Category: Trinity and Incarnation
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Footnote 190 in Vlastimil Vohánka, Modality, Logical Probability, and the Trinity: A Defence of Weak Skepticism
To put it oxymoronically, I am seriously toying with taking a mysterian line with respect to such Christian dogmas as Trinity and Incarnation. To this end, I need to come to grips with our Czech friend Vlastimil Vohánka's footnote 190 on pp. 79-80 of his 2011 dissertation. This subject-matter is difficult, so put on your thinking…
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The Logic of the Trinity Revisited
Our question concerns the logical consistency of the following septad, each limb of which seems entailed by the dogma of the Trinity as set forth in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. How can the following propositions all be true? My concern is whether the dogma in its Roman Catholic form can be expressed in such a…
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The Logic of the Incarnation: Response to Fr. Kirby
I presented the following argument in a response to Dr. Vito Caiati: a. The Second Person of the Trinity and the man Jesus differ property-wise. b. Necessarily, for any x, y, if x, y differ property-wise, i.e., differ in respect of even one property, then x, y are numerically different, i.e., not numerically identical. (Indiscernibility of…
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Incarnation, Resurrection, and Rational Acceptability
A while back I was talking with my young theological friend Steven about Christianity. I had remarked that its essence lies in the Incarnation. Without disagreeing with me, he offered the bodily resurrection of Christ as the essential pivot on which Christian belief and practice turns. This raises a number of questions. One is this:…
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A Christian Koan
Man is godlike and therefore proud. He becomes even more godlike when he humbles himself. The central thought of Christianity, true or not, is one so repellent to the natural human pride of life that one ought at least to entertain the unlikelihood of its having a merely human origin. The thought is that God…
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Physicalist Christology? Notes on Merricks
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us . . . . (John 1:14) Physicalism is popular among philosophers these days. So it is no surprise that Christian philosophers are drawn to it as well, including those who subscribe to the central teaching that God the Son, the second person of the Trinity,…
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Good Friday: At the Mercy of a Little Piece of Iron
Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace, tr. Craufurd, Routledge 1995, p. 75: The infinite which is in man is at the mercy of a little piece of iron; such is the human condition; space and time are the cause of it. It is impossible to handle this piece of iron without suddenly reducing the infinite which…
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Two Different Christmas Day Meditations on the Incarnation
Last Year's: "And the Word Was Made Flesh and Dwelt Among Us" (John 1:14) Let us meditate this Christmas morning on the sheer audacity of the idea that God would not only enter this world of time and misery, but come into it in the most humble manner possible, inter faeces et urinam nascimur, born…
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Michael Gorman on Christological Coherence
On classical Christology, as defined at the Council of Chalcedon in anno domini 451, Christ is one person with two natures, a divine nature and a human nature. But isn't this just logically impossible inasmuch as it entails a contradiction? If Christ is divine, then he is immaterial; but if he is human, then…
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“And the Word Was Made Flesh and Dwelt Among Us” (John 1:14)
Let us meditate this Christmas morning on the sheer audacity of the idea that God would not only enter this world of time and misery, but come into it in the most humble manner possible, inter faeces et urinam nascimur, born between feces and urine, entering between the legs of a poor girl in a…
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Peter Kreeft on the Trinity
This from reader D. B.: The doctrine of the Trinity does not say there is one God and three Gods, or that God is one Person and three Persons, or that God has one nature and three natures. Those would indeed be self-contradictory ideas. But the doctrine of the Trinity says that there is…
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Mysterian Materialism and Mysterian Trinitarianism
Here are some thoughts that may provoke a fruitful discussion with Vlastimil Vohanka on the topic of mysterianism in the philosophy of mind and in theology. He kindly sent me his rich and stimulating paper, "Mysterianism about Consciousness and the Trinity." The paper is available here along with other works of his. His view is…
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Incarnation Approached Subjectively: The Mystical Birth of God in the Soul
I have been, and will continue, discussing Trinity and Incarnation objectively, that is, in an objectifying manner. Now what do I mean by that? Well, with respect to the Trinity, the central conundrum, to put it in a very crude and quick way is this: How can three things be one thing? With respect to the…
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Are There Possible Worlds in which the Human Nature of Christ Exists Unassumed?
This entry continues the conversation with Tim Pawl about Chalcedonian Christology. I set forth the following antilogism: 3. The individual human nature of the Logos is a substance.4. Every substance is metaphysically capable of independent existence.5. The individual human nature of the Logos is not metaphysically capable of independent existence. I expected Tim to question…
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Substance, Accidents, Incarnation
This entry is a further installment in a continuing discussion with Tim Pawl, et al., about the Chalcedonian Christological two-natures-one-person doctrine. Professor Pawl put to me the following question: You ask: “Now if an accident is not the sort of item that can be crucified and bleed, how is it that an individual substance can…