Peter Weigel offers an in-depth examination of what divine simplicity means for Aquinas and how he argues for its claims. Simplicity and other divine predicates are analysed within the larger metaphysical and semantic framework surrounding Aquinas' philosophy of God.

The doctrine of divine simplicity has long played a crucial role in Western Christianity's understanding of God. It claimed that by denying that God is composed of parts Christians are able to account for his absolute self-sufficiency and his ultimate sufficiency as the absolute Creator of the world. If God were a composite being then something other than the Godhead itself would be required to explain or account for God. If this were the case then God would not be most absolute and would not be able to adequately know or account for himself without reference to something other than himself. This book develops these arguments by examining the implications of divine simplicity for God's existence, attributes, knowledge, and will. Along the way there is extensive interaction with older writers, such as Thomas Aquinas and the Reformed scholastics, as well as more recent philosophers and theologians. An attempt is made to answer some of the currently popular criticisms of divine simplicity and to reassert the vital importance of continuing to confess that God is without parts, even in the modern philosophical-theological milieu.

All perfections of things pre-exist in the divine essence, yet it is entirely simple, without components. These seemingly opposed attributes of God are reconciled in Questions 3–6 of the First Part of the Summa theologiae, here newly translated and explained in line-by-line detail. Among topics receiving special attention are Aquinas’s doctrine of participation, his conception of God as a subsisting act of being, and the distinction and order of transcendentals such as being, goodness, and beauty. Intended for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and teachers, Aquinas on God’s Simplicity and Perfection throws light on the order of Aquinas’s questions, addresses difficulties commonly encountered by modern readers, and includes an exhaustive glossary of all technical terms occurring in the Summa’s first six Questions.

Hughes discusses Aquinus' work regarding the apparently irreconcilable theses of natural and revealed theology, and he argues that Aquinas fails in his attempt to reconcile absolute simplicity with the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation. Hughes also offers a provocative account of divine simplicity and explores its implications for the Thomistic doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation.

Unknown to many, increasing numbers of conservative evangelicals are denying basic tenets of classical Christian teaching about God, with departures occurring even among those of the Calvinistic persuasion. James E. Dolezal’s All That Is in God provides an exposition of the historic Christian position while engaging with these contemporary deviations. His convincing critique of the newer position he styles “theistic mutualism” is philosophically robust, systematically nuanced, and biblically based. It demonstrates the need to maintain the traditional viewpoint, particularly on divine simplicity, and spotlights the unfortunate implications for other important Christian doctrines—such as divine eternality and the Trinity—if it were to be abandoned. Arguing carefully and cogently that “all that is in God is God Himself,” the work is sure to stimulate debate on the issue in years to come.

This updated edition by one of the world's leading apologists presents a systematic, positive case for Christianity that reflects the latest work in the contemporary hard sciences and humanities. Brilliant and accessible.

After an age of original integrity, the doctrine of divine simplicity fell from grace. Once a cornerstone of orthodox Christianity's doctrine of God, many modern theologians expelled it from the garden, especially since it often employed now-passé Platonic and Aristotelian metaphysics. But was the doctrine of divine simplicity's fall deserved? Is it unreasonable to hold that God is metaphysically without parts? Is the Lord really one?Rather than dismiss the challenges leveled against divine simplicity by modernity, The Lord is One engages them. The contributors advance in the belief that modernity cannot and should not be escaped, but they do not hesitate to critique currents within it. Thus, this volume presents exegetical, historical, and theological treatments of divine simplicity. It argues the doctrine of divine simplicity is cogent and indispensable while also making space for historically marginalized or idiosyncratic articulations of it. After all, once expelled from the garden, nothing returns exactly as it was.