The Coherence of Theism: Second Edition
Richard Swinburne
Abstract
This book investigates on which understandings of the nature of God, it is coherent to hold, that is it is metaphysically possible, that God exists. Part I analyses what it is for a proposition to be metaphysically possible, and shows how this normally reduces it to being logically possible; and then analyses how we can show a proposition to be logically possible. Part II analyses what it is for God to be a person, omnipresent, perfectly free, creator of the universe, omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good, and eternal. It claims that it is metaphysically possible that there exists a being wit ... More
This book investigates on which understandings of the nature of God, it is coherent to hold, that is it is metaphysically possible, that God exists. Part I analyses what it is for a proposition to be metaphysically possible, and shows how this normally reduces it to being logically possible; and then analyses how we can show a proposition to be logically possible. Part II analyses what it is for God to be a person, omnipresent, perfectly free, creator of the universe, omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good, and eternal. It claims that it is metaphysically possible that there exists a being with all these properties—given certain definitions of ‘omniscient’ and eternal’. Part III considers whether that being could have these properties essentially, and exist (in some sense) necessarily; and argues that this is possible only if some of the predicates discussed in Part II are understood in analogical senses.
Keywords:
analogy,
eternal,
God,
logical possibility,
metaphysical possibility,
necessary being,
omnipresence,
omniscience,
perfect freedom,
perfect goodness
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2016 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198779698 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: June 2016 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198779698.001.0001 |
