Contributions to Philosophical Theology – serie

In contemporary discussions, discovering meaning in life is often connected with secular or religious ideas of ‘transcendence’. This book deals with the question whether a conception of God’s transcendence as part of a Christian view of life can offer adequate help in living a meaningful life. After discussing Greek, biblical and Christian conceptions of divine transcendence, the process of ascribing meaning is analysed and its requirements for views of life are spelled out. In dialogue with classical theism, process theism and negative theology, the author proposes a conception of God’s transcendence that can function adequately in living meaningfully in a Christian way. The author also tries to show that this conception has advantages over atheist views in enabling people to find meaning in life. This study makes a distinctive contribution to the doctrine of God, not only by offering a full-blown conception of God’s transcendence, but also through its specific focus on the kind of functionality required by the practice of finding meaning in life.

This book tells the story of the philosophy of science from its inception in the aftermath of the first World War to its current stage, and relates this story to the status of theology. In doing so, it fills a remarkable gap in the literature. The unexpected resurgence of religious issues in often heated discussions since the beginning of the 21st century gave a new urgency to the question of the academic treatment of religion(s). Is it still adequate to allow for the academic study of religion only in a distanced and matter-of-fact way, without people’s own views of life being brought into play and confronted with each other? Or can we also have a viable form of theology that starts from a basic religious commitment, but nevertheless fully satisfies academic standards? There is a wide debate on topics like these – but seldom this debate is conducted in a way that is informed by the state of the art in the philosophy of science.

If God knows human actions in advance, do humans really have freedom of choice? Throughout the centuries various solutions have been offered as to how to retain or reconcile both the concepts of divine omniscience and human freedom. One solution focuses on the idea of middle knowledge. This theory originates with the Spanish Jesuit Luis de Molina, was contested by Reformed theologians such as Herman Bavinck, and makes a remarkable comeback among present-day analytical philosophers such as William Lane Craig.Apart from a wealth of philosophical considerations, the appeal to biblical texts also plays an important role in the work on middle knowledge by each of these thinkers. The book examines their writings and investigates how contemporary biblical scholars interpret the biblical texts used by them. The author elaborates a creative proposal as to how these gained insights apply to the theory of middle knowledge and what this means for our overall evaluation of this theory.

The book uses scientific discipline of chemistry to inform a Natural Theology. While Natural Theology typically employs scientific analysis from Cosmology, Physics, Mathematics and at times Biology the author extends the subject. He refers to the perception of beauty to provide a conceptual framework linking aspects of Epistemology, Theology and Chemistry. The volume presents a working definition of Natural Theology and a new definition of Beauty that bridges the conceptual gaps between the humanities and the hard sciences.

This book offers a bright and learned contribution on the famous German Theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg. Centering on his work »Wissenschaftstheorie und Theologie« (1973) it deals with his passion for an academically sound and respected theology, its radiation in an interdisciplinary university context in general and in the science-and-theology-dialogue in particular. Dr. Gülden Le Maire illuminates the role and function of theology in the German and Anglo-American educational-political landscape in the last decades of the 20st century. But she also offers a vision for the future of a healthy and fruitful academic theology in the German Academy and beyond. (Michael Welker, Senior professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Heidelberg)

Since its clear formalization in the 14th century by the Orthodox theologian Gregory Palamas, the assertion of a „real“ distinction in God between essence and uncreated energies has become the major point of conflict between Western and Eastern Christian theologies, to the point that nowadays even the notorious Filioque controversy tends to be seen as a theological consequence of this problem. The innovative approach of this book on the Palamite controversy abandons the traditional „ontological“ contraposition based on the (Eastern) defense or (Western) rejection of the aforementioned „real“ distinction, and moves to epistemological terrain, taking the logical notion of „antinomy“, in its vital connection with theological apophaticism, as the formal touchstone to discern the effective continuity (or discontinuity) between Palamas‘ thought and its patristic sources.

In recent years, God's nature and attributes have been the centre of numerous attempts at conceptual clarification and critical reflection. This volume contains, besides an introduction to the method of philosophical theology, essays on God's love, immutability, omnipresence, omniscience, simplicity, (im)passibility and omnipotence. Understanding the Attributes of God is not only a highly readable survey of recent developments in philosophical theology, but also aims at making a distinctive contribution. The authors all belong to the so-called 'Utrecht school' in philosophical theology, whose approach is characterised by the cross-fertilization of Anglo-Saxon and continental, philosophical and theological, traditional and recent thinking. This volume offers a programmatic sample of their work.

God only knows what I'd be without you, sang the Beach Boys in 1966. A certain item of knowledge is here attributed to God - knowledge, so it is said, that no-one else possesses. Some say that this knowledge behaves like that of a super-psychologist, while others say that it is middle knowledge - God knows what would have become of the singer in a non-actual world, given certain free decisions of others. This book collects all major contributions to the question whether middle knowledge is possible at all, and if so, what help it would be in spelling out, for example, the doctrine of divine providence.