, and the problem of evil in The Religious Aspect of Philosophy; the panpsychism of The Spirit of Modern Philosophy; the four conceptions of being in The World and the Individual; time and eternity and the worlds of description and acquaintance mainly in The Spirit of Modern Philosophy; and the notion of the beloved community in The Philosophy of Loyalty and The Problem of Christianity. Some comments on Royce as a religious thinker and man are presented.Less
This chapter begins with a description of the life of Josiah Royce. It then discusses the following themes from Royce: proof of the existence of God, ethical theory, and the problem of evil in The Religious Aspect of Philosophy; the panpsychism of The Spirit of Modern Philosophy; the four conceptions of being in The World and the Individual; time and eternity and the worlds of description and acquaintance mainly in The Spirit of Modern Philosophy; and the notion of the beloved community in The Philosophy of Loyalty and The Problem of Christianity. Some comments on Royce as a religious thinker and man are presented.
Stephen Hampton
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199533367
- eISBN:
- 9780191714764
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199533367.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Church History
This chapter complements chapter six by setting out the doctrine of God which was advanced by the Anglican Reformed. Tracing the most detailed Reformed presentation of the issues, the Cambridge ...
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This chapter complements chapter six by setting out the doctrine of God which was advanced by the Anglican Reformed. Tracing the most detailed Reformed presentation of the issues, the Cambridge lectures of Pearson, it shows how the Reformed were committed to a remarkably Thomist conception of the divine nature and the divine attributes. Advancing a strong conception of divine simplicity, they held, as many of their contemporaries did not, to the idea of eternity as timeless, and denied the existence of middle knowledge or a conditional will within the Godhead. The chapter underlines that the Anglican Reformed explicitly acknowledged their indebtedness to Roman Catholic Thomist thinking, and in fact preferred to cite those Roman Catholic authorities rather than contemporary continental Reformed sources.Less
This chapter complements chapter six by setting out the doctrine of God which was advanced by the Anglican Reformed. Tracing the most detailed Reformed presentation of the issues, the Cambridge lectures of Pearson, it shows how the Reformed were committed to a remarkably Thomist conception of the divine nature and the divine attributes. Advancing a strong conception of divine simplicity, they held, as many of their contemporaries did not, to the idea of eternity as timeless, and denied the existence of middle knowledge or a conditional will within the Godhead. The chapter underlines that the Anglican Reformed explicitly acknowledged their indebtedness to Roman Catholic Thomist thinking, and in fact preferred to cite those Roman Catholic authorities rather than contemporary continental Reformed sources.
Jon McGinnis
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195331479
- eISBN:
- 9780199868032
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331479.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
After a quick survey of the positions prior to Avicenna concerning the age of the universe, the chapter focuses on Avicenna’s unique arguments for the eternity of the world. To this end, it presents ...
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After a quick survey of the positions prior to Avicenna concerning the age of the universe, the chapter focuses on Avicenna’s unique arguments for the eternity of the world. To this end, it presents his conception of possibility as well as considering how Avicenna envisions the most basic modes of possible existence, namely, substances and accidents, with a particular emphasis on forms and matter. There is then a general discussion of Avicenna’s notion of metaphysical causality. Upon completing the investigation of possible existence, one will be in a position to appreciate Avicenna’s new modal arguments for the world’s eternity and his response to earlier criticisms against that thesis. The chapter, then, concludes with a section on the Necessary Existent’s relation to possible existence as exemplified in Avicenna’s unique twist on the Neoplatonic theory of emanation.Less
After a quick survey of the positions prior to Avicenna concerning the age of the universe, the chapter focuses on Avicenna’s unique arguments for the eternity of the world. To this end, it presents his conception of possibility as well as considering how Avicenna envisions the most basic modes of possible existence, namely, substances and accidents, with a particular emphasis on forms and matter. There is then a general discussion of Avicenna’s notion of metaphysical causality. Upon completing the investigation of possible existence, one will be in a position to appreciate Avicenna’s new modal arguments for the world’s eternity and his response to earlier criticisms against that thesis. The chapter, then, concludes with a section on the Necessary Existent’s relation to possible existence as exemplified in Avicenna’s unique twist on the Neoplatonic theory of emanation.
Jonathan Usher
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264133
- eISBN:
- 9780191734649
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264133.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter examines the concept of the solitary Petrarch and suggests that Petrarch's theory of secular fame and the various stages of death, fame, time, and eternity are already present in nuce in ...
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This chapter examines the concept of the solitary Petrarch and suggests that Petrarch's theory of secular fame and the various stages of death, fame, time, and eternity are already present in nuce in the early Latin elegy on his mother's death. It highlights the influence of Dante's Inferno in Petrarch's development of an iterative mortality/vitality related to memory early in his career and on his Metrica on the death of his mother.Less
This chapter examines the concept of the solitary Petrarch and suggests that Petrarch's theory of secular fame and the various stages of death, fame, time, and eternity are already present in nuce in the early Latin elegy on his mother's death. It highlights the influence of Dante's Inferno in Petrarch's development of an iterative mortality/vitality related to memory early in his career and on his Metrica on the death of his mother.
