God is declared simple as the first tenet of classical theism, yet the explanations following are far from it, because they must be. All theistic forms, all from the finest minds of their ages, are simply unable to identify God because they are not capable as derivative creatures, inhibited by the vast distance between us and God. The wise blind men do their best to describe the elephant. Not a theologian, but as a faithful believer, thanks to this exposure of bewildering theisms, I'm finding greater clarity about God's nature in the order of the Trinity. I can begin to grasp the revealed Persons - Father who is loving and just, as provider of all things; Son who carries both human and divine in His being, as friend and Savior; Holy Spirit who abides, guides, and reproves through His inspired Word, as teacher.
You write “Classical theism was the primary model of God for most of Christian history. Isolating classical theism from orthodox Christian doctrines of the incarnation, atonement, and the like into a generic theism would allow for Platonic, Neoplatonic, and Aristotelian philosophy and for many Jewish and Muslim thinkers to be categorized as “classical theists” as well.”
I’m a little confused about this; just what is it that you think was philosophically driving the classical theist bus if not those philosophical traditions? Where do you think Augustine and Damascene, and Aquinas got it from? Why the repeated appeal to Aristotle as “the Philosopher”, if not because classical theism is a holdover of pagan philosophy?
Thank you for this post! I highly enjoy contemplating the Doctrine of God and specifically God's Attributes.
Thanks, Clive!
God is declared simple as the first tenet of classical theism, yet the explanations following are far from it, because they must be. All theistic forms, all from the finest minds of their ages, are simply unable to identify God because they are not capable as derivative creatures, inhibited by the vast distance between us and God. The wise blind men do their best to describe the elephant. Not a theologian, but as a faithful believer, thanks to this exposure of bewildering theisms, I'm finding greater clarity about God's nature in the order of the Trinity. I can begin to grasp the revealed Persons - Father who is loving and just, as provider of all things; Son who carries both human and divine in His being, as friend and Savior; Holy Spirit who abides, guides, and reproves through His inspired Word, as teacher.
You write “Classical theism was the primary model of God for most of Christian history. Isolating classical theism from orthodox Christian doctrines of the incarnation, atonement, and the like into a generic theism would allow for Platonic, Neoplatonic, and Aristotelian philosophy and for many Jewish and Muslim thinkers to be categorized as “classical theists” as well.”
I’m a little confused about this; just what is it that you think was philosophically driving the classical theist bus if not those philosophical traditions? Where do you think Augustine and Damascene, and Aquinas got it from? Why the repeated appeal to Aristotle as “the Philosopher”, if not because classical theism is a holdover of pagan philosophy?