Attributes of God - further reading Flashcards
What model of God’s omnipotence do McTaggart and Hobbes support?
Agree that God is omnipotent and that this means that God can do everything.
What do McTaggart and Hobbes say about the statement “God is omnipotent”?
It is not to be regarded as a philosophical proposition. To try to prove that God can do everything and to understand God’s omnipotence as literal and fail to appreciate it as a piece of religious language leads to a great many tangles.
What language framework does Almighty follow?
Ian Ramsey - “mighty” is the model and “all” is the qualifier. Shows how to talk of God’s “almightiness” is a form of analogy.
What does St Augustine say about God’s omniscience?
“…he who goes along the road does not see who comes after him; whereas he who sees the whole road from a height sees at once all those travelling on it”
How does Calvin support Boethius?
“When we attribute foreknowledge to God, we mean that all things have ever been perpetually remain before his eyes so that to his knowledge nothing is future or past but all things are present…he holds and sees them as if actually placed before him.”
What does Calvin say about foreknowledge?
“For to confess God exists and at the same time to deny that He had foreknowledge of future things is the most manifest folly…One who is not prescient of all future things is not God.”
How does Vardy criticise Hughes model of omniscience?
Hughes’ position is inconsistent with God’s simplicity as it means that God depends on human beings for God’s knowledge.
In “The Thinkers Guide to God” what does Vardy say about the incarnation?
According to Christian belief God did take a body - “And the Word became flesh” and as a human being God did feel tired, did feel anger and compassion, did feel pain and did die. This objections says that there are things within the Christian tradition that God has already done that if he is wholly simple are against his nature
What does Hodge say about God’s power?
“It is…involved in the very idea of power, that it has reference to the production of possible effects. It is no more a limitation of power that it cannot effect the impossible, than it is of reason that it cannot comprehend the absurd”
What does Hodge say determines God’s power?
“His will is determined by His nature. It is certainly no limitation to perfection to say that it cannot be imperfect.”
What does Augustine say about God’s power?
“The power of God is not diminished when it is said that he cannot die and cannot sin; for if he could do these things his power would be less”
What does Ronald Nash say about God’s power?
“The power to sin is the power to fall short of perfection. Since this is the opposite of omnipotence, God’s inability to sin is not inconsistent with His omnipotence rather it is entailed by His omnipotence”
