⬜️⬛️
From Theodicy to Anthropodicy: The Banalities of Evil
By David Le Breton, University of Strasbourg
This article defends the idea that evil is a notion dependent on social and cultural judgment, and that in our societies, it implies the idea of free will. There is no metaphysics of evil, but rather an anthropology, a myriad of specifically human incidences linked to situations, to good or evil intentions, to specific relationships such as wars, torture, violence, rape, cruelty, abuse, and so on. Their consequences involve suffering and death, sometimes deliberately. The anthropological question of evil differs from a metaphysical conception of human nature.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16070805
—————————————————————
Tags: #Evil #Theodicy #FreeWill #Anthropology
⬜️⬛️
Reflections over the Symposium on Coherence of the Incoherence
By Edward Moad, Qatar University
This paper will address some issues raised in the insightful contributions to the symposium on my recent book Coherence of the Incoherence. First, I will examine Davat Dadikhuda’s defense of Ibn Sina against objections Ghazali raises to his proof of cosmic pre-eternity, pertaining to time and the causal relation between God and creation. Second, I will examine a critique of Ibn Sina brought by Nazif Muhtaroglu regarding the distinction between de reand de dicto necessity. Second, I will share some initial thoughts on Ahmed Abdel Meguid’s interpretation of Ghazali’s position on modality.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2514317
—————————————————————
Tags: #Ghazali #Avicenna #IbnRushd #God
⬜️⬛️
An Adjudication Between Avicenna, Ghazālī, and Moad on the Second Avicennian Argument
By Davlat Dadikhuda, Independent Researcher
This article examines Ghazālī’s critique of Avicenna’s second argument for the eternity of the world, as presented in Tahāfut al-falāsifa. While prior scholarship has addressed this debate, it often relies solely on Ghazālī’s rendition of Avicenna’s argument, which omits key details. To rectify this, the article first reconstructs Avicenna’s original argument, highlighting its nuances. It then defends the argument where necessary against Ghazālī’s objections. Finally, it evaluates a contemporary interpretation that supports Ghazālī’s critique, offering a critical analysis of its conclusions.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2514314
—————————————————————
Tags: #Ghazali #Avicenna #Theology
⬜️⬛️
Ibn Sīnā and al-Ghazālī on Causality as Necessary Connection, and Occasionalism
By Nazif Muhtaroglu, Yale University
This paper examines the relationship between necessity and causality in the philosophies of Ibn Sīnā and al-Ghazālī, with a focus on occasionalism. My analysis uncovers that al-Ghazālī, while critiquing Ibn Sīnā's concept of causal necessity, implicitly grasps a distinction between de re and de dictonecessity. I argue that al-Ghazālī’s acceptance of de dicto necessity, allows him to articulate a more robust principle of causality, termed here the “meta-principle of causality.” This principle forms the basis of a three-step framework supporting occasionalism, offering new insights into the doctrine.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2514311
—————————————————————
Tags: #Occasionalism #Kalam #Islam #Avicenna #Ghazali
⬜️⬛️
Artificial Intelligence and the Islamic Theology of Technology: From “Means” to “Meanings” and from “Minds” to “Hearts”
By Mohammed Gamal Abdelnour, Oxford Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies & Al-Azhar University
Muslim responses to Artificial Intellgence (AI) have so far focused mainly on how it challenges the human “mind”. This paper moves from the “mind” to the “heart”, which, in Islam, is not only a vessel of emotion but a cognitive, moral and spiritual centre. Charting a path between cynicism and optimism, the article proposes a third track: critical, hopeful, and ethically grounded. Utilizing indigenous Islamic concepts (e.g., ijtihād “independent reasoning”, maṣlaḥah mursalah“unrestricted public interest”, and sadd al-dharā’iʿ “blocking the means to harm”), it advocates a bottom-up approach that focuses not just on managing AI, but on shaping “who” we are in the AI age, calling for a moral vision rooted in intentionality (niyyah), moral clarity, and individual-cum-collective responsibility.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16060796
—————————————————————
Tags: #AI #Muslims #Islam #Theology
⬜️⬛️
The Principle of Sufficient Reason: An Axis of the Early Encounter of Ash‘arism with Avicennism
By Laura Hassan, University of Oxford
Ibn Sīnā upheld a strong principle of determination, maintaining the ontological neutrality of the contingent essence towards both existence and non-existence and, resultantly, its need for a determinant cause for either state. Beginning with al-Ghazālī, Ash‘arīs confronted the difficulty that by extension of Ibn Sīnā’s principle, the determination of existence for x and of non-existence for y represented by God’s particularisation of the world’s origination must itself be subject to a determining factor. This poses problems for the doctrine of creation ex nihilo. This article details the approach to Ibn Sīnā’s principle of determination maintained by a number of post-Avicennan rational theologians.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2514310
—————————————————————
Tags: #God #Islam #Avicenna #Ghazali #Theology #PSR
⬜️⬛️
The Prophetic in Constructive Muslim Theology: Creativity, Epistemic Virtues, and Vices
By Ebrahim Moosa, University of Notre Dame
Theology, like every living discourse and tradition of knowledge that must contend with a changing and complex reality, demands revision, renewal, and recalibration. Why? In order to craft a narrative that speaks meaningfully to the challenges of our time–a narrative that expresses our commitments to the Divine through belief, action, and practice. The central theological question–the God-question–remains ever-present. It is not that this question has gone unanswered, but rather that each age must ask it anew. What matters now is how the God-question compel creative thinking, and how it confronts us with new conceptions of moral and intellectual responsibility. In this brief reflection, I will focus on the relationship between knowledge and action, with particular attention to the cultivation of epistemic virtues and the danger of epistemic vices.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.12507
—————————————————————
Tags: #Theology #Islam #God #Epistemology
⬜️⬛️
The Role of Knowledge in the Caliphate System of al-Ghazālī: Is It an Element of Openness or Isolating Fundamentalism?
By Vanessa Breidy, Université Saint-Joseph
Opening the debate today about the original aims of the caliphate system and the importance of the relationship between religion and politics in the Islamic tradition might look outdated or fundamentalist in a negative sense. Effectively, in today’s global imaginary, such topics are mostly related to groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS; however, the original sense of the Islamic political system has little to do with what these groups preach and do. This article aims to highlight that the real raison d’être of the relationship between religion and politics in Islam is none other than the desire and will of a believer to seek true knowledge and live according to it. This search for true knowledge where religion and politics meet is also a place where all spiritualities might find themselves together in a genuine search for the truth.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16060765
—————————————————————
Tags: #Ghazali #Epistemology #Islam
⬜️⬛️
Learning with(in) religious tradition. Navigating the existential in Islamic religious education
By Niina Putkonen, Saila Poulter & Arto Kallioniemi, University of Helsinki
In this paper, we explore the educational purposes of Islamic religious education (IRE) and discuss IRE as a place for navigating the existential. We aim to explore the functions of IRE outside of identity policies or of instrumental use, such as inclusion in society or competences for the future. Towards this goal, we employ the conceptualisation of the three domains of educational purpose, subjectification, socialization and qualification, conceptualised by Gert Biesta. The research data consisting of interviews with IRE teachers (N = 17) working in comprehensive schools in Finland is analysed using thematic analysis. According to the findings in this study, the relationship between socialisation and subjectification in IRE is close, and the educational purposes relating to qualification are mostly mirrored towards this relationship. The apparent emphasis on learning within Islamic tradition links the epistemology of the Islamic tradition closely to ontological and existential perspectives in IRE. Meanwhile the negotiations related to Muslim existence in Finnish society embody the negotiations on the boundaries of the ideals of liberal education on neutrality and non-alignment to any cultural value system.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2025.2508488
—————————————————————
Tags: #Religion #Pedagogy #Muslim
⬜️⬛️
Philosophical Debates on Seeing God in Medieval Kalām Theology
By Safaruk Chowdhury, Centre for Islamic Knowledge (CIK), Canada and Cambridge Muslim College
This article offers a systematic philosophical study of the medieval Islamic debate over the possibility of seeing God (visio dei, ruʾyat Allāh), a doctrine that reveals an intersection of theology, epistemology and theories of perception. Moving beyond purely scriptural exegesis, the study reconstructs the major Muʿtazilī rational objections to Divine vision, focusing on their materialist theories of optics and their uncompromising commitment to Divine transcendence (tanzīh). In response, it analyses the counterarguments of Ashʿarī theologians, such as al-Ashʿarī, al-Bāqillānī, al-Juwaynī, al-Anṣārī and al-Rāzī, highlighting their methodological developments: from early occasionalist models of Divine action to later sophisticated critiques of Muʿtazilī extramission theories of vision. This study shows how later Ashʿarīs redefined vision as a direct, non-physical act of Divine creation, thereby preserving the possibility of seeing God without compromising His transcendence. Furthermore, it demonstrates how the adoption and adaptation of Avicennian intromission models of optics allowed thinkers like al-Rāzī to refine their metaphysical and epistemological frameworks. In doing so, the doctrine of visio dei in early kalām theological discourse emerges not merely as a theological point of faith but as a site of rich philosophical engagement with logic, metaphysics and natural philosophy.
