The legacies of Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth remain influential for contemporary theologians, wh... more The legacies of Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth remain influential for contemporary theologians, who have increasingly put them into conversation on debated questions over analogy and the knowledge of God. However, little explicit dialogue has occurred between their theologies of God. This book offers one of the first extended analyses of this fundamental issue, asking how each theologian seeks to confess in fact and in thought God's qualitative distinctiveness in relation to creation. Wittman first examines how they understand the correspondence and distinction between God's being and external acts within an overarching concern to avoid idolatry. Second, he analyzes the kind of relation God bears to creation that follows from these respective understandings. Despite many common goals, Aquinas and Barth ultimately differ on the subject matter of theological reason with consequences for their ability to uphold God's distinctiveness consistently. These mutually informative issues offer some important lessons for contemporary theology.
The late John Webster advocated both for a theological theology and a robust recovery of God’s in... more The late John Webster advocated both for a theological theology and a robust recovery of God’s intrinsic perfection. This paper examines how both occupations are related in Webster’s thought by setting forth six statements summarizing his doctrine of God and his theological approach to it. According to Webster, the doctrine of God is theological to the extent it upholds the principle of solus Deus in theology’s formal and material consideration of God’s perfection. Only thus does theology articulate the crucial distinction between and yet correspondence of God’s antecedent perfection and God’s intimate presence with us.
This article reflects on Paul’s Christology in the Epistle to the Philippians and the operative n... more This article reflects on Paul’s Christology in the Epistle to the Philippians and the operative notion of humility that is both implicit and explicit in his paraenesis. Through a theological exegesis of the famous Christ-hymn in particular, three consequential aspects of humility come to the fore: its grounding in Christ’s love, as well as its definition by and distinction from Christ’s own humility. Humility thus has a Christological foundation in a twofold sense because Christ not only exemplifies this virtue but constitutes the moral nature that defines those who belong to him. When the shape of humility is discerned in this light and explicated in relation to the theological virtues, it is understood as a form of eschatological belonging that finds concrete expression in faith working through love.
International Journal of Systematic Theology, 2018
The rule that opera Trinitatis ad extra indivisa sunt, servato ordine et discrimine personarum is... more The rule that opera Trinitatis ad extra indivisa sunt, servato ordine et discrimine personarum is best understood when its two clauses are read together as mutually informative. Read thus, and grasped according to its principles and grammar, the rule articulates two things: the pure benefit of God's activity terminating in time, and the intimate yet unconfused relation between theology and economy.
This essay examines historically how theologians have employed 'authority' language with referenc... more This essay examines historically how theologians have employed 'authority' language with reference to the Trinity, in light of certain modern accounts that wish to posit relations of authority within the Trinity. First, it is shown how the contemplative approach to the divine names developed by Thomas Aquinas leads to a cautious and delimited use of 'authority' language with reference to the Trinity. This approach is then set alongside the distinction between theology and economy used by 16th and 17th century Protestant divines in relation to Christology. In conclusion, these contemplative and scholastic modes of discourse are commended over their modern rivals as more exegetically circumspect.
This essay explores the distribution of Barth’s doctrine of God’s unity in his Christology, with ... more This essay explores the distribution of Barth’s doctrine of God’s unity in his Christology, with a critical focus on divine simplicity. Through a subtle repositioning of concepts inherited from the scholastic tradition, Barth renders divine unity a strictly revealed doctrine and grounds divine simplicity in God’s enacted faithfulness. The consequences are both formal and material for Christology. Formally, especially as mediated through the concept of ‘actuality’, divine unity requires and contributes to a historical form for Christology that eschews traditional concepts like natures and properties. Materially, the simple faithfulness of God is concretized in and mirrored by Christ’s covenant faithfulness. I argue that Barth’s deployment of simplicity has potential promise when put into conversation with classical metaphysics, which alleviate some of the lingering tensions in Barth’s doctrines of God and Christ.
International Journal of Systematic Theology, 2016
This article recovers a fundamental part of the logic inherent to the traditional doctrine of div... more This article recovers a fundamental part of the logic inherent to the traditional doctrine of divine blessedness for the sake of commending the efficacy of the incarnate Son's mission. This recovery begins with two theses derived from Thomas Aquinas' account in the Summa theologiae, where divine blessedness includes an intrinsic connection between self-sufficiency and aseity through the concept of self-possession. It is then argued that revisionists and critics of the doctrine tend to soften this connection, and that something like the traditional logic is indispensable to the salvific teleology of the Word become flesh.
Despite heavy criticism of divine simplicity in contemporary theology and analytic philosophy of ... more Despite heavy criticism of divine simplicity in contemporary theology and analytic philosophy of religion, crucial aspects of the doctrine are routinely misunderstood or forgotten altogether. This is especially evident in modern reception of Thomas Aquinas, often considered the exemplar of the doctrine’s most influential form. While many scholars recognize that the doctrine entails a series of negations about God’s being and activity, it is widely neglected that for this reason the doctrine also serves an exemplary function in Aquinas’ moral theology. The meaning of divine simplicity therefore embraces both ontological and evangelical aspects. This article addresses this neglect in two parts: the first considers the limited function of simplicity within the opening tract of the Summa theologiae’s doctrine of God and the second moves to consider how the concept's meaning is articulated in Aquinas’ biblical commentaries and moral theology. What emerges is a picture of God’s simple unity with limited functions, interpretative and theological motivations, and consequences for God’s moral fellowship with creatures. Simplicity underscores the faithfulness and self-consistency of God, to which the 'simplicity of heart' corresponds in the moral life. When divine unity is understood with this exclusive self-consistency, God's love is one which is indivisible and excludes all opposition in its single-mindedness, all of which contributes to the concept of God's peace. The conclusion suggests that there is not only more to Aquinas’ doctrine of divine simplicity than has heretofore been recognized, but also that the conventions which dominate modern reception of his thought often prove too constraining.
International Journal of Systematic Theology, Jul 2013
Recent interpreters of John Owen incorrectly argue that Owen's trinitarian theology undermines th... more Recent interpreters of John Owen incorrectly argue that Owen's trinitarian theology undermines the doctrine of inseparable operations (Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa). On the contrary, this article argues Owen upheld this doctrine like his Reformed Orthodox contemporaries, using the incarnation as a test case. Owen maintained the incarnation was an undivided act of the Trinity, which had its appropriative terminus on the Son alone – a pattern of thought he extended to the Spirit's work on the Son's humanity. Owen's creative use of the tradition is an example for contemporary theologians who would emphasize the Spirit's role in Christology.
Our purpose in what follows is to help answer the following question: what do Christians mean whe... more Our purpose in what follows is to help answer the following question: what do Christians mean when they confess that creation is good? This question is both timely and difficult. Admittedly, creation’s goodness is not always self-evident to us. Evils in this world are often more apparent to us than its goodness, especially in times of war, famine, and plague, but also in more common experiences of pain, avarice, and isolation. These challenges offer boisterous counter-testimony to any confession of creation as a gratuitous gift.
Commonly, they lead many to despair of or deny creation’s goodness, turning instead to nihilistic philosophies that revel in purposelessness or pragmatism. Responses to these errors often enough run into opposite delusions, mistaking creation for God. Confession instructed by Holy Scripture, on the other hand, may speak plainly of the many problems besetting the world and its inhabitants while nevertheless affirming its basic goodness as God’s creation. Scripture thereby expands our imagination to see the world as Scripture depicts it: good, damaged, but under the promise of transformation. In this series, we survey some basics of this confession by looking at (i) the Goodness of the Creator; (ii) the goodness of created being; (iii) the relative goodness of materiality; and (iv) finally, the goodness of creation’s end.
