A deity is a superhuman person. Since deities are persons, they are axiologically comparable with each other. They are comparable in terms of their moral, political, and other axiological qualities. I regard all deities as contingent concrete worldbound particulars. To compare deities is to compare possible objects across worlds. I aim to compare the axiological qualities of deities taken from the entire Western ecosystem of deities. I will compare deities in terms of their moral (...) and political qualities (this deity is a morally better person than that deity). I will compare them in terms of their relations with non-divine persons (this deity is better for humans than that deity). I will compare the worlds in which the deities occur (a world with this type of deity is a better world than a world with that type of deity). I will compare types of deities and use specific deities to illustrate those types. The deities of some popular theologies are very bad; but the deities of some less popular theologies are very good. (shrink)

This book describes the "naturalistic fallacy", as attributed to Hume, that non-moral premises cannot logically entail a moral conclusion, and distinguishes it from the similarly named though subtly different fallacy identified by Moore in Principia Ethica by comparing and contrasting its presence in a range of ethical or moral systems. A review of Hume’s position elicits the implications to theological naturalism, and how this relates to Kierkegaard’s "paradox of faith" and the doctrine of ineffability. Methods of logical examination of religious (...) language are discussed, leading to the dissection of the analytic proposition that ‘God is Good’ and of the connotations of proper names. Porter concludes from this a solution to the naturalistic fallacy: that "good" is essential to "God" by definition, and therefore that premises relating to God must contain an inherent morality. Originally published in 1968, this book includes topics such as Mediaeval attitudes to deity and morality; Religious myth, images and language; Comparative conceptions of deity. (shrink)

This research systematically evaluates via prototype analysis how conceptualizations of Western adult's monotheistic God are structured. Over 4 studies, using U.S. student and community samples of predominantly Christians, features of God are identified, feature centrality is documented, and centrality influence on cognition is evaluated. Studies 1 and 2 produced considerable overlap in feature frequency and centrality ratings across the samples, with “God is love” being the most frequently listed central feature. In Studies 3 (choice latency) and 4 (recall and recognition (...) memory), the centrality of features influenced cognitive processes: central features were more quickly identified as features of God than peripheral features; were correctly recognized more often; and central features were correctly recalled more often than peripheral features. Results indicated that participants meaningfully judged centrality and that centrality affected cognition. Thus, the two criteria necessary for demonstrating deity representations adhere to a prototype structure were met. Implications and future directions are discussed. (shrink)

Two questions are addressed in this article: 1. Why are people attracted to leaders? 2. How are leaders' images construed? The first question is analyzed by using the concept of “deity” as a frame of reference for an “ideal model” of leadership. God as a “screen of projections” can satisfy the believer's fundamental needs and desires, as well as serving as a reference for causal attributions and a provider of transcendental meaning. Using Construal Level Theory, deity, as a frame of (...) reference, also facilitates analysis of the second question. This analysis explains universal principles underlying the leadership construal, and the psychological principles and culture-bound processes relevant to construing different images of leadership in different collectives. (shrink)

An examination of the concept of God as propounded by Charles Hartshorne and John Macquarrie, two mid-20th century theological thinkers, Relational Deity argues for a concept of God as "relational deity" that arises out of a detailed investigation juxtaposing Hartshorne's neoclassical theism and Macquarrie's existential-ontological theism.

An examination of the use of the idiom “to return” to express the forgiveness and compassion of a deity in ancient Semitic languages and quranic Arabic.

A theology aims to explain the nature of God. A metatheology investigates more fundamental issues concerning how to structure such an intellectual endeavor. This book examines where it is best to start the project of theology in the hope of offering a defensible metatheory from which a complete and elegant theology can be developed.

In his book God and Necessity and in four subsequent papers, Brian Leftow argues against metaphysical theories which hold that “God’s nature makes necessary truths true or gives rise to their truthmakers,” asserting that all such “deity theories commit us to the claim that God’s existence depends on there being truthmakers for particular necessary truths about creatures.” Leftow supports this by arguing that all deity theories entail that if it is untrue that water = H2O, then God does not exist. (...) This paper presents a counterexample deity theory along with a synopsis of its correlative theory of truth and truthmaking. (shrink)

This paper attempts to provide a high-level comparison of Eastern and Western conceptions of deity. It finds some significant similarities—involving worshipworthiness and the ideal shape of human lives—and some important differences—concerning the ultimate nature of reality, the relation of supreme deity to the rest of reality, and the relative frequency of divine incarnation.

Cees Leijenhorst’s essay is largely a response to two articles. The first is by Edwin Curley, I Durst not Write so Boldly or How to Read Hobbes’ Theological-Political Treatise, Scienza e Politica ed. by P. Bostreghi , 497-593. Leijenhorst goes through several of Curley’s arguments to show that the supposed atheism which is the logical outcome of Hobbes’s remarks, as read by Curley, in fact do not lead to that conclusion. The second article is Agostino Lupoli’s ‘Fluidismo’ e Corporeal Deity (...) nella Filosofia Naturale di Thomas Hobbes: A Proposito dell’hobbesiano ‘Dio delle Cause’, Rivista di Storia della Filosofia 54 n. s. : 573-610.) In broad agreement with Lupoli, Leijenhorst refines and somewhat revises the latter’s arguments to show greater consistency and continuity of thought in Hobbes. He concludes, There does not appear to exist any reason for doubting Hobbes’s sincerity with respect to his outspoken endorsement of the orthodox Christian creatio ex nihilo. (shrink)

The shaping of a text with a specific kind of plot is suggestive of the fundamental values that the author desires to either promote or discourage within the reader’s community and its worldview. The Judith narrative is not an exception to this claim or rule. Scholars have contributed much in establishing the underlying purpose of Judith and came up with intuitive contributions to the field of study. However, the investigation of the overarching fundamental values that generated the story of Judith (...) remains a gap to be filled in Judith research. The goal of this article is to fill this gap by investigating the fundamental values that the author desires to promote or discourage within the community, using the thematic analysis of the Greimassian semiotic approach. Subsequently, the present article reveals that the Judith narrative was designed to be an ideological vehicle in its intent, aimed at rejuvenating and revitalising the core values of the Jewish religion during the difficult times of the Second Temple period. (shrink)

Dans cette étude, on présentera les divinités féminines honorées à Dion depuis les origines jusqu’à la conquête romaine et on enquêtera sur l’origine de leur culte. Le culte des Muses, seul attesté dans les textes anciens, était lié à celui de Zeus Olympien et encouragé par le roi macédonien Archelaos vers la fin du ve siècle avant notre ère en tant que moyen de propagande. Déméter était une divinité féminine importante, dont le culte a été mis au jour par les (...) témoignages archéologiques les plus anciens. Son sanctuaire accueillait également d’autres divinités féminines de la fertilité de moindre importance. Le culte de ces divinités, par opposition au culte des Muses, était fondé sur le désir du fidèle de communiquer avec les dieux avec lesquels une relation plus intime était supposée et qui pouvaient assurer leur existence et leur bien-être. De plus, le culte de la déesse égyptienne Isis, introduit à Dion au cours du iie siècle avant notre ère, a peu à peu éclipsé le culte de divinités plus anciennes, puisqu’Isis combinait plusieurs de leurs prérogatives. En conséquence, son sanctuaire est devenu le plus florissant durant la période romaine.In this contribution, the female deities worshipped at Dion since its establishment as a city through to the Roman conquest are presented and the origin of the cult of these deities is investigated. The worship of the Muses, the only worship attested in ancient texts, was related to the worship of Olympian Zeus and supported by the Macedonian King Archelaos around the end of the 5th century B.C. as a means of expediency and propaganda. Demeter was an important female deity, whose cult was brought to light by the oldest archaeological evidence. Her sanctuary also hosted other minor female deities of fertility. The cult of these deities, in contrast to the cult of the Muses, was based on the worshippers’ urge to communicate with those of the gods with whom a more intimate relationship was assumed and who could ensure their existence and welfare. Moreover, the worship of the Egyptian goddess Isis, introduced to Dion in the 2nd c. B.C., gradually overshadowed the worship of older deities, since Isis combined several of their qualities. As a consequence, her sanctuary became the most thriving shrine during the Roman period. (shrink)