Link: https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v10i1.791
—————————————————————
Tags: #God #Avicenna #Razi #Kalam
⬜️⬛️
Perceptions of Spirituality and of God: A Psychological Qualitative Study
By Christopher E. Peck, Timothy B. Smith and Jamila Mastny, Brigham Young University
The majority of people living in the U.S. report that spirituality is an important part of their life that is influential to their well-being. However, individuals vary widely in how they conceptualize spirituality, which often stems from and overlaps with their conceptualizations of God or so-called “God image”. Examination of people’s experiences of spirituality and conceptualization of God can enable psychologists to improve their understanding of individuals’ core personal experiences. This study evaluates both spirituality and God image, as well as the relationship between these two constructs, using qualitative hermeneutic analysis of interviews with 63 adults (51% women, 49% men, aged 18–75) from a midwestern U.S. university town. Substantial overlap characterized participants’ descriptions of spirituality and God. Participants tended to either view spirituality in relational terms or as an abstract concept, with the latter conceptualization being distanced from personal experience. Religious concepts and personal experiences were integral to most participants’ descriptions of both spirituality and God. The results emphasize the importance of addressing contextual worldviews about spirituality, inclusive of personal experiences.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16060723
—————————————————————
Tags: #God #Spirituality #Religion #Psychology
⬜️⬛️
Eternal Omni-Powers
By Ben Page, Eton College
Power metaphysicians are concerned with, well, powers. Theists claim interest in the most powerful entity there is, God. As such, recent work on the ontology of powers may well have much to offer theists when thinking about God’s power. In this paper I start to provide a metaphysics of God’s ‘power,’ something many definitions of omnipotence make reference to. In particular I will be interested in explicating how a power ontology can account for the strength and range of God’s power, as well as showing how this account of divine power can fit with a timeless conception of God.
Link: https://doi.org/10.37977/faithphil.2025.41.1.3
—————————————————————
Tags: #God #Theology #Metaphysics
⬜️⬛️
Foundational Grounding and Four Sources of Contingency
By Kenneth L. Pearce, James Madison University
I have previously argued that theists should understand God as the foundational ground of the created world. This view is a version of metaphysical rationalism, holding that everything that is apt for grounding is grounded. Views of this sort can avoid necessitarianism only if some grounding relations are indeterministic, that is, if complete grounds, even given their total circumstances, do not always necessitate what they ground. The present paper argues that there are (at least) four places in the grounding hierarchy where theists may plausibly insert this kind of indeterminism.
Link: https://doi.org/10.37977/faithphil.2025.41.1.5
—————————————————————
Tags: #Contingency #God #Theology
⬜️⬛️
A Wave of Unbelief? Conservative Muslims and the Challenge of Ilḥād in the Post-2013 Arab World
By Sebastian Elsässer, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel
This article analyses the spread of unbelief among conservative Egyptian and Syrian Muslims in the post-Arab Spring period. In this period, social media gave an unprecedented visibility to transgressive expressions of fiducial doubt, creating the impression of a ‘wave of atheism’ within the conservative milieu. Based on original sources and interviews, the article argues that what the participants called ‘atheism’ (ilḥād) must not be read from the perspective of preconceived notions of atheism, but examined inductively as an emergent phenomenon of nonreligion in a specific social context, the conservative Muslim and Islamist milieu. Its appearance can be traced to a multifaceted overlay of different developments and factors, including cultural and media globalisation, the unsettling social effects of the Arab Spring, and the severe doubts and disappointments suffered by sympathisers of political Islam in the post-2013 period. It is conceivable that a significant number of people defected from conservative Islam to other shapes of religion and nonreligion, but their personal trajectories await further research. More manifestly, the crisis provided an opportunity for a new generation of conservative religious guides and thinkers who have been leading an updating of religious socialisation and propagation methods among conservative Muslims.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16060670
—————————————————————
Tags: #Atheism #Arab #Religion #Sociology
⬜️⬛️
Prolegomena to the Concept of God When Dealing with the Question: Is Ethics Without God Possible?
By Daniel A. Dombrowski, Seattle University
This article examines the assumption that, in order to respond adequately to the question in the title, one must have the classical concept of God in mind. Classical theism is criticized and neoclassical/process theism is briefly defended. Specifically, the classical theistic attribute of omnipotence receives four criticisms. The hope is that these criticisms prepare the way for a more fruitful response to the question in the title than is possible when the classical concept of God is assumed.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16050651
—————————————————————
Tags: #Theism #God #Ethics
⬜️⬛️
Reason and Revelation in Ibn Taymiyyah’s Critique of Philosophical Theology: A Contribution to Contemporary Islamic Philosophy of Religion
By Adeeb Obaid Alsuhaymi and Fouad Ahmed Atallah, Jouf University
This paper addresses the longstanding tension between reason and revelation in Islamic religious epistemology, with a focus on the thought of Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728/1328). It aims to reassess his critique of philosophical theology (falsafa and kalām) and explore his constructive alternative to rationalist metaphysics. The study adopts a descriptive–analytical methodology, combining close textual reading of Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa al-Naql and Naqd al-Manṭiq with conceptual analysis informed by contemporary religious epistemology and philosophy of religion. The findings reveal that Ibn Taymiyyah advances a triadic epistemological model centered on revelation (naql), reason (ʿaql), and innate disposition (fiṭrah). He refutes the autonomy of reason, redefines logic as a tool rather than a judge, and repositions fiṭrah as an intuitive foundation for belief. His approach emphasizes the harmony of sound reason with authentic revelation and challenges the epistemic assumptions of speculative theology. By presenting a comparative table of rationalist and Taymiyyan epistemologies, the study demonstrates how Ibn Taymiyyah’s framework anticipates key themes in Reformed Epistemology and the cognitive science of religion. The conclusions suggest that his vision offers a coherent, theocentric paradigm for religious knowledge that is highly relevant to the contemporary philosophy of religion and Islamic theology.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16070809
—————————————————————
Tags: #IbnTaymiyyah #Kalam #Islam #Fitrah #Epistemology
⬜️⬛️
Some Considerations on the Theory of Emanation in Alfarabi, Avicenna, and al-Ghazālī
By Catarina Belo, The American University
This chapter, inspired by Edward Moad's analysis of al-Ghazālī's approach to the theory of emanation, offers a comparative analysis of that theory, according to Alfarabi and Avicenna, and assesses al-Ghazālī's response. Al-Ghazālī holds that emanation constitutes a major obstacle to a correct conception of God as portrayed in the Qurʾan. More specifically, it is incompatible with a correct understanding of God's attributes, in particular God's knowledge and will, and more broadly with God's agency. Although he criticizes both Alfarabi and Avicenna, al-Ghazālī's account of emanation is fundamentally more indebted to Avicenna's model than to that of Alfarabi.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2514309
—————————————————————
Tags: #Ghazali #Avicenna #AlFarabi #God
⬜️⬛️
Artificial Intelligence and Human Spirituality: Is a Spiritual Chatbot a Good Idea?