The legacies of Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth remain influential for contemporary theologians, wh... more The legacies of Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth remain influential for contemporary theologians, who have increasingly put them into conversation on debated questions over analogy and the knowledge of God. However, little explicit dialogue has occurred between their theologies of God. This book offers one of the first extended analyses of this fundamental issue, asking how each theologian seeks to confess in fact and in thought God's qualitative distinctiveness in relation to creation. Wittman first examines how they understand the correspondence and distinction between God's being and external acts within an overarching concern to avoid idolatry. Second, he analyzes the kind of relation God bears to creation that follows from these respective understandings. Despite many common goals, Aquinas and Barth ultimately differ on the subject matter of theological reason with consequences for their ability to uphold God's distinctiveness consistently. These mutually informative issues offer some important lessons for contemporary theology.
The late John Webster advocated both for a theological theology and a robust recovery of God’s in... more The late John Webster advocated both for a theological theology and a robust recovery of God’s intrinsic perfection. This paper examines how both occupations are related in Webster’s thought by setting forth six statements summarizing his doctrine of God and his theological approach to it. According to Webster, the doctrine of God is theological to the extent it upholds the principle of solus Deus in theology’s formal and material consideration of God’s perfection. Only thus does theology articulate the crucial distinction between and yet correspondence of God’s antecedent perfection and God’s intimate presence with us.
This article reflects on Paul’s Christology in the Epistle to the Philippians and the operative n... more This article reflects on Paul’s Christology in the Epistle to the Philippians and the operative notion of humility that is both implicit and explicit in his paraenesis. Through a theological exegesis of the famous Christ-hymn in particular, three consequential aspects of humility come to the fore: its grounding in Christ’s love, as well as its definition by and distinction from Christ’s own humility. Humility thus has a Christological foundation in a twofold sense because Christ not only exemplifies this virtue but constitutes the moral nature that defines those who belong to him. When the shape of humility is discerned in this light and explicated in relation to the theological virtues, it is understood as a form of eschatological belonging that finds concrete expression in faith working through love.
International Journal of Systematic Theology, 2018
The rule that opera Trinitatis ad extra indivisa sunt, servato ordine et discrimine personarum is... more The rule that opera Trinitatis ad extra indivisa sunt, servato ordine et discrimine personarum is best understood when its two clauses are read together as mutually informative. Read thus, and grasped according to its principles and grammar, the rule articulates two things: the pure benefit of God's activity terminating in time, and the intimate yet unconfused relation between theology and economy.
This essay examines historically how theologians have employed 'authority' language with referenc... more This essay examines historically how theologians have employed 'authority' language with reference to the Trinity, in light of certain modern accounts that wish to posit relations of authority within the Trinity. First, it is shown how the contemplative approach to the divine names developed by Thomas Aquinas leads to a cautious and delimited use of 'authority' language with reference to the Trinity. This approach is then set alongside the distinction between theology and economy used by 16th and 17th century Protestant divines in relation to Christology. In conclusion, these contemplative and scholastic modes of discourse are commended over their modern rivals as more exegetically circumspect.
This essay explores the distribution of Barth’s doctrine of God’s unity in his Christology, with ... more This essay explores the distribution of Barth’s doctrine of God’s unity in his Christology, with a critical focus on divine simplicity. Through a subtle repositioning of concepts inherited from the scholastic tradition, Barth renders divine unity a strictly revealed doctrine and grounds divine simplicity in God’s enacted faithfulness. The consequences are both formal and material for Christology. Formally, especially as mediated through the concept of ‘actuality’, divine unity requires and contributes to a historical form for Christology that eschews traditional concepts like natures and properties. Materially, the simple faithfulness of God is concretized in and mirrored by Christ’s covenant faithfulness. I argue that Barth’s deployment of simplicity has potential promise when put into conversation with classical metaphysics, which alleviate some of the lingering tensions in Barth’s doctrines of God and Christ.
