Tag: Monad
On the Monad with Attributes
More from the philo class. On the potential problem for classical theism and its doctrine of divine simplicity. How can God be Simple and yet still have attributes? That’s the question I’m responding to w/ ref to our reading of Maimonides. I overlooked responding to the question: “Can this claim be held together with the claim that God has attributes?” I think this can portend of a weakness for the pure being view of Maimonides et al. I think it is important to say that God is non-composite. But on the other hand, God comes to us by way of…
What Does Barth’s Trinitarian Actualism Mean? Against the Monad
When in the realm of Barth studies, you will often hear of ‘Barth’s actualism.’ But what in fact is actualism in Barth’s theology? And might it, once understood, offer the way out of the classical modes of thought in regard to God’s relation to the world through the decretum absolutum (‘absolute decree’)? In other words, could Barth’s actualism allow us to understand God’s ways vis-à-vis the world in such a way that God is no longer understood to be a static monad, but instead, a relational and personalist God, who indeed is constituted by his perichoretic co-inhering relations as Father,…