Michael C. Rea

The Oxford handbook of philosophical theology

List of Contributors I. THEOLOGICAL PROLEGOMENA 1. Authority of Scripture, Tradition, and the Church 2. Revelation and Inspiration 3. Science and Religion 4. Theology and Mystery II. DIVINE ATTRIBUTES 5. Simplicity and Aseity 6. Omniscience 7. Divine Eternity 8. Omnipotence 9. Omnipresence 10. Moral Perfection III. GOD AND CREATION 11. Divine Action and Evolution 12. Divine Providence 13. Petitionary Prayer 14. Morality and Divine Authority 15. The Problem of Evil 16. Theodicy 17. Skeptical Theism and the Problem of Evil IV. TOPICS IN CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGY 18. The Trinity 19. Original Sin and Atonement 20. The Incarnation 21. The Resurrection of the Body 22. Heaven and Hell 23. The Eucharist: Real Presence and Real Absence V. NON-CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGY 24. Jewish Philosophical Theology 25. Islamic Philosophical Theology 26. Chinese [Confucian] Philosophical Theology

The Problem of Material Constitution

There are various puzzles that set our intuitions about composition and identity against one another. Four that are particularly well known are the Growing Argument (also known as the Paradox of Increase), the Ship of Theseus Puzzle, the Body-minus Argument (usually presented by way of Peter Geachs story about Tibbles the cat), and Allan Gibbards puzzle about Lumpl and Goliath (a piece of clay and a statue, respectively). Such puzzles have received a great deal of attention in the literature over the past thirty years, and there is an impressive and growing variety of solutions available for each of them. Surprisingly, however, no one has really discussed how all of the different puzzles, and their solutions, are interrelated. On the surface, they seem to raise different problems; but clearly the puzzles are related somehow. They raise similar questions and generate similar sets of possible solutions. But, as yet, nothing has been said about how far the similarities extend.

Presentism and fatalism

It is widely believed that presentism is compatible with both a libertarian view of human freedom and an unrestricted principle of bivalence. I argue that, in fact, presentists must choose between bivalence and libertarianism: if presentism is true, then either the future is open or no one is free in the way that libertarians understand freedom.

Personal Identity and Psychological Continuity

In a recent article, Trenton Mericks argues that psychological continuity analyses (PCanalyses) of personal identity over time are incompatible with endurantism. We contend that if Merrickss argument is valid, a parallel argument establishes that PC-analyses of personal identity are incompatible with perdurantism; hence, the correct conclusion to draw is simply that such analyses are all necessarily false. However, we also show that there is good reason to doubt that Merrickss argument is valid.

Gender as a divine attribute

It is standard within the Christian tradition to characterize God in predominantly masculine terms. Let ‘traditionalism’ refer to the view that this pattern of characterization is theologically mandatory. In this article, I seek to undercut the main motivations for traditionalism by showing that it is not more accurate to characterize God as masculine rather than feminine (or vice versa). The novelty of my argument lies in the fact that it presupposes neither theological anti-realism nor a robust doctrine of divine transcendence, but instead rests heavy theoretical weight on the imago Dei doctrine and the method of perfect-being theology. The article closes by examining the implications of the articles main argument for the moral and liturgical propriety of characterizing God in predominantly masculine terms.

Theology without idolatry or violence

Since the 1960s, metaphysics has flourished in Anglo-American philosophy. Far from wanting to avoid metaphysics, philosophers have embraced it in droves. There have been critics, to be sure; but the criticisms have received answers and the enterprise has carried on.

An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion: Attributes of God: independence, goodness, and power

In the preface, we explained and defended our decision to focus our attention in this book primarily on the Western monotheistic religious traditions. Those traditions claim, in some rough sense, to share a common concept of God; and one of the most important enterprises in theistic philosophy of religion has been the task of analyzing that concept and exploring some of its more puzzling and problematic aspects. In this and the following two chapters we too shall take up this task, paying special attention to those attributes of God that have traditionally been regarded as most important and of the greatest philosophical interest. Before turning to our discussion of the attributes of God, it will be helpful first to say a few words both about what we mean when we talk about “the” concept of God and about how we might go about unpacking that concept. The concept of God Theologians in the Western tradition have characterized “the concept of God” in a variety of different ways. For some, the concept of God is just the concept of the ultimate reality, or the source and ground of all else; for others it is the concept of a maximally perfect being. Still others would say that to be God is to be the one and only being worthy of worship, so that analyzing the concept of God would involve coming to a full understanding of worship-worthiness.