Divinity and Maximal Greatness PDF Download

Author: Daniel J. Hill
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 0415312884
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 266

View

Book Description
"Divinity and Maximal Greatness stands in the notable tradition of perfect-being theology. The book thoughtfully explicates the concept of divinity in terms of the notion of maximal greatness - a being is divine if and only if he is maximally great."--BOOK JACKET.

Author: Yujin Nagasawa
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198758685
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 242

View

Book Description
Yujin Nagasawa presents a new, stronger version of perfect being theism, the conception of God as the greatest possible being. Although perfect being theism is the most common form of monotheism in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition its truth has been disputed by philosophers and theologians for centuries. Nagasawa proposes a new, game-changing defence of perfect being theism by developing what he calls the 'maximal concept of God'. Perfect being theists typically maintain that God is an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent being; according to Nagasawa, God should be understood rather as a being that has the maximal consistent set of knowledge, power, and benevolence. Nagasawa argues that once we accept the maximal concept we can establish perfect being theism on two grounds. First, we can refute nearly all existing arguments against perfect being theism simultaneously. Second, we can construct a novel, strengthened version of the modal ontological argument for perfect being theism. Nagasawa concludes that the maximal concept grants us a unified defence of perfect being theism that is highly effective and economical.

Author: Jack Symes
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350419303
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 189

View

Book Description
The evil-god challenge is one of the most popular topics in contemporary philosophy of religion. In this landmark text, Jack Symes offers the most detailed examination of the challenge to date. Exploring the nature of god through the leading schools of philosophical theology, Symes argues that it is significantly more reasonable to attribute goodness to god than evil. Drawing from a breadth of ground-breaking material – in metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics and epistemology – Symes claims to defeat the evil-god challenge on behalf of traditional theism. Is it any more reasonable to believe in a good god than an evil god? Not according to proponents of the evil-god challenge. After all, the world contains a significant amount of good and evil for which either god could be held responsible. However, if belief in both gods is equally as reasonable, then religious believers are unjustified in favouring one hypothesis over the other. Therefore, in order to defend their faith, theists must respond to the evil-god challenge: the question of what justifies belief in good god over evil god.

Author: Jaco Gericke
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351139002
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 169

View

Book Description
Are we able to identify and compare the philosophical perspectives and questions that must be postulated as having been somehow present in the language, ideas and worldviews of the Biblical authors? This book sets out an approach to something that has been generally considered impossible: a philosophical theology of the Old Testament. It demonstrates and addresses the neglect of a descriptive and comparative philosophical clarification of concepts in Old Testament theology, and in so doing treads new ground in Biblical studies and philosophical theology. Recognizing the obvious problems with, and objections to, any form of interdisciplinary research combining philosophical and Biblical theology, this study presents itself as introductory and experimental in nature. The methodology opted for is limited to a philosophical clarification of concepts already found in Old Testament theology, while the findings are presented via the popular thematic approach found in analytic philosophical theologies; with no attempted justification or critique of the textual contents under investigation. These approaches are combined by primarily looking at the nature of Yahweh in the Old Testament. This book offers a new vision of Biblical and philosophical theology that brings them closer together in order that we might understand both more broadly and deeply. As such, it will be vital reading for scholars of Theology, Biblical Studies and Philosophy.

Author: John-Mark L. Miravalle
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350061638
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 195

View

Book Description
God and fictional objects are central topics within philosophy, but rarely do the respective discussions overlap. Until now the two fields have remained independent. Applying the debate about fictional objects to issues of theology for the first time, John-Mark L. Miravalle bridges these two fields and presents a new approach to notions of God, creatures, and existence. Miravalle explains why meinongianism, which holds that certain things can serve as intentional objects with properties, even though they do not exist, can facilitate talk of nonexistence better than other metaphysical viewpoints, such as platonism, modal realism and pretense-theory. He identifies points of connection between theology and nonexistents and uses meinongianism to buttress the cosmological and ontological arguments for God's existence. As a result he is able to explore fresh solutions to problems of classical theism, from the necessary existence of God and creation ex nihilo to free will and the problem of evil. By revealing how a particular account of fictional objects is especially harmonious with and supportive of the major claims of traditional theism, Miravalle makes a major contribution to theistic metaphysics.

