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An Anselmian Approach to Divine Simplicity
Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers Volume 37 Issue 3 Article 3 7-1-2020 An Anselmian Approach to Divine Simplicity Katherin A. Rogers Follow this and additional works at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy Recommended Citation Rogers, Katherin A. (2020) "An Anselmian Approach to Divine Simplicity," Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers: Vol. 37 : Iss. 3 , Article 3. DOI: 10.37977/faithphil.2020.37.3.3 Available at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy/vol37/iss3/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers by an authorized editor of ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. applyparastyle "fig//caption/p[1]" parastyle "FigCapt" applyparastyle "fig" parastyle "Figure" AQ1–AQ5 AN ANSELMIAN APPROACH TO DIVINE SIMPLICITY Katherin A. Rogers The doctrine of divine simplicity (DDS) is an important aspect of the clas- sical theism of philosophers like Augustine, Anselm, and Thomas Aquinas. Recently the doctrine has been defended in a Thomist mode using the intrin- sic/extrinsic distinction. I argue that this approach entails problems which can be avoided by taking Anselm’s more Neoplatonic line. This does involve AQ6 accepting some controversial claims: for example, that time is isotemporal and that God inevitably does the best. The most difficult problem involves trying to reconcile created libertarian free will with the Anselmian DDS. But for those attracted to DDS the Anselmian approach is worth considering. -
The Providence of God: a Trinitarian Perspective
The Providence of God: A Trinitarian Perspective Haydn D. Nelson BA DipEd BD(Hons) This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Murdoch University 2005 I declare that this thesis is my own account of my research and contains as its main content work that has not previously been submitted for a degree at any tertiary education institution. ……………………………… Haydn D. Nelson ABSTRACT The primary focus of this dissertation is the doctrine of the Providence of God and it is approached from a distinctive perspective – that of the doctrine of the Trinity. Its fundamental thesis is that the adoption of a trinitarian perspective on Providence provides us with a conceptual paradigm in which varying theological emphases, which often divide understandings of Providence, are best understood in a form of paradoxical tension or creative balance with each being correctly understood only in the context that the other provides. To demonstrate this, it addresses four issues of Providence that have on occasion divided understandings of Providence in the past and which have become significant issues of contention in the contemporary debate on Providence occasioned by a proposal known as Open Theism. These issues concern the nature of divine transcendence, sovereignty, immutability and impassibility and how each should be understood in the context of divine Providence. Through a detailed examination of three recent trinitarian theologies, which have emanated from the three main communities of the Christian church, it argues that a trinitarian perspective is able to provide significant illumination and explication of these identified issues of Providence and of the tensions that are often intrinsic to this doctrine. -
500Th Anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation
500TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LUTHERAN REFORMATION L LU ICA TH EL ER G A N N A S V Y E N E O H D T LUTHERAN SYNOD QUARTERLY VOLUME 57 • NUMBERS 2 & 3 JUNE & SEPTEMBER 2017 The journal of Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary ISSN: 0360-9685 LUTHERAN SYNOD QUARTERLY VOLUME 57 • NUMBERS 2 & 3 JUNE & SEPTEMBER 2017 The journal of Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary LUTHERAN SYNOD QUARTERLY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF........................................................... Gaylin R. Schmeling BOOK REVIEW EDITOR ......................................................... Michael K. Smith LAYOUT EDITOR ................................................................. Daniel J. Hartwig PRINTER ......................................................... Books of the Way of the Lord The Lutheran Synod Quarterly (ISSN: 0360-9685) is edited by the faculty of Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary 6 Browns Court Mankato, Minnesota 56001 The Lutheran Synod Quarterly is a continuation of the Clergy Bulletin (1941–1960). The purpose of the Lutheran Synod Quarterly, as was the purpose of