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4Berthold of MoosburgIn Jorge J. E. Gracia & Timothy B. Noone (eds.), A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages, Blackwell. 2005.
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6Hildegard of BingenIn Jorge J. E. Gracia & Timothy B. Noone (eds.), A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages, Blackwell. 2005.
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22The Universe Waking Up: A Useful Idea for AtheistsJournal of the American Philosophical Association 10 (1): 135-152. 2024.Some writers have described human beings as participating in the universe waking up or serving as the means by which the universe comes to know itself. In this paper I argue that this idea can be given a straightforward explanation with minimal metaphysical commitments. As long as one grants that the universe has a kind of unity and that human beings are conscious, it is possible to see human beings as vehicles for the universe's consciousness and knowledge of itself. I also argue that this idea…Read more
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77Defining atheism, theism, and godInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 85 (3): 335-346. 2019.At first glance, atheism seems simple to define. If atheism is the negation of theism, and if theism is the view that at least one god exists, then atheism is the negation of this view. However, the common definitions that follow from this insight suffer from two problems: first, they often leave undefined what “god” means, and, second, they understate the scope of the disagreement between theists and atheists, which often has as much to do with the fundamental character of reality as with the e…Read more
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43Two Myths of SisyphusPhilosophy and Literature 42 (2): 440-443. 2018.[We present below a preliminary translation of an ancient Greek manuscript, recently discovered by Dr. __________, containing two variations on the myth of Sisyphus. The document is in fragments, with gaps at the beginning and partway through.… [Upon] his capture, Sisyphus was brought before the council of the gods, who were informed of all his crimes. After withdrawing from the chamber for many hours, they returned to sentence Sisyphus to his fate. He was doomed to roll a rock up a hill, watch …Read more
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43Turner on Reason and Proving God’s ExistencePhilosophy and Theology 19 (1-2): 79-94. 2007.In Faith, Reason and the Existence of God, Denys Turner defends the possibility of proving God’s existence on Christian and philosophical grounds. He responds to Kantian objections by developing a theory of reason derived from Thomas Aquinas. Turner’s work shifts the debate about God’s existence to the problem of determining which concept of reason is correct. I argue that this problem is extremely difficult and perhaps insoluble, because it requires using reason to resolve a dispute about reaso…Read more
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Meister Eckhart and the Image: Sermon 16bThe Eckhart Review 8 47-59. 1999.This article explores the tension between Meister Eckhart's frequent claim that the human soul is an image of the divine and his equally frequent claim that God is beyond description and language. Through a reading of German Sermon 16b, I argue that Eckhart emphasizes the image's immediate ontological relationship to its source and downplays the image's similarity to this source. The soul as an image of God reveals God not through its nature as a soul but through the contingency of its being. Th…Read more
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Suffering God: Meister Eckhart's Sermon 52Mystics Quarterly 22 69-90. 1996.According to most Eckhart scholars, this famous sermon on spiritual poverty demands a radical break with ordinary life to make possible a union with God that generally lies beyond the limits of creatures. In my view, on the contrary, Eckhart uses the idea of spiritual poverty to proclaim the eternal identity of God and the soul. Eckhart vividly shows that the soul, involved in this identity, must paradoxically be both divine and created, both eternal and temporal.
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21The Unspoken Word: Negative Theology in Meister Eckhart's German SermonsCatholic University of America Press. 2002.First Eckhart says, "God is a word, an unspoken word." This sentence recalls the beginning of the Gospel of John, but it is curious that Eckhart alludes to its identification of the Word with God precisely here, right after he asserts God's ineffa- ...
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Meister Eckhart: Image and Discourse in Four German SermonsDissertation, State University of New York at Stony Brook. 1997.I argue that Meister Eckhart's distinctive use of language in his German sermons deliberately reflects his theological view. Instead of being straightforward statements of doctrine, Eckhart's sermons use paradox, wordplay, and imagery to engage their interpreters dialectically and bring them to the perspective Eckhart hopes to instill. This perspective centers on God's simultaneous distinction and indistinction from creatures, including the soul. Knowing God requires becoming aware of one's own …Read more
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24Masters of learned ignorance: Eriugena, Eckhart, Cusanus. By Donald F. Duclow: Book reviews (review)Heythrop Journal 50 (4): 732-733. 2009.
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21Creation out of Nothing: A Biblical, Philosophical, and Scientific Exploration (review)International Philosophical Quarterly 45 (3): 408-410. 2005.
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11Julie Casteigt, Connaissance et vérité chez Maître Eckhart: Seul le juste connaît la justice. Paris: J. Vrin, 2006. Paper. Pp. 480. €55 (review)Speculum 86 (1): 175-177. 2011.
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29On What Cannot Be Said: Apophatic Discourses in Philosophy, Religion, Literature and the Arts. Volume One:Classic Formulations. Edited with Theoretical and Critical Essays by William Franke and On What Cannot Be Said: Apophatic Discourses in Philosophy, Religion, Literature and the Arts. Volume Two:Modern and Contemporary Transformations. Edited with Theoretical and Critical Essays by William Franke (review)Heythrop Journal 51 (1): 174-175. 2010.
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Religion |
Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Religion |