The nature or attributes of God Flashcards
(31 cards)
Who thinks God can do the logically impossible? (round square)
Descartes
Who thinks God cannot do the logically impossible? (round square)
Aquinas, Swinburne, C.S. Lewis
What does Descartes view suggest?
That God has no limitations, not even logic
What are the criticisms of Descartes?
- Just adds more bizarre questions (God can exist and not exist at the same time? God can make a married bachelor?)
- Seems to be based on confused and conflicted understanding of God
What might be limiting our understanding of God’s omnipotence?
The fact that we are humans
What does Aquinas argue?
That God can do all things logically possible (impossible things are simply a misuse of language)
What did C.S. Lewis say?
That adding ‘God can’ to nonsense still makes things nonsense (God can create a square circle is still nonsense)
What is the paradox of the stone?
Can God create a stone so heavy even he cannot lift it?
What is Mavrodes’ solution to the paradox of the stone?
The task for God to make a stone he cannot lift is a logically impossible task- thus, it doesn’t hinder God’s omnipotence
What are the criticisms of Mavrodes’ solution to the paradox of the stone?
Seems simply to restate the question, using another example, yet leads to no further resolving (saying that it cannot be subject to God’s omnipotence is just making a straw man argument out of the initial question)
What does Swinburne argue?
That God cannot do the logically impossible- he can make the universe cease to exist and exist, but not simultaneously, he cannot make a round square since the definition of round and square are contradictory
God may have limited himself to allow for free will
What are the criticisms of Swinburne?
Since God limited himself for free will, things can now be said to not be done by God
His explanation compromises and contradicts the definition of omnipotence
What does Kenny extend the definition of ‘omnipotence’ to?
‘the possession of all logically possible powers which it is logically possible for a being with the attributes of God to have’ (there is no difference between what God has the power to do and what is logically possible for him to do- it is logically possible to swim the English Channel, but most people wouldn’t be readily equipped with the skills to do so- but God has the power to do all logically possible things)
What are the criticisms of Kenny?
Doesn’t really add
What is Boethius’ book called?
The Consolation of Philosophy
What does Boethius believe about God’s eternity?
That he is timeless- atemporal
He does not experience past, present, or the future but is present to all SIMULTANEOUSLY
What does Boethius state about God’s eternity?
The whole, simultaneous and perfect possession of unending life
What does Augustine believe about God’s eternity?
He questions what was God doing before he made the world? But, because the Bible indicates a timeless God, there is no “before” God.
God made time for humans and he is exempt from the linear structure
What does Aquinas argue about God’s eternity?
‘eternity exists as a simultaneous whole and time does not’. He agrees with Boethius that God is atemporal
What does Anselm say?
Four dimensionalism
God is not ‘in every time and space’ but every ‘time and space’ is in God (he is pregnant with time, not contained but in control of time)
Does Anselm’s foru dimensionalism allow for free will?
Yes, God can see our free choices we made in the past and the ones we will do in the future
How do Boethius and Anselm differ with the mountain example?
Boethius: ‘as though from a lofty peak’
Anselm: there is no ‘as though;’, he literally sees our past, present and future
What does Wolterstorff say?
God is ‘freed from the bondage of temporality’
What does Swinburne say about God’s eternity?
That an atemporal God is incoherent and he could not ‘make much sense’ of this
