Tag Archives: Bonaventure

Universal Salvation: Love Is Its Own Necessity

Posted on 30 November 2022 by Fr Aidan Kimel

I know that some are wondering why I have spent so much blog time featuring discussion of Fr James Dominic Rooney’s article “The Incoherences of Hard Universalism” and why I have now written yet another piece on it. I wonder … Continue reading →

Posted in Eschatology, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 85 Comments

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 →

Posted in Aquinas, Philosophical Theology | Tagged , , , , , , | 25 Comments

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 →

Posted in Philosophical Theology, Hugh McCann | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

How Do Angels Change? An Introduction to the “Spiritual Matter” Debate

Posted on 22 February 2021 by Fr Aidan Kimel

by Brendan W. Case, Th.D. It’s fair to say that thirteenth-century theology was obsessed with “angelology” (angel-talk), a fact which provoked the nineteenth century quip about scholastic fascination with the number of angels that could dance on the head of … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophical Theology | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments

St Thomas Aquinas: Does Creatio ex Nihilo Exclude an Everlasting Universe?

Posted on 1 February 2016 by Fr Aidan Kimel

Has the universe always existed? The ancient pagan philosophers, and with them the Hellenistic world, certainly thought so. In the absence of a belief in a transcendent Creator, how could it be otherwise? And here the Church Fathers found themselves … Continue reading →

Posted in Aquinas | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Oecumenical Grace: Roman Catholicism and Created Grace

Posted on 16 June 2014 by Fr Aidan Kimel

We begin with St Augustine of Hippo. Of course. His reflections on the mystery of grace have been determinative for Western Christianity. He taught the Latin Church that from beginning to end the Christian life is completely dependent upon the … Continue reading →

Posted in Grace, Justification & Theosis | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments