Category Archives: Hugh McCann

The Absolute Freedom of the Simple Life

Posted on 16 October 2022 by Fr Aidan Kimel

In the preceding article, we were left with questions about divine freedom: specifically, if the act of creation of essential to the divine being, as Hugh McCann claims, how does this not entail the enslavement of Deity to necessity? McCann … Continue reading →

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An Utterly Dynamic State of Affairs: The God Who Is His Creating

Posted on 10 October 2022 by Fr Aidan Kimel

If God is the answer to our most profound existential and metaphysical questions—the Absolute who stops all the bucks—then he must be characterized by an absence of parts and potency; otherwise, classical theists maintain, we would still find ourselves asking … Continue reading →

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Divine Simplicity: Is God a Slave to his Nature?

Posted on 9 October 2022 by Fr Aidan Kimel

Hugh J. McCann characterizes his book Creation and the Sovereignty of God as an exercise in perfect being theology: “I wish to defend the thesis that God is an absolutely perfect being, who as creator exercises complete sovereignty over all … Continue reading →

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Is God the Author of Sin?

Posted on 13 November 2021 by Fr Aidan Kimel

Is God the author of sin? The question assumes paramount importance when evaluating the construal of divine and human agency advanced by Hugh J. McCann. Popular theodi­cies seek to protect God from responsibility for human evil. That’s the upshot of … Continue reading →

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Breaking the Cords of Fate

Posted on 8 November 2021 by Fr Aidan Kimel

“We seem almost compelled,” remarks Hugh McCann, “to think there is some competition here: that when it comes to free will there is no way that both we and God can both have legitimate prerogatives, no way that one can … Continue reading →

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The World is a Novel in the Mind of God

Posted on 19 October 2021 by Fr Aidan Kimel

Can God determine our actions? One need not think more than a second or two. Of course he can, we answer. If CIA brainwashers and television advertising can cause us to act in specific ways, then the Creator of the … Continue reading →

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The Free-Will Defense and the Impossible Worlds of Molinism

Posted on 10 October 2021 by Fr Aidan Kimel

The free-will defense of evil and suffering is a failure—so Hugh McCann con­tends. This verdict sur­prises, given the opinion of so many phi­losophers that Alvin Plan­tin­ga’s argument succeeds resoundingly. But it succeeds, maintains McCann, only be­cause it aban­dons God’s provi­dential … Continue reading →

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C. S. Lewis, Alvin Plantinga, and the Free-Will Defense

Posted on 5 October 2021 by Fr Aidan Kimel

Why did God create a world filled with evil and horrific violence? In the midst of World War II, C. S. Lewis offered what has become a classic Christian response: God created things which had free will. That means creatures which … Continue reading →

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