By Ron Cole-Turner, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has led to sophisticated chatbots to provide virtual companions or to address mental health problems. Somewhat similar in design, a “spiritual chatbot,” intended to enhance the user’s spirituality, is within reach of today’s technology. The key features of a spiritual chatbot are described, along with early experiments in the religious use of AI. Spiritual chatbots may play a positive role in promoting spirituality, but they should not act in the role of pastor or priest. With a proper balance of encouragement and honesty, they might be accepted as a means of grace leading to authentic spiritual growth.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2514299
—————————————————————
Tags: #AI #Spirituality #Religion
⬜️⬛️
Self-deprivation and cognition in Ramadan: could fasting practice improve inhibitory control?
By Mostafa Salari Rad, New School for Social Research
Nearly a quarter of the world's population undergoes a major lifestyle transformation during the month-long Ramadan fast, making this large-scale self-restraint exercise a unique natural laboratory for exploring behavioral and psychological questions. This study tests the hypothesis that self-control improves with practice, predicting enhanced inhibitory control after a month of restraining basic needs. Ramadan participants (RPs; N = 173) and Controls (N = 222) completed tests of inhibitory control before, during and after Ramadan, assessing response times and accuracy alongside measures of trait self-control and beliefs about willpower. Over time, both the speed and accuracy of inhibitory responses improved, with RPs showing greater gains than Controls. Improvements in inhibition accuracy were significantly moderated by trait self-control, emerging only among RPs with higher perceived self-control. Insofar as this trait reflects an individual's value for self-control and aspiration for improvement, this finding highlights the role of motivation in practice effects. While the durability of these effects remains uncertain, the results suggest that inhibitory control can improve through practice when paired with supportive self-perceptions. This research also underscores how collective abstinence practices promoted by religious and cultural systems might guide individual efforts to foster self-control, advancing research on underrepresented practices and beliefs in psychological science.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2025.2487277
—————————————————————
Tags: #Sociology #Muslims #Islam #Psychology
⬜️⬛️
Al-Ghazālī and Ibn Rushd on the End of the World
By Taneli Kukkonen, New York University Abu Dhabi
The question of whether the universe can or must come to an end is rarely addressed in Arabic philosophy but informs the Second Discussion of al-Ghazālī’s Incoherence of the Philosophers and Ibn Rushd’s rejoinder in his Incoherence of the Incoherence. The philosophical debate between the two reveals limits to the symmetries between time and space in Aristotelian thinking. Additionally, we discern in Ibn Rushd’s responses a dedication to scientific reasoning even in the face of theological concerns, while al-Ghazālī is more willing to make allowances—within a rational worldview—for events that fall outside the normal course of nature.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2514310
—————————————————————
Tags: #Aristotle #IbnRushd #Ghazali #Theology
⬜️⬛️
Structural Challenges in Constructive Muslim Thought on Gender and Sexuality
By Aysha Hidayatullah, University of San Francisco
Constructive Muslim scholarship engaged in the critique of hierarchies which are based on gender and sexuality faces structural challenges posed by both Muslim community audiences and the academy. These challenges produce limitations but also generate key theological insights within Muslim constructive thought. This critical constructive scholarship must necessarily attend to both the present and future of Muslim communities.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.12501
—————————————————————
Tags: #Gender #Islam #Muslims
⬜️⬛️
Avicenna on the theory of Forms
By Hashem Morvarid, Johns Hopkins University
It is well known that Avicenna vehemently rejected the theory of Forms. However, his interpretation of the theory and his reasons for rejecting it remain understudied. This paper aims to fill this lacuna. It begins by laying out the theses that he associated with the theory of Forms, demonstrating where they diverge from Plato's own formulation of the theory and from two later reformulations of it: those of post-Avicennian Muslim Platonists and contemporary analytic Platonists. Subsequently, it examines Avicenna's arguments against the theory, classifying them into two categories: (1) refutations of Platonic arguments and (2) direct arguments against the theory. Both groups of arguments demonstrate significant originality, going well beyond Aristotle's critiques in his Metaphysics, which was likely the principal source of Avicenna's knowledge of the theory of Forms. The examination of Avicenna's arguments reveals (1) his methodology in responding to ancient views with which he disagreed; (2) some of his innovative logical contributions, including the distinction between two kinds of predication, and the logic of the “min ḥaythu hīya hīya” (inasmuch as it is what it is) operator; and (3) some substantive metaphysical, epistemological, and semantic assumptions that were later embraced by mainstream Islamic philosophy.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/phpr.70020