the Clergy Bulletin, is to provide a testimony of the theological position of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod and also to promote the academic growth of her clergy roster by providing scholarly articles, rooted in the inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures and the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The Lutheran Synod Quarterly is published in March and December with a combined June and September issue. Subscription rates are $25.00 U.S. per year for domestic subscriptions and $35.00 U.S. per year for international subscriptions. All subscriptions and editorial correspondence should be sent to the following address: Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary Attn: Lutheran Synod Quarterly 6 Browns Ct Mankato MN 56001 Back issues of the Lutheran Synod Quarterly from the past two years are available at a cost of $10.00 per issue. -
A Critique of the Free Will Defense, a Comprehensive Look at Alvin Plantinga’S Solution to the Problem of Evil
University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Honors Theses and Capstones Student Scholarship Spring 2013 A Critique of the Free Will Defense, A Comprehensive Look at Alvin Plantinga’s Solution To the Problem of Evil. Justin Ykema University of New Hampshire - Main Campus Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/honors Part of the Medieval Studies Commons, Philosophy Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Ykema, Justin, "A Critique of the Free Will Defense, A Comprehensive Look at Alvin Plantinga’s Solution To the Problem of Evil." (2013). Honors Theses and Capstones. 119. https://scholars.unh.edu/honors/119 This Senior Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses and Capstones by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. University of New Hampshire Department of Philosophy 2012-2013 A Critique of the Free Will Defense A Comprehensive Look at Alvin Plantinga’s Solution To the Problem of Evil. by Justin Ykema Primary Reader: Jennifer Armstrong Additional Readers: Willem deVries, Paul McNamara & Ruth Sample Graties tibi ago, domine. Haec credam a deo pio, a deo justo, a deo scito? Cruciatus in crucem. Tuus in terra servus, nuntius fui; officium perfeci. Cruciatus in crucem. Eas in crucem. 1 Section I: Introduction Historically, the problem of evil exemplifies an apparent paradox. The paradox is, if God exists, and he is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful, how does evil exist in the world when God created everything the world contains? Many theologians have put forth answers to solve this problem, and one of the proposed solutions put forth is the celebrated Free Will Defense, which claims to definitively solve the problem of evil. -
Minimal Faith and Irenic Ideals in Seventeenth-Century Scholarly Circles Hugo Grotius As a Guardian of Isaac Casaubon’S Legacy*
Church History Church History and and Religious Culture 94 (2014) 444–478 Religious Culture brill.com/chrc Minimal Faith and Irenic Ideals in Seventeenth-Century Scholarly Circles Hugo Grotius as a Guardian of Isaac Casaubon’s Legacy* Henk Nellen Huygens Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands [email protected] Abstract This article shows how the Dutch humanist Hugo Grotius (1583–1645), inspired by his friend Isaac Casaubon, sought to introduce a procedure for mitigating strife in the Christian church. He proclaimed a division between a set of self-evident, universally accepted key tenets, to be endorsed by all believers, and a larger number of secondary, not completely certain articles of faith, which were to be left open for friendly debate. The doctrine of the Trinity belonged to the second category; it should be treated in a careful, detached way, in words that did not go beyond the terminology of the Bible. However, defenders of this irenic stance laid themselves open to severe criticism: the example of the conservative Lutheran theologian Abraham Calovius illustrates how they were censured for giving up divinely inspired truth for a chimerical unionist ideal which cajoled them into reintroducing the early Christian heresy of Arianism, now called Socinianism. Keywords minimal faith – secularisation – Socinianism – exegesis – seventeenth-century intellectual life – Grotius – Casaubon * Research for this article was conducted within the project ‘Biblical Criticism and Seculariza- tion in the Seventeenth Century’ (nwo, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, 360–25–090). I am indebted to two anonymous reviewers for their remarks on an earlier ver- sion of this article. -
Why Can't the Impassible God Suffer?
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by UCLouvain: Open Journal Repository (Université catholique de Louvain) 2018 TheoLogica An International Journal for Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology S.I. NEW THEMES IN ANALYTIC DOGMATIC THEOLOGY DOI: https://doi.org/10.14428/thl.v0i0.1313 Why Can’t the Impassible God Suffer? Analytic Reflections on Divine Blessedness R.T. MULLINS University of St Andrews [email protected] Abstract: According to classical theism, impassibility is said to be systematically connected to divine attributes like timelessness, immutability, simplicity, aseity, and self-sufficiency. In some interesting way, these attributes are meant to explain why the impassible God cannot suffer. I shall argue that these attributes do not explain why the impassible God cannot suffer. In order to understand why the impassible God cannot suffer, one must examine the emotional life of the impassible God. I shall argue that the necessarily happy emotional life of the classical God explains why the impassible God cannot suffer. Keywords: Impassibility, Timelessness, Immutability, Simplicity, God Throughout most of the history of Christianity, the doctrine of divine impassibility has enjoyed wide assent. However, its role in systematic theology has waxed and waned in different eras. During the early Christological debates, impassibility was the default view. It played an influential role against Logos-sarx models of the incarnation as well as a role in late Arian arguments against the full divinity of Christ.1 Later generations, however, have not cast a favorable eye on impassibility. Before the turn of the 20th Century, various theologians began to endorse divine passibility in reaction to the unethical implications they perceived to be involved in the doctrine of divine impassibility. -
Concordia Theological Monthly
.CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY Martin Chemnitz' Views on Trent: The Genesis and the Genius of the Examen Concilii Tridentini ARTHUR CARL PIEPKORN Current Contributions to Christian Preaching RICHARD R. CAEMMERER Homiletics Book Review Vol. xxxvn . January 1966 No.1 MARTIN CHEMNITZ' VIEWS ON TRENT: The Genesis and the Genius of the Exan1en ConaJii Trtdenttni 1 ARTHUR CARL PIEPKORN "In recent centuries one or the other of the pages of the influential multilingual [the} pillars supporting the Triden international Roman Catholic hard-covered tine system have appeared to tremble, but theological journal Concilium. Alberigo's as a whole the system has always survived words add relevance to a review of the the various crises which had only brought genesis and genius of the great 16th about certain individual degenerations. Be cennuy Lutheran protest against the Coun ginning with 1958-1959, through a cil of Trent in the quadricentennial year whole concourse of historical and spiritual of the publication of the first volwne. factors, and certainly under an impulse of The Exanzen Concilii Tfidentini the Holy Spirit, the [Roman} Catholic ("A Weighing of the Council of Trent") Church (and more generally the entire is neither the first nor the last non-Roman Christian world) abandoned the Tridentine Catholic analysis of the synod that created system on all fundamental themes. The the Roman Catholic Church. At the turn brief intervening time cannot distract us of the century, Reinhard Mumro (1873 from the global dimensions and the defin to 1932) managed to list no fewer than itive significance of this abandonment." 2 87 items written between 1546 and 1564 The author of this statement, Giuseppe which polemicized against the Council,4 Alberigo, is a respected Italian Roman Catholic church historian, philosopher, and Milan. -
Concordia Theological Monthly
CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY '1 he Hermeneutic.ll Dilemm.a Dualism in the Interpretation of HoI) Scrtpture MARTIN H. FRANZMANN Genesis Three in the Light of Key Hermeneutical Considerations RALPH D. GEHRKE Meaning and the Word in Lutheran Orthodoxy CURTIS E. HUBER Christ's Use of the Old Testament with Special Reference to the Pentateuch VICTOR A. BARTLING What Does "Inerrancy" Mean? ARTHUR CARL PIEPKORN Book Review Vol. XXXVI September 1965 No. ~ d What Does "Inerrancy" Mean? 1 ARTHUR CARL PIEPKORN his paper is primarily a terminological I Tstudy rather than a theological one. It From the Formula of Concord through inquires into the meaning of, rather than Leonard Hiitter (1563-1616) and John into the justification for, a term that has Gerhard (1582-1637), the older Lu become a staple of dogmatic discussion in theran orthodoxy does not greatly occupy our own and other denominations. itself with the idea which lies behind "in Lutheran clergymen and professors af errancy." With the ancient church 3 and firm everything that the Sacred Scriptures with the first generation of reformers, early say about themselves and everything that the Lutheran symbols say about the Sacred Lutheran orthodoxy affirms the correctness Scriptures. It is significant therefore that and adequacy of the Sacred Scriptures for the term "inerrancy" does not correspond the things that Gust be known and be to any vocable of the Sacred Scriptures. lieved for a Christian to be saved and to It does not correspond to any vocable live a godly life. The freedom of the in the Lutheran symbols. The Catholic Sacred Scriptures from error is largely an Church has never defined it dogmatically. -
J. J. Rambach and the Dogmatics of Scholastic Pietism Richard A
