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166On God and NecessityFaith and Philosophy 31 (4): 435-459. 2014.My God and Necessity offers a theist a theory of modal truth. Two recent articles criticize the theory’s motivation and main features. I reply to these criticisms.
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102OmnipotenceIn Thomas P. Flint & Michael Rea (eds.), The Oxford handbook of philosophical theology, Oxford University Press. 2008.The doctrine that God is omnipotent takes its rise from Scriptural texts which concern two linked topics. One is how much power God has to put behind actions: enough that nothing is too hard, enough to do whatever he pleases. The other is how much God can do: ‘all things’. The link is obvious: we measure strength by what tasks it is adequate to perform, and God is so strong he can do all things. The Christian philosophical theologian who seeks to explicate omnipotence seeks a convincing account …Read more
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NecessityIn Charles Taliaferro & Chad Meister (eds.), The Cambridge companion to Christian philosophical theology, Cambridge University Press. 2010.
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Necessary BeingIn Edward Craig (ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Genealogy to Iqbal, Routledge. pp. 743-747. 1998.
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1Metaphysics: its Structure and Function (review)International Philosophical Quarterly 28 (1): 114-116. 1988.
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3Modes without ModalismIn Peter van Inwagen and Dean Zimmerman (ed.), Persons: Human and Divine, Oxford University Press. pp. 357--375. 2007.
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46Luis de Molina: On Divine ForeknowledgeInternational Philosophical Quarterly 31 (3): 374-376. 1991.
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7Metaphysics: its Structure and FunctionInternational Philosophical Quarterly 28 (1): 114-116. 1988.
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Jesus and AquinasIn Paul K. Moser (ed.), Jesus and Philosophy: New Essays, Cambridge University Press. 2008.
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29Introduction to the Problem of Individuation in the Early Middle AgesInternational Philosophical Quarterly 27 (1): 109-109. 1987.
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176Impossible worldsReligious Studies 42 (4): 393-402. 2006.Richard Brian Davis offers several criticisms of a semantics I once proposed for subjunctive conditionals with impossible antecedents. I reply to these
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5Is Christianity True? (review)Dialogue 37 (2): 395-395. 1998.Most debate in the philosophy of religion centres on “thin theism,” the thesis that there is a deity who is omnipotent, omniscient, etc. But few if any theists are just thin theists. For most, thin theism is at best the abstract skeleton of a fuller set of religious beliefs— Christian, Jewish, or Moslem. Thus, there is another set of issues philosophers of religion might but rarely do discuss: with what sort of warrant might one add to thin theism the beliefs of a particular religious tradition?…Read more
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466Is God an abstract object?Noûs 24 (4): 581-598. 1990.Before Duns Scotus, most philosophers agreed that God is identical with His necessary intrinsic attributes--omnipotence, omniscience, etc. This Identity Thesis was a component of widely held doctrines of divine simplicity, which stated that God exemplifies no metaphysical distinctions, including that between subject and attribute. The Identity Thesis seems to render God an attribute, an abstract object. This paper shows that the Identity Thesis follows from a basic theistic belief and does not r…Read more
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32Is Christianity True? Hugo A. Meynell London: The Catholic University of America Press, 1994, 149 pp (review)Dialogue 37 (2): 395-. 1998.Most debate in the philosophy of religion centres on “thin theism,” the thesis that there is a deity who is omnipotent, omniscient, etc. But few if any theists are just thin theists. For most, thin theism is at best the abstract skeleton of a fuller set of religious beliefs— Christian, Jewish, or Moslem. Thus, there is another set of issues philosophers of religion might but rarely do discuss: with what sort of warrant might one add to thin theism the beliefs of a particular religious tradition?…Read more
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1God's omnipotenceIn Brian Davies & Eleonore Stump (eds.), The Oxford handbook of Aquinas, Oxford University Press. 2011.
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149God’s Deontic PerfectionRes Philosophica 90 (1): 69-95. 2013.I offer part of an account of divine moral perfection. I defend the claim that moral perfection is possible, then argue that God has obligations, so that one part of his moral perfection must be perfection in meeting these. I take up objections to divine obligations, then finally offer a definition of divine deontic perfection
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1God's impassibility, immutability, and eternalityIn Brian Davies & Eleonore Stump (eds.), The Oxford handbook of Aquinas, Oxford University Press. 2011.
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156God and necessityOxford University Press. 2012.Brian Leftow offers a theist theory of necessity and possibility, and a new sort of argument for God's existence. He argues that necessities of logic and mathematics are determined by God's nature, but that it is events in God's mind - his imagination and choice - that account for necessary truths about concrete creatures.
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24F. X. Martin, O.S.A. and J. A. Richmond, eds., "From Augustine to Eriugena: Essays on Neoplatonism and Christianity in Honor of John O'Meara" (review)Journal of the History of Philosophy 31 (3): 460. 1993.
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14Eternity and immutabilityIn William Mann (ed.), The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Religion, Blackwell. 2004.