The Nature or Attributes of God

Question 1

What was the case of John Biddle?

Answer 1

• A man who was imprisoned for blasphemy due to him describing God in personal terms
• Human language limitations do not stop theologians, philosophers and the religious from trying to define the attributes of God

Question 2

What are the attributes of God published by the Catholic Encyclopaedia in 1907?

Answer 2

• Infinity
• Beauty
• Omnipotence
• Omnipresence

Question 3

What is the primary issue of attributing qualities to God?

Answer 3

• The question of whether the attributes we apply are appropriate to God is a problem in itself
• Our notion of beauty is relative to each person, but we know Gods beauty must be perfect and objective so how can we apply this to him
• Can our finite human language really describe God and how do we attribute such relative characteristics

Question 4

What is Omnipotence

Answer 4

The ability to perform any act

Question 5

What does St Thomas Aquinas believe Gods omnipotence is like? (Quote)

Answer 5

“God could not make things that go against these principles”
- Believed God could do anything that is logically
possible
- For St Thomas asking if God could create a square circle is pointless, it contradicts the rules of logic
- No sense in accusing God of a lack of omnipotence if he can’t do the logically impossible

Question 6

What does Descartes believe Gods omnipotence is like?

Answer 6

• Has the view that Gods existence is prior to the laws of logic and God is not bound by these
• Despite this being difficult for us to understand as we have no conception of logical possibilities, it remains a real possibility for God as he is not bound by the same things as us

Question 7

What are problems with both Aquinas’ and Descartes’ understanding of omnipotence?

Answer 7

• If we consider whether God could ride a bicycle, humans have attributes that allow us to, e.g hands and legs, if we broke our leg we would say we can’t ride a bike, even if we know how to
• If God is not being conceived as flesh and blood we struggle to see how he could ride a bike, he can move it, but can he ride it?
• Riding a bike is logically possible but requires the presence of certain physical attributes, showing there are more than logical forms of impossibility

Question 8

What is St Augustines understanding of Gods omnipotence? (Quote)

Answer 8

• Understands omnipotence as meaning God not doing anything he ca, but only doing what he wills or chooses to do
• “He does what He wills”

Question 9

What does St Augustine mean when he says God imposes self limitations when exercising his omnipotence?

Answer 9

• He argues that God will impose self limitations in doing things that are against his own nature, e.g doing evil things
• Gods omnipotence is the lack of frustration we feel as humans, e.g we cannot just be rich or be what we desire
• Omnipotence therefore is only understood through what you WILL to do, e.g you would feel no frustration if you could not ride a motorcycle if you did not want to

Question 10

How does Augustine defeat paradoxes of omnipotence with his argument?

Answer 10

• Augustine answers questions such as why can’t God create a rock so heavy he can’t lift
• He highlights how this goes against Gods will, why would he do such things when it coincides with none of his qualities?

Question 11

What is Omniscience?

Answer 11

• The attribute of being al knowing

Question 12

Quote Sir Michael Dummett on Gods POV of knowledge?

Answer 12

“God has no particular point of view”
- He reminds us that Gods knowledge is not like human knowledge, Gods knowledge is beyond perspective an includes everything
- Humans get things wrong, out of proportion and misunderstand their true significance, God would not do this and knows the true facts of everything

Question 13

What is the Nature of Gods knowledge for Michael Dummett? (Quote)

Answer 13

• “using the tense of timelessness”
• Believes Gods knowledge as timeless and he knows everything timelessly
• E.g WW2 to us is a historical fact that happened in 1939, but for God its true timelessly, its true in the past, present and future as his knowledge is not constrained by time like humans

Question 14

How do indexical sentences cause issues for Dummetts notion of timeless knowledge?

Answer 14

• Some statements e.g ‘I am behind you’, could be true for a particular time and place, but only for the speaker in that moment (indexical)
• How could this be timeless if the entire notion is tied to a time and place for the sentence to have any meaning

Question 15

How does Dummetts belief exhaust the concept of knowledge?

Answer 15

• His idea of Gods timeless knowledge causes for knowledge to be constrained to only knowing facts, past, present and future
• There would only be full knowledge if there was no other knowledge than that of facts

Question 16

What type of Knowledge does Thomas Nagel introduce in his famous article, how does this pose a challenge to God’s omniscience?

Answer 16

• Wrote a famous article ‘What is it Like to Be a Bat?’ where it leads us to realise we have no idea of what it is like, no bat sense, mind or vocabulary
• Applying this to God it makes it hard to think how he can experience a non-God like experience
• For example, could God experience a bats life, or a humans life?

Question 17

Why does the knowledge of doing something pos a challenge to Gods omniscience?

Answer 17

• Certain type of knowledge can only be gained through practice, e.g how to ride a bike
• You could only know through practice, we do not say someone who’s read about riding bikes as someone who is able to ride the bike
• If God has never been displayed to have ridden bike, does he really KNOW how to ride a bike?

Question 18

How do different types of knowledge cause Gods omniscience to become contradictory?

