Twitter Tweets
My TweetsFollow on Facebook
Recent Comments
Kenneth M. Florence on Ainulindalë: The Creation of t… Rob on Ainulindalë: The Creation of t… Fr Aidan Kimel on Ainulindalë: The Creation of t… polithn on Ainulindalë: The Creation of t… Matthew Porter-Valbr… on Ainulindalë: The Creation of t… polithn on Ainulindalë: The Creation of t… polithn on Ainulindalë: The Creation of t… Brad on Ainulindalë: The Creation of t… John Sobert Sylvest on The Grammar of Divine Permissi… John Sobert Sylvest on The Grammar of Divine Permissi… -
Recent Posts
Categories
- Alexander Earl
- Apostle Paul
- Aquinas
- Athanasius
- Basil of Caesarea
- Bible
- Book Reviews
- Brian Moore
- Byzantine theology
- Citations
- Cyril of Alexandria
- Dante
- David B. Hart
- Dionysius the Areopagite
- Dumitru Staniloae
- Eschatology
- Fiction & Poetry
- George MacDonald
- Grace, Justification & Theosis
- Gregory Nazianzen
- Gregory of Nyssa
- Herbert McCabe & Friends
- Holy Trinity
- Hugh McCann
- Humor
- Inklings & Company
- Interesting Theologians
- Irenaeus
- Isaac the Syrian
- Islam
- John Stamps
- Jordan Wood
- Julian of Norwich
- Lamentation
- Liturgy & Sermons
- Mark Chenoweth
- Maximus the Confessor
- Mythopoeia
- Nicholas Wolfterstorff
- Paul Griffiths
- Personal
- Philosophical Theology
- Preaching
- Robert Farrar Capon
- Robert Fortuin
- Robert Jenson
- Roberto De La Noval
- Sacraments
- Sergius Bulgakov
- Spirituality
- T. F. Torrance
- T. S. Eliot
- Theology
- Theotokos
- Thomas Allin
- Thomas Talbott
- Tom Belt
- Uncategorized
- Vincent of Lérins
- Zizioulas & Yannaras
Archives
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
Tag Archives: negative theology
Divine Simplicity: Is God a Slave to his Nature?
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
Dionysian Ponderings: Divine Knowledge, Creation, and Modal Collapse
How does the infinite Creator know the contingent realities he has brought into existence without compromising his metaphysical simpleness? Or as St Dionysius the Areopagite asks: How is God to comprehend something among the intelligibles since he does not have … Continue reading
Dionysian Ponderings: Beyond the Beyond … and then Beyond
“Dionysius adopts the doctrine of God as ‘nameless,’ ‘unknowable,’ and ‘beyond being’ from the Neoplatonic tradition established by Plotinus,” writes Eric Perl, “and his thought can be understood only in that context” (Theophany, p. 13). We will need to revisit … Continue reading
Dionysian Ponderings: Transcendence and the Plotinian One
I come to my reading of the Corpus Areopagaticum with a specific understanding of divine transcendence, an understanding which I will be testing along the way. We might put it this way: God infinitely surpasses all creaturely distinctions and dualities—transcendence … Continue reading
Posted in Dionysius the Areopagite
Tagged apophatic, being, beyond being, David Hart, God, negative theology, Pseudo-Dionysius, the One
36 Comments
Trinity, Logic, and the Transcendence of Transcendence
Philosopher Dale Tuggy believes he has a decisive proof against the coherency of the catholic doctrine of the Trinity. It goes like this: God is a personal being, i.e., a self. By “self” is understood a being who is conscious, … Continue reading
But is God really, really, really related to the world?
Chris Mullen (aka malcolmsnotes) has recently targeted four alleged problems with the scholastic notion of actus purus, as articulated in the theology of St Thomas Aquinas. I’d like to respond to the first problem, i.e., the Thomist assertion that God does not exist … Continue reading
Posted in Aquinas
Tagged actus purus, Aquinas, Cambridge properties, creation, divine being, God, negative theology, properties, relations
33 Comments
The Knowledge of God According to Dumitru Staniloae
by Fr Jonathan Tobias “It is not the same to say something about God as it is to gain and see God”—so St Gregory Palamas said to Barlaam (quoted in The Experience of God, p. 115). Here is Fr Dumitru Staniloae’s … Continue reading
St Thomas Aquinas, Divine Simplicity, and Knowing the Unknowable God
What is God? What is his nature? The answer given by St Thomas Aquinas may surprise us: we do not know. By contemplation of the structures of the world, we may know that God exists as the ultimate cause and doer … Continue reading
Posted in Aquinas, Philosophical Theology
Tagged affirmative theology, analogy, Aquinas, divine attributes, divine simplicity, God, negative theology, via negativa
6 Comments