Author: Roberto Sirvent
Publisher: James Clarke & Company
ISBN: 0227906306
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 201

View

Book Description
Arguments in favour of divine impassibility take many forms, one of which is moral. This argument views emotional risk, vulnerability, suffering, and self-love as obstacles to moral perfection. In Embracing Vulnerability: Human and Divine, the author challenges these mistaken assumptions about moral judgment. Through an analysis of Hebrew thought and modern philosophical accounts of love, justice, and emotion, Roberto Sirvent reveals a fundamental incompatibility between divine impassibility and the Imitation of God ethic (imitatio Dei). This book shows that a God who is not emotionally vulnerable is a God unworthy of our imitation. But in what sense can we call divine impassibility immoral? To be sure, God's moral nature teaches humanswhat it means to live virtuously. But can human understandings of morality teach us something about God's moral character? If true, how should we go about judging God's moral character? Isn't it presumptuous to do so? After all, if we are going to challenge divine impassibility on moral grounds, what reason do we have to assume that God is bound by our standards of morality? Embracing Vulnerability: Human and Divine addresses these questions and many others. In the process, Sirvent argues for the importance of thinking morally about theology, inviting scholars in the fields of philosophical theology and Christian ethics to place their theological commitments under close moral scrutiny, and to consider how these commitments reflect and shape our understanding of the good life.

Author: Joshua Hoffman
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470692715
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 224

View

Book Description
The Divine Attributesis an engaging analysis of the God of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from the perspective of rational theology.

Author: Guillaume Bignon
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532618654
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 254

View

Book Description
Calvinist determinism destroys moral responsibility and makes God the author of sin. These two accusations are not new, and were arguably anticipated by Paul in Romans 9, but they remain today the most important objections offered against Calvinist/determinist views of human free will. This book is a philosophically rigorous and comprehensive defense of Calvinism against these two families of arguments. With respect to human moral responsibility, it discusses whether determinism destroys “free will,” turns humans into pets or puppets, and involves or is analogous to coercion and manipulation. It responds to the consequence argument and direct argument for incompatibilism, the principle of alternate possibilities, the “ought implies can” maxim, and related claims. With respect to the authorship of sin, it discusses whether Calvinist determinism improperly involves God in evil. Does it mean that “God sins,” or “causes sin,” or “wills sin” in problematic ways? “Does God intend our sin, or (merely) permit sin?” In each case the coherence of the Calvinist view is defended against its most potent objections, to reject the claim that Calvinism is “excusing sinners and blaming God.”

Author: Jeff Speaks
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192561502
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 192

View

Book Description
What can we know about God by reason alone? Philosophical theology is the attempt to obtain such knowledge. An ancient tradition, which is perhaps more influential now than ever, tries to derive the attributes of God from the principle that God is the greatest possible being. Jeff Speaks argues that that constructive project is a failure. He also argues that the related view that the concept of God is the concept of a greatest possible being is a mistake. In the last chapter, he sketches an alternative path forward.

Author: Michael Scott
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351906410
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 172

View

Book Description
This book draws together a distinguished group of philosophers and theologians to present new thinking on realism and religion. The religious realism/antirealism debate concerns the questions of God’s independence from human beings, the nature of religious truth and our access to religious truths. Although both philosophers and theologians have written on these subjects, there has been little sustained investigation into these issues akin to that found in comparable areas of research such as ethics or the philosophy of science. In addition, the absence of any agreed approach to the problem underlines both the need for fresh thought on it and the fruitfulness of this area for further research. The editors’ introduction sets the context of the realism debate, traces connections amongst the essays which follow, and proposes lines for future development and enquiry. The contributors present a variety of contrasting positions on key issues in the religious realism debate and each opens up new and important themes. Gordon Kaufman, Peter Lipton and Simon Blackburn provide the opening chapters and the context for the collection; Alexander Bird, John Hare, Graham Oppy and Nick Trakakis, Merold Westphal, and John Webster explore topics that are central to the debate. This volume of original essays will both introduce newcomers to the field and suggest new lines of research for those already familiar with it.