Classical Theism: New Essays on the Metaphysics of God

Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Contributors
Introduction
	Bibliography
Section I: What is Classical Theism?
1. What is Classical Theism?
	1.1 Its Content and Proponents
	1.2 A Thesis of Both Natural and Revealed Theology
	1.3 The Centrality of Simplicity
	1.4 Neo-Theist Rivals
	Notes
	Bibliography
2. Does the God of Classical Theism Exist?
	2.1 The Argument from Motion
	2.2 Argument for an Absolutely First Cause
	2.3 Argument for a Being of Pure Existence
	2.4 Infinity, Perfection, and Unity of the First Cause
	2.5 Intelligence in the First Cause
	2.6 The God of the Bible
	Notes
	Bibliography
3. Some Arguments for Divine Simplicity
	3.1 Introduction
	3.2 Parts
		3.2.1 Creation
		3.2.2 Perfection
		3.2.3 Pantheism and Transcendence
	3.3 Attribute Instance Simplicity
		3.3.1 God is Love and The New Testament
		3.3.2 Incomprehensibility
		3.3.3 Idolatry
	3.4 Final Remarks
	Notes
	Bibliography
4. The Problem of Talking about "the God of gods"
	4.1 Introduction: The General Problem of Talking about God
	4.2 The Meaning of the Word "God": Augustine's Account
	4.3 Anselm's Argument based on Augustine's Meaning
	4.4 The Problem of "Parasitic Reference" to God, and Aquinas' Way Out
	4.5 Do we Know what we Mean by "God," According to Aquinas?
	4.6 Can we Say Anything with Certainty Positively About God According to Aquinas?
	4.7 Scotus on the Requirement of Univocity
	4.8 Ockham's Nominalist Theology and Its Significance
	Notes
	Bibliography
5. Anselmian Classical Theism
	Notes
	Bibliography
6. Thomist Classical Theism: Divine Simplicity within Aquinas' Triplex Via Theology
	6.1 Some Problems for Classical Theism
		6.1.1 Problems for Truthmaker Divine Simplicity
		6.1.2 Problems for Perfect Being Theology
	6.2 Thomist Triplex Via Theology
		6.2.1 The Triplex Via in Thomas Aquinas
		6.2.2 Triplex Via and the Guidance Problem
			6.2.2.1 Via Causalitatis
			6.2.2.2 Via Negationis
			6.2.2.3 Via Eminentiae
		6.2.3 Triplex via Theology and the Ordering-Attributes Problem
	6.3 Concluding Remarks
	Notes
	Bibliography
7. The Unity of the Divine Nature: Four Theories
	7.1 Strict Identity of Attributes With God (Absolute Simplicity)
		7.1.1 Does It Offer an Account of Divine Attributes on Which They Are Comprehensible?
		7.1.2 Is It Consistent with God's Willing and Knowing a Contingent Creation?
		7.1.3 Is It Consistent with God's Knowledge of Complexity?
		7.1.4 Is It Consistent with God's Loving Concern for the Lives of His Creatures?
	7.2 Inseparability of Attributes Without Contingent Intrinsics (Inseparability Theory)
	7.3 Inseparability of Attributes with Wholly Active Contingent Intrinsics (Contingent Intrinsics Theory)
	7.4 Inseparability of Attributes with Partly Receptive Contingent Intrinsics (The Dynamic Theory)
	7.5 Costs to the Dynamic Theory in Relation to the Identity Theory?
		7.5.1 Ipsum Esse
		7.5.2 Non-Competing Cause of Causes
		7.5.3 Goodness Itself
		7.5.4 Necessity
		7.5.5 Perfection
	Notes
	Bibliography
8. A Metaphysical Inquiry into Islamic Theism
	8.1 Introduction
	8.2 Muslim Scholastic Theology
	8.3 Muslim Scriptural Theology
	8.4 Muslim Peripatetic Philosophy
	8.5 Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
9. Classical Theism and Jewish Conceptions of God
	9.1 Jewish Classical Theism
		9.1.1 Keeping It Simple
		9.1.2 Time for a Change
	9.2 Reasons to Resist
		9.2.1 Eat Your French Fries
		9.2.2 Time and Time Again
	9.3 Striking a Compromise
		9.3.1 The Two Faces of a Maimonidean God
		9.3.2 The Two Faces of a Kabbalistic God
	Notes
	Bibliography
10. Searching for the Ineffable: Classical Theism and Eastern Thought About God
	10.1 Classical Theism
	10.2 Buddhism
		10.2.1 Confucianism
		10.2.2 Daoism
	10.3 Advaita Vedānta
	10.4 Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
Section II: Classical Theism: Problems and Applications
11. Divine Ideas and Divine Simplicity
	11.1 Introduction
	11.2 Historical Origins of the Doctrine of Divine Ideas (DDI)
		11.2.1 Plato
		11.2.2 Plotinus
		11.2.3 Augustine
	11.3 Background on DDI in Aquinas
		11.3.1 What is an "idea" for Aquinas?
		11.3.2 The Analogy from Human Art
		11.3.3 Arguments for the Existence and Multiplicity of Divine Ideas
	11.4 Aquinas's Reconciliation of DDI with DDS
		11.4.1 God's Knowledge of his Essence as Imitable
		11.4.2 Principle and Terminus of Knowledge in God
		11.4.3 A Multiplicity Secundum Rationem
	Notes
	Bibliography
12. How the Absolutely Simple Creator Escapes a Modal Collapse
	12.1 Introduction
	12.2 Simply Invalid
	12.3 Modal Indiscernibility and a New Argument
		12.3.1 The DDS and Real Modal Indiscernibility
		12.3.2 The Modal Indiscernibility Argument
	12.4 What's Simplicity Got to Do With It, Anyway?
	12.5 Creative Determinism and Hyperintensionality
		12.5.1 Creative Determinism
		12.5.2 The Hyperintensionality of Creative Causal Contexts
	12.6 A Conclusion to Modal Collapse
	Notes
	Bibliography
13. Defending Divine Impassibility
	13.1 Motivation and Rationale for Divine Impassibility
	13.2 Passibilist Critique from Knowledge
	13.3 Critique of the Critique
	13.4 God's Impassible Knowledge
	13.5 Conclusion
	Bibliography
14. Classical Theism and Divine Action
	14.1 The Notion of Causality in Aristotle and Aquinas
	14.2 The Fortunes of Causality in Modern and Contemporary Science
	14.3 Modern Science and Divine Action
	14.4 Contemporary Science and Divine Action
	14.5 Classical Theism and Divine Action
	14.6 Conclusion
	Bibliography
15. Classical Theism, Divine Beauty, and the Doctrine of the Trinity
	15.1 Experiences of Beauty
	15.2 Beauty and the Classical, Trinitarian God
	15.3 Versions of Trinitarianism Permitted by and Excluded from this View
	Note
	Bibliography
16. The Incarnation of a Simple God
	16.1 Introduction
	16.2 Initial and Revised Truth Conditions
	16.3 A Doctrine of Divine Simplicity
	16.4 Benefits
	16.5 Three Objections: Insufficiently Classical, Insufficiently Christian, Still Contradictory
	16.6 Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
17. Classical Theists Are Committed to the Palamite Essence-Energies Distinction (Or, How to Make Sense of the Fact That God Does Not Intrinsically Differ Even Though He Can Do Otherwise)
	17.1 Palamas's Distinction
	17.2 Thomas Aquinas
	17.3 Essence ≠ Energies?
	17.4 The Proposal
	Notes
	Bibliography
Index