Category Archives: Church fathers

Critiquing Craig on Divine Conceptualism and Aseity

Prominent Christian philosopher and apologist William Lane Craig recently (2016) published a book God over All: Divine Aseity and the Challenge of Platonism (Oxford) focused on divine aseity, i.e., the idea that God exists a se, from Himself alone. Aseity is a standard commitment of monotheism. It means that nothing is more fundamental than God… Read More »

A Trinitarian Aporetic Triad

I’ve thought a lot about the Christian doctrine of the Trinity over the years. I’m persuaded that the core of the doctrine is coherent and true, but there are three commonly affirmed trinitarian theses that I see no way to reconcile. Indeed, they constitute an aporetic triad. It’s a triad because there are three claims… Read More »

Making Sense of the Essence–Energies Distinction

This post is about the essence–energies distinction, that is, the distinction between God’s essence and God’s energies. The distinction is central to Eastern Orthodox theology, but is largely ignored and often denied in Western Christianity. So what gives? What is this distinction supposed to be? Why do Eastern Christians think it’s vitally important? And why… Read More »

St. Athanasius as a Functional Open Theist

Since turning toward Eastern Orthodoxy about three years ago, I’ve become heavily interested in the history of Christianity and, in particular, the Church fathers, those influential individuals of, roughly, the first eight centuries AD who were instrumental in shaping what is now known as “orthodox” Christianity. One of those individuals was Athanasius of Alexandria (c.… Read More »