Tag Archives: determinism

Apprehending Apokatastasis: The Necessary Choosing of the Good

Posted on 13 March 2020 by Fr Aidan Kimel

Every human being is divinely ordered to God under the aspects of the transcendentals of being—the Truth, the Good, and the Beautiful. We hunger and thirst for union with him, for only in him can we enjoy supreme and overflowing … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, David B. Hart, Eschatology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 51 Comments

Tom Talbott Reviews ‘That All Shall Be Saved’ (Part IV)

Posted on 6 September 2019 by Fr Aidan Kimel

by Thomas Talbott, Ph.D. Predestination unto Glory Christians have traditionally held that, because they are saved by grace, they can take no credit for their own salvation, all of the credit for which goes to God. As Paul himself put … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, David B. Hart | Tagged , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Suffering, Theodicy, and Apocatastasis

Posted on 19 August 2019 by Fr Aidan Kimel

“What then, one might well ask, is divine providence?” David Bentley Hart poses this ques­tion after pondering upon the evil and suffering of the world in his beautiful little book The Doors of the Sea. Hart compares the orthodox Christian … Continue reading →

Posted in David B. Hart | Tagged , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

God Makes Us Freely Acting

Posted on 7 January 2017 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 →

Posted in Hugh McCann, Philosophical Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

The World is a Novel in the Mind of God

Posted on 2 January 2017 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 certainly God can. Let’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Hugh McCann, Philosophical Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Freedom and Determinism: What’s the Difference?

Posted on 28 December 2016 by Fr Aidan Kimel

Free agency, states Hugh McCann, exhibits three essential features. First, free actions cannot be “the product of independent event-causal condi­tions. An autonomous agent has to be a center of novelty—a point from which, to the extent he influences it, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Hugh McCann, Philosophical Theology | Tagged , , , , , , | 26 Comments

Does God “respect” our freedom?

Posted on 22 August 2016 by Fr Aidan Kimel

One often finds the following proposition asserted: God has created humanity as free beings and has thus bound himself not to interfere with their free decisions and choice. Divine agency and human agency are conceived as mutually exclusive. In one … Continue reading →

Posted in Hugh McCann, Philosophical Theology | Tagged , , , , , | 30 Comments

“Every instance of finite becoming or thought or desire subsists in the creature’s ‘ecstasy’ out of nonbeing into the infinite splendor of God”

Posted on 26 July 2015 by Fr Aidan Kimel

What then, one might well ask, is divine providence? Certainly all Christians must affirm God’s transcendent governance of everything, even fallen history and fallen nature, and must believe that by that governance he will defeat evil and bring the final … Continue reading →

Posted in Citations | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments