Category Archives: Philosophical Theology

Avicenna and Aquinas: Ruminating Divine Freedom and Necessity

Posted on 7 November 2022 by Fr Aidan Kimel

I recently wrote the following letter to Dr Rahim Acar, a Muslim scholar and expert on the philosopher Avicenna. For purposes of publication, I have revised and significantly expanded the letter, adding quotations from his book, as well as specific … Continue reading →

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On the Putative Threat of Modal Collapse Within the Doctrine of Divine Simplicity

Posted on 4 November 2022 by Fr Aidan Kimel

by Alexander Earl Prompted by Dionysius’s doctrine of God and its Neoplatonic foundations, the question of Divine freedom has been the subject of theological reflection on this blog for the past few months. That it would become a sustained avenue of … Continue reading →

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Universal Salvation and Free Will: A Response to Fr James Dominic Rooney

Posted on 31 October 2022 by Fr Aidan Kimel

by Jeremiah Carey, Ph.D. Fr. James Dominic Rooney’s recent attack on universalism, and David Bentley Hart’s version of it in particular, contains so many claims and takes a stand on so many contentious fundamental issues in philosophy and theology that … Continue reading →

Posted in Eschatology, Philosophical Theology | Tagged , , , , , , | 21 Comments

The Freedom to Create and the DBH Inquisition

Posted on 29 October 2022 by Fr Aidan Kimel

One of the virtues of Fr James Dominic Rooney’s recent article “The Incoherencies of Hard Universalism” is that it has forced everyone to ask, Does David Bentley Hart teach the necessity of divine creation? Clearly Fr Rooney thinks that he … Continue reading →

Posted in David B. Hart, Philosophical Theology | 30 Comments

Aquinas and Pseudo-Dionysius on the Self-Diffusiveness of the Good

Posted on 24 October 2022 by Fr Aidan Kimel
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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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