Talking about God and talking about creation : Avicenna's and Thomas Aquinas' positions / by Rahim Acar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Acar, Rahim.

Series:

Islamic philosophy, theology, and science 0169-8729 ; v. 58.

Islamic philosophy, theology and science, 0169-8729 ; v. 58

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Avicenna, 980-1037.

Avicenna.

Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, 1225?-1274.

Thomas.

God--Comparative studies.

God.

Creation--Comparative studies.

Creation.

God--History of doctrines.

Creation--History of doctrines.

Physical Description:

x, 250 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2005.

Summary:

Comparing Avicenna's and Thomas Aquinas' positions regarding human knowledge, this volume talks about God and the nature of the creative action and the beginning of the universe. The overall argument of the book is that their conception of theological language plays an important role in shaping their positions concerning the creation of the universe.

In the first part, their conception of the theological language and divine formal features are explored and how their positions regarding theological language differ from each other is discussed. The second part includes a comparison of their conceptions of the nature of the divine creative action - which provides a good example showing how their conceptions of theological language affect the way they talk about creation - and their arguments concerning the beginning of the universe.

Contents:

Part 1 Talking About God

Chapter 1 Theological Language and Philosophical Assessment 25

Avicenna's Theory of Theological Language 26

We Cannot Know and Name God in Himself 26

God Is Known through Creation 28

God Has Negative and Positive Relations to Creation 30

God Has Perfections in a Different Mode from Creation 34

Perfections Are Predicated of God and Creation according to Tashkik 36

Aquinas' Theory of Theological Language 41

We Cannot Know God's Essence 42

God Is Known through Creation 44

God Has Negative and Positive Properties 46

God Has Perfections in a Different Mode from Creatures 48

Perfections Are Predicated of God Analogically 50

The Use of the Negative Element in Aquinas' Position 54

Chapter 2 Conception of God and Theological Language 79

Avicenna's Conception of Divine Formal Features and Divine Knowledge 81

God Is Simple 81

God Is Necessary and Immutable 86

God Is Eternal 89

God Knows Creatures as well as Himself 93

Aquinas' Conception of Divine Formal Features and Divine Knowledge 101

God Is Simple 101

God Is Necessary and Immutable 105

God Is Eternal 108

God Knows Creatures as well as Himself 113

Theological Language Revisited: Talking About God in the Light of Divine Formal Features 119

Part 2 Talking About Creation

Chapter 3 The Nature of Creative Action 131

Avicenna's Position: Creation is Voluntary and Necessary 132

Interpretation of Avicenna's Position 133

God Creates by Will not by Nature 136

God Freely and Necessarily Creates the Universe 140

Objections Revisited 146

Aquinas' Position: Creation is Voluntary and Hypothetically Necessary 149

God Creates by Will not by Nature 150

God's Will Is Simple: God primarily and essentially Wills Himself 155

God Freely Wills the Universe 156

God Has Free Choice 159

Is the Universe Necessary? 162

Talking About Creation: Necessity or Hypothetical Necessity 164

Chapter 4 The Beginning of the Universe 169

Avicenna's Position 170

What Is Creation? 170

Creation Is not a Change 172

Creation as the Relation between God and the Universe 173

Causes Necessitate Their Effects 176

Causes and Their Effects co-Exist 177

The co-Existence of Causes and Their Effects Does not Require that They Be Equal 181

The Efficient Cause Is the Cause only of the Existence of Its Effect 182

Arguments for the Sempiternity of the Universe 185

The First Argument: Time and Temporal Beginning Are not Applicable to All Things 186

The Second Argument: Temporal Posteriority Requires a Change in God 189

The Third Argument: Temporal Beginning Leads to Impossible Conclusions 193

Aquinas' Position 197

What Is Creation? 198

Creation Is not a Change 200

Creation as the Relation between God and the Universe 201

Real Relations of God 201

How God Is Related to the World 204

The Sempiternity of the Universe Is Possible but not Necessary 210

Countering Avicenna's Arguments for the Sempiternity of the Universe 213

Countering the First Argument 213

Countering the Second Argument 216

Countering the Third Argument 222

Remarks on Arguments Concerning Sempiternity 225

Primary Literature 235

Secondary Literature 236.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [235]-241) and indexes.

ISBN:

9004144773

OCLC:

60697212