—————————————————————
Tags: #Avicenna #Islam #Logic #Metaphysics
⬜️⬛️
Non-contrastive transcendence as gift and challenge to science and religion
By Peter N. Jordan, University of Oxford
This article suggests that the nature of transcendence represents a promising topic for future engagement between revision-minded theologians in the field of science and religion and tradition-oriented ones. It does so by drawing on Kathryn Tanner's account of non-contrastive transcendence within the history of Christian theology to illuminate the thinking of contemporary science and religion pioneer Arthur Peacocke. Peacocke thought modern science showed God to be immanently present to and working in the natural world, and not merely transcendent over it as its creator. To correct an alleged theological overemphasis on God's transcendence—one that shaded into distance and disconnection—Peacocke sought to reintroduce immanence into the God-creation relation. His approach imagined transcendence and immanence as separate modalities that could be increased or decreased independently of one another. Had Peacocke adopted a non-contrastive view of transcendence, in which a particular kind of transcendence makes immanence possible, he could have met the requirements he set for satisfactory pictures of the God-world relation, claimed the profound sense of immanence he wanted, and situated himself within a more traditional way of thinking. In doing so, however, Peacocke would have had to settle for a vision of science-theology relations in which science's theological impact is less profound than the field often assumes.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/moth.12998
—————————————————————
Tags: #God #Science #Theology
⬜️⬛️
A layered unity model of split-brain consciousness
By Azenet Lopez, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Split-brain subjects can consciously perceive and identify two stimuli presented simultaneously but separately in opposite hemifields. Yet, they seem to lack a conscious experience of the two stimuli together, as they cannot judge whether these are the same or different. Such breakdowns in experiential or phenomenal unity would carry important implications for philosophical reflection on the essential properties of conscious experience, as well as for scientific theorising about consciousness’ neural and functional bases. Extant models supporting the preserved unity of split-brain consciousness secure unity in a subject or agential sense, but do not explain how right- and left-side conscious experiences could be unified in the problem cases. Here, I offer a new model that supplies the missing phenomenal unity. Based on the construct of layers of conscious experience, my model acknowledges breakdowns in localexperiential layers but warrants preserved unity in global ones. A supporting argument draws on the preserved attentional capacities of split-brain subjects. My proposal goes beyond extant research in that it focuses on the conjoint phenomenology of simultaneous right- and left-side experiences, highlights the conceptual connections of phenomenal unity to attention, and discusses the impact of specific split-brain attentional capacities on the unity of right- and left-side experiences.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-025-02339-3
—————————————————————
Tags: #Consciousness #Philosophy #Science
⬜️⬛️
Foundational Grounding and Four Sources of Contingency
By Kenneth L. Pearce, James Madison University
I have previously argued that theists should understand God as the foundational ground of the created world. This view is a version of metaphysical rationalism, holding that everything that is apt for grounding is grounded. Views of this sort can avoid necessitarianism only if some grounding relations are indeterministic, that is, if complete grounds, even given their total circumstances, do not always necessitate what they ground. The present paper argues that there are (at least) four places in the grounding hierarchy where theists may plausibly insert this kind of indeterminism.
Link: https://doi.org/10.37977/faithphil.2025.41.1.5
—————————————————————
Tags: #God #Contigency #Theism
⬜️⬛️
Divine Motivation and Humanity
By Jordan Wessling, Lindsey Wilson College and Ross Parker, Charleston Southern University
Theists maintain that God created the world and acts within it. However, opinions divide regarding the motives that rest behind and systematically structure God's actions ad extra, especially those actions pertaining to humanity. The major paradigms differ as to whether God is principally motivated (i) by the goal of glorifying Himself, or (ii) by the demands of His own holiness, or (iii) in perfect conformity to moral norms, or (iv) by perfect love. The challenge of providing a theoretical framework for understanding God's fundamental motives vis-à-vis creation constitutes the problem of divine motivation. This Element addresses this problem from a Christian perspective. It assesses leading divine motivational frameworks concerning God's engagement with humanity, and it defends one framework in particular: the Agapist Framework. According to this preferred framework, God's actions toward humans are fundamentally motivated by God's perfect love.