Consensus Volume 16 Article 2 Issue 2 Lutheran Pietism 11-1-1990 J. J. Rambach and the dogmatics of scholastic pietism Richard A. Muller Follow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus Recommended Citation Muller, Richard A. (1990) "J. J. Rambach and the dogmatics of scholastic pietism," Consensus: Vol. 16 : Iss. 2 , Article 2. Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol16/iss2/2 This Articles is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by an authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. J.J. Rambach and the Dogmatics of Scholastic Pietism Richard A. Muller Associate Professor of Historical Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary The Pietist movement of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries reacted powerfully against the dogma- tism of late Protestant Orthodoxy. Spener and those who fol- lowed him protested loudly against the dry, rigid formulae of Lutheran scholasticism and against the reduction of religion to the acceptance of a system of carefully defined theological propositions. This is certainly the standard view of the re- lationship between Pietism and Orthodoxy, and it contains, undeniably, an element of truth. ^ Orthodox Protestantism did tend to debate the finest points of doctrine and to assume that deviation from the orthodox position even on secondary issues was tantamount to an attack on fundamental doctrines—and Orthodoxy could, all too often, appear to equate acceptance of a detailed confessional statement with right religion. Against this historical truism, however, several writers have argued the piety of the Orthodox Lutheran theologians and have noted the emphasis of Orthodox Lutheran dogmatics on the Christian life. -
The Aseity of God
2 the Aseity of God Message introduction Of God’s many distinct attributes, one of the most difficult for finite human beings to come to terms with is His aseity, or self-existence. Unlike us, God has neither beginning nor end, and He is not dependent upon anyone or anything. In this mes- sage, as we consider God’s limitless abundance and our own neediness, Dr. Lawson invites us to seek full satisfaction and delight in the one who is the limitless source of all things. Scripture readingS Psalm 90:1–4; Romans 11:33–36; 1 Corinthians 8:5–6; Revelation 4:8 teaching obJectiveS 1. To discuss the implications of God’s eternal and self-sustaining nature 2. To recognize our inability to comprehend God’s boundless character 3. To invite Christians to take refuge in the all-sufficiency of God QuotationS There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, “Behold I am wise.” But when we come to this master-science, finding that our plumb-line cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away . with the solemn exclamation, “I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.” —Charles Spurgeon 7 8 the attributes of god God was under no constraint, no obligation, no necessity to create. -
275 LSQ 44: 4 276 Foreword
LSQ 44: 4 275 LSQ 44: 4 276 Foreword The seventeenth century is a black hole in Lutheran church history. Often the student of Lutheranism leaps from the time of Martin Luther and the Book of Concord to Spener and the beginning of Pietism. The implication is that there is nothing of value in the intervening period. Yet when one reads Pieper’s or Hoenecke’s dogmatics and Walther’s Pastoral Theology or Church and Ministry he fi nds a voluminous number of quotes from men who lived in the seventeenth century. Our Synodical Conference fathers certainly found value in the theology of the seventeenth century and the articles in this Quarterly are encouraging the same in our present age. The sermon by Dr. Thomas Kuster of Bethany Lutheran College and Seminary encourages us to trace our Christian roots from St. Paul’s missionary journeys through the Reformation to the settlement of the Midwest. This sermon is based on 2 Timothy 1: 5-10. The most important theologian of the seventeenth century was Johann Gerhard (1582-1637). After Luther and Chemnitz he is the foremost theologian of the Lutheran church. The essay Gerhard—Theologian and Pastor is an introduction to the life and work of this great seventeenth century dogmatician. This paper was presented September 2003 in Leipzig, Germany, at the fi ftieth anniversary of the Lutherisches Theologisches Seminar. It has been said that Gerhard was third in the series of Lutheran theologians and after him there was no fourth. If one were to speak of a fourth, the position would be assigned either to Abraham Calov (1612-1686) or Johann Quenstedt (1617-1688). -
Divine Simplicity, Aseity, and Sovereignty
Divine Simplicity, Aseity, and Sovereignty Matthew Baddorf Sophia International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions ISSN 0038-1527 SOPHIA DOI 10.1007/s11841-016-0549-6 1 23 Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer Science +Business Media Dordrecht. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be self- archived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your article, please use the accepted manuscript version for posting on your own website. You may further deposit the accepted manuscript version in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later and provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com”. 1 23 Author's personal copy SOPHIA DOI 10.1007/s11841-016-0549-6 Divine Simplicity, Aseity, and Sovereignty Matthew Baddorf1 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016 Abstract The doctrine of divine simplicity has recently been ably defended, but very little work has been done considering reasons to believe God is simple. This paper begins to address this lack. I consider whether divine aseity (the traditionally prominent motivation) or the related notion of divine sovereignty provide us with good reason to affirm divine simplicity. Divine complexity has sometimes been thought to imply that God would possess an efficient cause; or, alternatively, that God would be grounded by God’s constituents. I argue that divine complexity implies neither of these, and so that a complex God could also exist ase.