What is God according to classical theism?

According to classical theism, God is: A se – wholly independent of all else. God is absolutely the first being. He exists before there is anything else for him to depend on. So he must need or depend on nothing in any way other than himself (see Aseity).

What are the classical attributes of God?

Most theists agree that God is (in Ramanuja’s words) the “supreme self” or person—omniscient, omnipotent, and all good. But classical Christian theists have also ascribed four “metaphysical attributes” to God—simplicity, timelessness, immutability, and impassibility.

What is the difference between pantheism and panentheism?

Classical theistic systems often prioritize the difference between God and the world while panentheism stresses God’s active presence in the world and the world’s influence upon God. While pantheism emphasizes God’s presence in the world, panentheism maintains the identity and significance of the non-divine.

How is God’s simplicity defined?

In theology, the doctrine of divine simplicity says that God is without parts. The general idea can be stated in this way: The being of God is identical to the “attributes” of God.

What is God in metaphysics?

Metaphysics of God: God as One Infinite Eternal Substance. The ultimate reason of things must lie in a necessary substance, in which the differentiation of the changes only exists eminently as in their source; and this is what we call God. …

What does simplicity of heart mean?

Simplicity of heart is something that is much harder to achieve than a simple closet or a clean house. Webster’s Dictionary defines simplicity as freedom from subtlety. Freedom from artificial ornament, or pretentious style. Freedom from cunning or duplicity.

What are the basic issues in metaphysics?

Typical issues include transcendence, being, existence in its individual and communal dimensions, causality, relations, analogy, purpose, the possibility of metaphysics, and the relations of metaphysics to other disciplines.

What is the classical definition of theology?

Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries.

What is Noseeum inference?

The “noseeum” inference (The reason NI is called a ‘noseeum’ inference is that it says, more or less, that because we don’t see ‘um, they probably ain’t there.) Various analogies are offered to show that the noseeum inference is logically dubious.

In Western (Christian) thought, God is traditionally described as a being that possesses at least three necessary properties: omniscience (all-knowing), omnipotence (all-powerful), and omnibenevolence (supremely good).

What is the difference between deism and theism?

Deism holds the belief that God does not intervene in human affairs whereas theism holds the belief that God intervenes in human affairs through miracles or supernatural revelation. This is the main difference between deism and theism.

What is it called when you believe in something but not God?

Atheism is the doctrine or belief that there is no god. However, an agnostic neither believes nor disbelieves in a god or religious doctrine. Agnostics assert that it’s impossible for human beings to know anything about how the universe was created and whether or not divine beings exist.

Which is the best description of classical theism?

Classical theism is a form of theism in which God is characterized as the absolutely metaphysically ultimate being, in contrast to other conceptions such as pantheism, panentheism, polytheism and process theism. Classical theism is a form of monotheism.

What do you mean by classical view of God?

The “classical view of God” refers to the view of God that has dominated Christian theology since the earliest Church fathers.

Is the theory of classical theism compatible with the Bible?

Classical theism was almost universal among Christian theologians prior to the twentieth century. However, some of its recent critics argue that it is taken from pre-Christian philosophers and incompatible with the occasions in the Bible that describe God as emotional or changing.

How are rocks and God different in classical theism?

They live in minds, while rocks don’t live at all. Classical theism takes the option that God is “much more like an idea of a rock than a rock,” because classical theists deny that God is a discrete being in the world. For classical theists, “God is absolutely simple, immaterial, and indivisible….