Link: https://doi.org/10.37977/faithphil.2025.41.1.3
—————————————————————
Tags: #God #DivineHoliness #Metaphysics
⬜️⬛️
GOD’S PROBLEM OF CUT-AND-PASTE
By Noah Gordon, University of Southern California
I argue that classical theism is in tension with a kind of modal recombination principle known as ‘cut-and-paste.’ I develop this tension at length, giving two arguments against theism based on cut-and-paste. I then both lay out and respond to various original proposals for reconciling theism with cut-and-paste. I conclude by measuring the cost of having to deny cut-and-paste. I argue that while there is an intuitive cost to this consequence of theism, theists also have plausible ways of addressing various motivations for cut-and-paste.
Link: https://doi.org/10.37977/faithphil.2025.41.1.6
—————————————————————
Tags: #PoE #Evil #God #Theology
⬜️⬛️
Contingency in Leibniz's Philosophical Theology
By Dylan Flint, The Ohio State University
Trying to secure a source of contingency in Leibniz's philosophical theology has been a central concern for Leibniz scholars over the past century. This article examines some of the most promising strategies on offer, including the “per se” account, the “infinite analysis” account, and the “moral necessity” account. I suggest that a helpful distinction can be made between strategies which try to locate a source of contingency in the objectsof God's choice and strategies which try to locate a source of contingency in God's actions. I then argue that act-based strategies fare better because object-based strategies struggle to account for a number of Leibniz's core philo-theological commitments, most notably his commitment that God is both free and praiseworthy. I then argue that the moral necessity account of the contingency of God's actions is Leibniz's most promising act-based strategy because the moral necessity account most clearly satisfies Leibniz's contingency condition on free action. I then conclude by pointing out problems that a fully satisfying moral necessity account must overcome.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.70041
—————————————————————
Tags: #Leibniz #God #Theology
⬜️⬛️
Does science undermine the theistic multiverse?
By Miles K. Donahue, University of Oxford
I examine the claim that theistic and scientific multiverses conflict: the former require that only universes above a certain threshold of value exist, while the latter make no such stipulations. I explore several avenues of reconciliation: appealing to ceteris peribus conditions, redefining ‘universe’ in the philosophical context, advocating skeptical theism, contending that God and gratuitous evil are compatible, and adjusting the relevant scientific theories. I conclude that only the last strategy is viable, as long as we grant the coherence of a Molinist account of divine providence. If successful, it would entail that scientific and theistic models conflict only superficially. If not, however, then the theistic multiverse is inconsistent with its scientific counterparts.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-025-00972-2
—————————————————————
Tags: #Theism #God #Science
⬜️⬛️
Neo-Aristotelian Metaphysics
By Phil Corkum, University of Alberta
Contemporary metaphysicians who might be classified as 'neo-Aristotelian' tend towards positions reminiscent of Aristotle's metaphysics – such as category theory, trope theory, substance ontology, endurantism, hylomorphism, essentialism, and agent causation. However, prima facie it seems that one might hold any one of these positions while rejecting the others. What perhaps unifies a neo-Aristotelian approach in metaphysics, then, is not a shared collection of positions so much as a willingness to engage with Aristotle and to view this historical figure as providing a fruitful way of initially framing certain philosophical issues. This Element will begin with a methodological reflection on the contribution historical scholarship on Aristotle might make to contemporary metaphysics. It will then discuss as case studies category theory, properties, substance theory, and hylomorphism. The aim of the Element is to make the relevant exegetical questions accessible to contemporary metaphysicians, and the corresponding contemporary topics accessible to historians.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009234948
—————————————————————
Tags: #Aristotle #Metaphysics #History
