In a sub-section entitled, “Thomas and ‘onto-theology’”, of chapter nine of Denys Turner’s book, Faith, Reason and the Existence of God, Turner discusses possible ways that Thomas’ acceptance of a famous dictum by the Pseudo-Denys might be taken, and whether any of the interpretations can avoid falling into the error of onto-theology.  According to the [...]

In reading a section devoted to Scotus in Hannah Arendt’s book, The Life of the Mind, I came across an interesting passage in which she contrasts Scotus and Spinoza with regard to freedom and necessity. 
The Will’s autonomy–”nothing else but the will is the total cause of volition” (”nihil aliud a voluntate est causa totalis volitionis in [...]

According to Augustine, Truth and Love have a reciprocal relationship, and the absence of one indicates an absence of the other.  For example, if one does not approach the Scriptures with love, then one should not expect to obtain Truth.   When we encounter differing interpretations of the same passage, the principle of charity must be [...]

“The interpreter of Scripture can never claim to have cornered or domesticated God’s word, it even seems to do us violence, but this is divine violence that restores us to life!  This, I would propose, is Augustine’s own way of insisting upon incommensurability, the painful abyss between Divine Word and human words.  The interpreter of [...]

The following passages are taken from George Tavard’s book, The Starting Point of Calvin’s Theology.  Tavard’s work is a significant and unique contribution to Calvin studies, as it introduces readers to Calvin’s practically unknown book, Psychopannychia, which examines the immortality of the soul.  In addition to highlighting Calvin’s thorough knowledge of the Church Fathers and [...]

As I have highlighted on numerous occasions on this blog, St. Augustine is perfectly content with the idea that Scripture has multiple true meanings and that these meanings can and do go beyond the mind of the human writers of Scripture (cf. Confessions XII and Augustine’s discussions on the possible true meanings of Gen 1:1).  [...]