Answer 18

• If God truly knows everything, he knows what its like to be human, and this entail ignorance
• However for God to be ignorant is illogical and contrary to his nature
• Leads to further problems of what is logically possible for a timely and timeless God
• However some argue that God only does what is true to his nature (omnipotence), he only needs to know what he wishes to know

Question 19

What is Benevolence?

Answer 19

• Literally means ‘well wishing’, the claim that God wants the good for everyone and everything
• God is all loving

Question 20

How does Aristotle believe Benevolence works?

Answer 20

• Aristotle would argue that one can only be truly just if he performed just acts, simply having a nice feeling is no enough
• The same way God is not a well wishing old man, he acts out of genuine beneficence

Question 21

How does the Problem of Evil cause problems for Gods benevolence?

Answer 21

• Some ask how God could genuinely be well wishing when the great amount of evil exists in the world
• Some argue that God is good in himself, and wills good
• But the point stands that how can God let this happen?

Question 22

What comment does Swinburne make about Gods benevolence, why does he argue that God IS benevolent?

Answer 22

• In his ‘Coherence of Theism’ God is good because he always does the morally best action, never the morally bad action

Question 23

• How does Dominican Philosopher Brian Davies argue against Swineburnes idea of God being benevolent?

Answer 23

• Brian Davies believes it is reductionist to say God is not simply someone who behaves themselves, just like any good human would
• Argues that God is not like a ‘moral person’, he is good because he does not go against his own nature and maintains a covenant with his people
• God is perfect because he does not and cannot contradict his own nature, a bad person can go against their nature and that’s what makes them bad

Question 24

What does M.B. Wilkinson believe about Gods benevolence?

Answer 24

• Argues Gods goodness should be understood as a part of his creative action
• God is not a ‘person among persons’ the same way a moral agent behaves
• Living morally is not only following Gods command, but rather understanding he has given us the good of autonomy, for us to construct our own good around what is right

Question 25

What is the Problem of Justice and Gods Benevolence?

Answer 25

• Issue of justice on earth with challenges Gods benevolence, e.g sinners do well and the pure lose
• This is not rectified by heaven and hell, as hell can be seen as part of the totality of evil in itself
• A child complains earliest about fairness, something God seems to be disregarding in the world

Question 26

What are the two types of Justice for Aquinas and which one applies to God?

Answer 26

• Commutative Justice, a type of commerce and exchange, this does not apply to God, you do not give to him for something in return
• Distributive Justice, where a ruler gives everyone the rank they deserve, this is seen through the order of nature, and effects of will, this belongs to God

Question 27

How does Aquinas expand on his notion of Gods justice compared to human justice?

Answer 27

• Aquinas argues that Gods justice is not like human conception of justice
• God does not require anything from us, we do not trade with God for a return, Gods justice is beyond this narrow scope and about giving everyone what they need

Question 28

For Aquinas, what is the standard of Justice?

Answer 28

• God is the standard of justice, he is not answerable to anyone
• He is perfectly wise, his standard of justice is the only one that is acceptable and he has shown this by giving each person what they need to flourish

Question 29

How does American Philosopher William Frankena support Aquinas?

Answer 29

• Points out the moral principle is not treating everyone in the same way, but rather for the relative good of their lives
• It would not be justice to give everyone the same opportunities, e.g giving rich kids a scholarship to university
• Can be argued God gives all what they relatively need, God aims to reach the same level of good in each persons lives

Question 30

What remains an issue with Aquinas’ argument for Gods justice?

Answer 30

• The fact is some people are not given what they need to flourish
• Some people are born without lies, mental impairment and disabilities that can hinder their lives

Question 31

What does John Calvin believe about Gods mercy and justice in is ‘Institutes of Christian Religion’?

Answer 31

• Argues that humans are corrupt in nature, damnable and he denies our free will and that God chooses a few elect and Godly people
• Only through limited election does God show his mercy towards humankind
• Argues election requires Church membership, outside of the Church there is no salvation, but inside it is limited

Question 32

Why does Calvin believe humans cannot argue with Gods harsh system of mercy and justice?

Answer 32

• He argues we cannot complain about not being exposed to the Church, not being saved, as people we do not deserve to be saved in the first place

Question 33

What argument can be made that Calvins notion of hell, is problematic for Gods mercy? (Quote)

Answer 33

“pierced through with deadly darts”
- Calvin has a traditional view of hell
- Can a truly good God implement a place of torture

Question 34

How does the RCC ‘Baptism of Desire’ battle Calvins notion of outside the Church there is no salvation? (Quote Second Vatican Council)

Answer 34

• We know people outside the Church who are good people, pure people, would a merciful God also condemn them?
• RCC accept the idea of ‘Baptism of Desire’ where those who had faith in God and lived according to those values can be saved
  “not only for Christians… for all men of good will”

Question 35

What is the case of Leonard Feeney?

Answer 35

• Excommunicated in 1953 for his insistence that outside of the church there was no salvation

Question 36

What is the view of Vincent Brümmer on Gods justice and mercy?

Answer 36

• Member of the Calvinist Dutch Reformed Church
• We can only make sense of justice and mercy if we think of God as personal, forgiving does not consist of condoning any action
• Only who forgives (God) must be willing to absorb the pain of the sinner