In his recent paper, Page (International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 85, 297–317, 2019) raised the question of what, if anything, is it that distinguishes an account of a personal God, i.e., an account to which classical theists are committed, from an account of God as a person, i.e., an account of deity to which personal theists are committed. Page himself proposed ‘a criterial approach’ to understanding what is for God to be a person, according to which God is a (...) person iff God meets some criteria of personhood, for example, having self-consciousness and being rational. In the paper, first, I argue that the criterial approach doesn’t allow us to draw a clear distinction between classical theism and theistic personalism. Then I provide my own proposal how this distinction could be made, according to which classical theism and theistic personalism are instantiated by two different ontological models. The classical theist thinks of deity as a self-sustaining (substance-like) virtue that is the efficient and final cause of all beings that are different from it, whereas the theistic personalism understands deity as an underlying subject for some properties which exist independently of it. (shrink)

Existentially, Igbo-African metaphysics swivels around ethics, morality, justice, and medicine. This state of being is evident in their credo on the ontology of the deities, which they see as a strategic variable in their hierarchy of beings and a critical agent in their quest for sane, responsible, peaceful existence and co- existence. Based on these premises, this paper interrogated these variables to establish the symmetry between them. In doing this, this research employed the critical analytic cum existential model in (...) its analysis. After which, it became palpable that the existence and ontology of the deities accentuates the mode of operation of the Igbo-African and from that position; it was blatant that the communal life of the Igbo-African makes African metaphysics a lived-metaphysics or what I have called anthropologised-metaphysics. (shrink)

Henry Home (1696-1782) has been called "perhaps the most complete 'Enlightenment man' among the eighteenth-century Scottish thinkers." Kinsman and friend of David Hume, mentor and patron of Adam Smith, John Millar, and Thomas Reid, he was a key figure in that circle of luminaries. He read law, was called to the bar in 1723, was raised to the Bench of the Court of Session in 1752, with the title Lord Kames (the name of his family estate), and joined the High (...) Court of the Justiciary in 1763. Publishing broadly in law, history, philosophy, and criticism, Kames made significant contributions to the Enlightenment's science of human nature. The Essays is commonly considered Kames's most important philosophical work. In the first part, he sets forth the principles and foundations of morality and justice, attacking Hume's moral skepticism and addressing the controversial issue of the freedom of human will. In the second part, Kames focuses on questions of metaphysics and epistemology to offer a natural theology in which the authority of the external senses is an important basis for belief in the Deity. The text of this volume is based on the third edition of 1779, while the appendix presents substantial variant readings in the first and second editions. (shrink)

Calvin famously interprets Romans 1 as ascribing human knowledge of God in nature not to inferences from created things (natural theology) but to a “senseof deity” that all people share and sinfully suppress. I want to suggest that the sense of deity interpretation actually provides the resources for explaining thepersuasive power and usefulness of natural theology. Specifi cally, I will argue that understanding certain ontological and cosmological arguments as dependenton the sense of deity preserves their ability to persuade while helping (...) solve serious problems with the justifi cation of their premises. In the case of the ontological argument, this will provide a new response to the most serious objection that the argument faces, the charge that it begs the question. (shrink)

This book is an attempt at a restatement of the traditional view of the relation of God to man. In opposition to humanism which proposes a religion of pure humanity, and to the theology of crisis which, so to speak, teaches a religion of pure Deity, it maintains a view of religion and theology which holds that the notions of humanity and Deity can not be separated without making them unintelligible. This view makes religion not merely a matter of faith (...) and emotion but of reason as well. The development of this thesis involves looking again at the relation of dogmatic to rational theology and reinterpreting the latter. An examination of the historic proofs for the existence of God and an axiological interpretation of the entire theistic argument constitute the heart of the book. In pursuance of this programme the book includes a study of such topics as language, myth, symbolism, logic, intuition and creed. Finally, after taking up the problems of religious knowledge, it discusses religion and science in contemporary thought, and the relation of religion to the humanities. (shrink)

This lecture presents the text of the speech about Elizabeth I Queen of England delivered by the author at the 2008 Raleigh Lecture on History held at the British Academy. It explores the religious movement called the Family of Love and discusses Sir Walter Raleigh's knowledge about the discourse on Dover Harbour, which was later spuriously attributed to him. The lecture provides an excerpt and interpretation of Queen Elizabeth's poem titled On Monsieur's Departure.

The positive attitude toward outsiders which emerged from Israel's experience of suffering and deprivation, and of which the attitude to proselytism is symptomatic, was always balanced by the need to resist assimilation.

The adjective ἱερός is a central term in Greek religion and is used in various contexts. Generally translated ‘sacred’, it indicates that an object has been conceded to the gods and is now in relation with them (relation of belonging, protection, etc.). It appears frequently in Greek inscriptions in the expression τὰ ἱερά, to designate sacred objects or, in a more abstract meaning, sacred matters.