Katherin A. Rogers
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231676
- eISBN:
- 9780191716089
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231676.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, General
The most popular contemporary approach for reconciling libertarian freedom with divine foreknowledge is Molinism, but the view is fraught with problems and conflicts with classical theism. The other ...
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The most popular contemporary approach for reconciling libertarian freedom with divine foreknowledge is Molinism, but the view is fraught with problems and conflicts with classical theism. The other popular move is Open Theism, a simple rejection of divine foreknowledge. Neither position could be accepted by Anselm. Augustine and Boethius are both compatibilists, yet both lay important groundwork for Anselm's solution to the dilemma, especially through their meditations on time and eternity.Less
The most popular contemporary approach for reconciling libertarian freedom with divine foreknowledge is Molinism, but the view is fraught with problems and conflicts with classical theism. The other popular move is Open Theism, a simple rejection of divine foreknowledge. Neither position could be accepted by Anselm. Augustine and Boethius are both compatibilists, yet both lay important groundwork for Anselm's solution to the dilemma, especially through their meditations on time and eternity.
Katherin A. Rogers
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231676
- eISBN:
- 9780191716089
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231676.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, General
Anselm grants that divine foreknowledge does introduce a sort of necessity regarding a future free choice, but it is a ‘consequent’ necessity, which follows from the choice actually being made by the ...
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Anselm grants that divine foreknowledge does introduce a sort of necessity regarding a future free choice, but it is a ‘consequent’ necessity, which follows from the choice actually being made by the agent. Anselm is the first philosopher to explicitly propose the theory of four-dimensionalism; God is outside of time, but present to all times, such that all times are equally real. God sees all times ‘at once’ and so the agent making the free choice tomorrow is the cause of God's foreknowledge today.Less
Anselm grants that divine foreknowledge does introduce a sort of necessity regarding a future free choice, but it is a ‘consequent’ necessity, which follows from the choice actually being made by the agent. Anselm is the first philosopher to explicitly propose the theory of four-dimensionalism; God is outside of time, but present to all times, such that all times are equally real. God sees all times ‘at once’ and so the agent making the free choice tomorrow is the cause of God's foreknowledge today.
Tom Greggs
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199560486
- eISBN:
- 9780191721533
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560486.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Theology
This chapter considers the implications for soteriology of Barth's doctrine of election. Following an introduction to the doctrine, this chapter reflects on criticism of Barth, and offers an ...
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This chapter considers the implications for soteriology of Barth's doctrine of election. Following an introduction to the doctrine, this chapter reflects on criticism of Barth, and offers an analytical approach to the doctrine within the framework of the larger theme of universality in Christ. Primarily, it argues that the doctrine of election is the foundation of Barth's soteriology in terms of the eternal election of humanity in Christ. It is advocated that this doctrine tends very strongly in a universalist direction. However, the principal focus is to demonstrate that these universalist leanings do not in any way undermine particularity. This is demonstrated through a special focus on Barth's doctrine of eternity. This chapter provides part of the reflective theological material for the formative aspect of the book's interpretation of universal salvation in the Son in Chapter 4.Less
This chapter considers the implications for soteriology of Barth's doctrine of election. Following an introduction to the doctrine, this chapter reflects on criticism of Barth, and offers an analytical approach to the doctrine within the framework of the larger theme of universality in Christ. Primarily, it argues that the doctrine of election is the foundation of Barth's soteriology in terms of the eternal election of humanity in Christ. It is advocated that this doctrine tends very strongly in a universalist direction. However, the principal focus is to demonstrate that these universalist leanings do not in any way undermine particularity. This is demonstrated through a special focus on Barth's doctrine of eternity. This chapter provides part of the reflective theological material for the formative aspect of the book's interpretation of universal salvation in the Son in Chapter 4.
Brian Davies
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198267539
- eISBN:
- 9780191600500
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198267533.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Continuing with the theme of what can be known of God apart from Revelation, this chapter turns to three beliefs that are absolutely fundamental to the thinking of Thomas Aquinas. These are: (1) that ...
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Continuing with the theme of what can be known of God apart from Revelation, this chapter turns to three beliefs that are absolutely fundamental to the thinking of Thomas Aquinas. These are: (1) that God is everywhere; (2) that God is unchangeable; and (3) that God is eternal. The third topic is addressed in some detail, and includes discussion of Aquinas on time, and on why God is eternal (because he has no duration or temporal location). The last part of the chapter discusses Aquinas’ views on eternity in the light of contemporary criticism, indicating the objections most frequently raised, and what Aquinas might have said against these.Less
Continuing with the theme of what can be known of God apart from Revelation, this chapter turns to three beliefs that are absolutely fundamental to the thinking of Thomas Aquinas. These are: (1) that God is everywhere; (2) that God is unchangeable; and (3) that God is eternal. The third topic is addressed in some detail, and includes discussion of Aquinas on time, and on why God is eternal (because he has no duration or temporal location). The last part of the chapter discusses Aquinas’ views on eternity in the light of contemporary criticism, indicating the objections most frequently raised, and what Aquinas might have said against these.
