Divine Contradiction
Published on 11. May 2023
Book
Hardback
176 pages
978-0-19-284543-6 (ISBN)
Description
Building on his paradigm-shifting work on the incarnation in The Contradictory Christ (OUP, 2021), Jc Beall extends a robust contradictory theology with an account of the trinity. Throughout the history of the Christian church, heretics, apophatics, mystics, atheists, and many others have long proclaimed that the doctrine of the trinity - one of the central doctrines of the Christian faith - is contradictory. In this work, Beall agrees; however, as Beall convincingly argues, one needn't abandon orthodoxy, play language games, inflate one's metaphysics, nor abandon the standard faith in the face of such divine contradiction. Instead, one can accept central axioms of the trinity at face value and, with a suitable account of logical entailment, accept the 'contradictory truths' thereby entailed.
With the clarity and precision that only a logician could provide, Beall provided theology and the Christian church in general with a very simple and viable (and arguably correct) model of divine reality. Unlike the vast number of theologians and philosophers before him, Beall rejects the quest for a logically consistent account of divine reality. The triune god (viz., God) is truly and fully described only via contradiction. As such, attempts to remove the contradiction are attempts to remove truths of God.
With the clarity and precision that only a logician could provide, Beall provided theology and the Christian church in general with a very simple and viable (and arguably correct) model of divine reality. Unlike the vast number of theologians and philosophers before him, Beall rejects the quest for a logically consistent account of divine reality. The triune god (viz., God) is truly and fully described only via contradiction. As such, attempts to remove the contradiction are attempts to remove truths of God.
Reviews / Votes
What Beall achieves in this work is nothing short of remarkable. Analytic theologians are often preoccupied with complex metaphysical theories and, whilst such endeavours are fruitful, Beall shows how we can solve some of the most important problems in the field, those concerning the Trinity, without commitment to such theories. He shows that by embracing divine contradictions and a particular understanding of logical entailment, we can solve these problems. This is thus a fundamentally important piece of analytic theology that is of interest to scholars and-owing to its user friendly and accessible presentation of the content-popular readers alike. * Harvey Cawdron, The Heythrop Journal * What Beall achieves in this work is nothing short of remarkable. Analytic theologians are often preoccupied with complex metaphysical theories and, whilst such endeavours are fruitful, Beall shows how we can solve some of the most important problems in the field, those concerning the Trinity, without commitment to such theories. He shows that by embracing divine contradictions and a particular understanding of logical entailment, we can solve these problems. This is thus a fundamentally important piece of analytic theology that is of interest to scholars and-owing to its user friendly and accessible presentation of the content-popular readers alike. * Harvey Cawdron, The Heythrop Journal * Divine Contradiction is an extremely important work given the growing place of analytical theology in systematic theology and the philosophy of religion. * Simon Cuff, Theology *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 217 mm
Width: 144 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
340 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-284543-6 (9780192845436)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Jc Beall is widely known for work in logic and the philosophy of logic, particularly nonclassical logic. Beall holds the O'Neill Family Chair in Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, and he is an Honorary Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney. In 2022 Beall was a Global Fellow in Philosophy and Divinity at the University of St Andrews. Prior to Notre Dame, Beall was a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut.
Content
1: Aim, scope, limits, and main thesis
2: Logical and extra-logical entailment
3: Trinitarian identity
4: Seven virtues
5: Seven objections
6: Measuring some non-contradictory accounts
7: Towards future contradictory theology
Appendix A Athanasian Creed (tr. Philip-Neri Reese, O.P.)
Appendix B ?2 Appendix: formal sketch of FDE
2: Logical and extra-logical entailment
3: Trinitarian identity
4: Seven virtues
5: Seven objections
6: Measuring some non-contradictory accounts
7: Towards future contradictory theology
Appendix A Athanasian Creed (tr. Philip-Neri Reese, O.P.)
Appendix B ?2 Appendix: formal sketch of FDE