In this paper I will investigate the identity of the daímōn introduced by Parmenides in B12, 3 DK, the deity “who steers all things”. The importance of this deity is not adequately reflected in ancient doxography but in recent decades many scholars have reconsidered its role. I argue that in Parmenides’ poem this daímōn may play a relevant role in connecting the theological, ontological and cosmological planes. My purpose is to provide enough arguments for the hypothesis that the daímōn may (...) be the same goddess, Themis, who in the proem (B1, 28) is paired with Dike as a guide for Parmenides to the theá who will reveal to him the truth of tò eón, and in the part of the poem called alḗtheia (B8, 32) is echoed as the divine personification of the thémis of tò eón itself. I will examine the different identities and attributes found in the accounts on Parmenides’ daímōn and will compare them with the identities and attributes that the mythological tradition assigns to the goddess Themis. (shrink)

On the Deities of Samothrace is the first complete English translation of F. W. J. Schelling's remarkable 1815 lecture and subsequent book publication. This critical edition contains Schelling's original text (the lecture, endnotes, and afterword) along with explanatory notes and three original essays by the editors and translators that try to elucidate Schelling's text for contemporary readers.

V. 1, God, Christ, Mary and Grace; v. 2, Man in the Church; v. 3, Theology of the Spiritual Life; v. 4, More Recent Writings; v. 5, Later Writings; v. 6, Concerning Vatican Council II; v. 7, Further Theology of the Spiritual Life; v. 8, Further Theology of the Spiritual Life 2; v. 9, Writings of 1965-1967 I; v. 10, Writings of 1965-1967 II; v. 11, Confrontations; v. 12, Confrontations 2; v. 14, Ecclesiology, Questions in the Church, The Church in (...) the World; v. 15, Penance in the Early Church; v. 16, EXperience of the Spirit: Source of Theology; v. 17, Jesus, Man, and the Church; v. 18, God and Revelation; v. 19, Faith and Ministry; v. 20, Concern for the Church; v. 21, Science and Theology; v. 22, Humane Society and the Church of Tomorrow; v. 23, Final Writings. (shrink)

In the mid‐twentieth century, theorists began seriously forecasting possibilities for artificial intelligence (AI). As related research gathered momentum and resources, the topic made impressions on public discourse. One effect was increasingly pointed emphasis on AI in popular narratives. Although considerably earlier thematic examples may be located, we can observe swelling and generally pessimistic threads of speculation in science fiction of the 1950s and 1960s. This discussion identifies some pertinent science fiction texts from that period, alongside public discussion arising from contemporary (...) research. One consistent theme is human receptiveness to the numinous , and the capacity to ascribe personality and even divinity to sufficiently impressive manifestations, even artificial ones. Science fiction has long contemplated such reactions, prefiguring today's anticipations of AIs that might abruptly develop themselves beyond any possible human comprehension or control. This body of exploratory projections is a useful resource for the engineers and philosophers currently grappling with realistic prospects for Western humanity's shifting conception of itself. (shrink)

Upon reading the Hebrew version of Lamentations in comparison to its Greek counterpart, one is immediately struck by the peculiarities, alternatives and variants when reference is made to a Hebrew deity. The Hebrew version alternates between יהוה and אדני, whilst the Greek version sticks to the term κύριος. The Hebrew version does, however, transition into an almost exclusive use of the term והיה from Lamentations 3:55 onwards. The immediate question that comes to mind is why certain terms were used at (...) certain intervals of the text to refer to a Hebrew deity. This study aims at coming to a deeper understanding of whether the idiosyncrasies in relation to the terms were brought about by the nature and character of lamenting, their underlying theologies or whether it is a matter of a different Vorlage. This study will therefore offer a close reading of the Hebrew text in relation to the terms used to reference a Hebrew deity, whilst the focus will fall on the textual variants when it comes to the Greek version of Lamentations.Contribution: This study contributes on three essential levels: (1) working towards a theology of the Septuagint in general and here specific the Greek version of Lamentations, (2) by focusing on the terms used to refer to a Hebrew deity in Lamentations, the study does contribute to a different perspective of reading the Lamentations text and (3) this study contributes towards a more nuanced understanding of a Hebrew deity in general and in the Septuagint in particular. (shrink)