International Journal of Systematic Theology, 2016
This article recovers a fundamental part of the logic inherent to the traditional doctrine of div... more This article recovers a fundamental part of the logic inherent to the traditional doctrine of divine blessedness for the sake of commending the efficacy of the incarnate Son's mission. This recovery begins with two theses derived from Thomas Aquinas' account in the Summa theologiae, where divine blessedness includes an intrinsic connection between self-sufficiency and aseity through the concept of self-possession. It is then argued that revisionists and critics of the doctrine tend to soften this connection, and that something like the traditional logic is indispensable to the salvific teleology of the Word become flesh.
Despite heavy criticism of divine simplicity in contemporary theology and analytic philosophy of ... more Despite heavy criticism of divine simplicity in contemporary theology and analytic philosophy of religion, crucial aspects of the doctrine are routinely misunderstood or forgotten altogether. This is especially evident in modern reception of Thomas Aquinas, often considered the exemplar of the doctrine’s most influential form. While many scholars recognize that the doctrine entails a series of negations about God’s being and activity, it is widely neglected that for this reason the doctrine also serves an exemplary function in Aquinas’ moral theology. The meaning of divine simplicity therefore embraces both ontological and evangelical aspects. This article addresses this neglect in two parts: the first considers the limited function of simplicity within the opening tract of the Summa theologiae’s doctrine of God and the second moves to consider how the concept's meaning is articulated in Aquinas’ biblical commentaries and moral theology. What emerges is a picture of God’s simple unity with limited functions, interpretative and theological motivations, and consequences for God’s moral fellowship with creatures. Simplicity underscores the faithfulness and self-consistency of God, to which the 'simplicity of heart' corresponds in the moral life. When divine unity is understood with this exclusive self-consistency, God's love is one which is indivisible and excludes all opposition in its single-mindedness, all of which contributes to the concept of God's peace. The conclusion suggests that there is not only more to Aquinas’ doctrine of divine simplicity than has heretofore been recognized, but also that the conventions which dominate modern reception of his thought often prove too constraining.
International Journal of Systematic Theology, Jul 2013
Recent interpreters of John Owen incorrectly argue that Owen's trinitarian theology undermines th... more Recent interpreters of John Owen incorrectly argue that Owen's trinitarian theology undermines the doctrine of inseparable operations (Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa). On the contrary, this article argues Owen upheld this doctrine like his Reformed Orthodox contemporaries, using the incarnation as a test case. Owen maintained the incarnation was an undivided act of the Trinity, which had its appropriative terminus on the Son alone – a pattern of thought he extended to the Spirit's work on the Son's humanity. Owen's creative use of the tradition is an example for contemporary theologians who would emphasize the Spirit's role in Christology.
Our purpose in what follows is to help answer the following question: what do Christians mean whe... more Our purpose in what follows is to help answer the following question: what do Christians mean when they confess that creation is good? This question is both timely and difficult. Admittedly, creation’s goodness is not always self-evident to us. Evils in this world are often more apparent to us than its goodness, especially in times of war, famine, and plague, but also in more common experiences of pain, avarice, and isolation. These challenges offer boisterous counter-testimony to any confession of creation as a gratuitous gift.
Commonly, they lead many to despair of or deny creation’s goodness, turning instead to nihilistic philosophies that revel in purposelessness or pragmatism. Responses to these errors often enough run into opposite delusions, mistaking creation for God. Confession instructed by Holy Scripture, on the other hand, may speak plainly of the many problems besetting the world and its inhabitants while nevertheless affirming its basic goodness as God’s creation. Scripture thereby expands our imagination to see the world as Scripture depicts it: good, damaged, but under the promise of transformation. In this series, we survey some basics of this confession by looking at (i) the Goodness of the Creator; (ii) the goodness of created being; (iii) the relative goodness of materiality; and (iv) finally, the goodness of creation’s end.
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Commonly, they lead many to despair of or deny creation’s goodness, turning instead to nihilistic philosophies that revel in purposelessness or pragmatism. Responses to these errors often enough run into opposite delusions, mistaking creation for God. Confession instructed by Holy Scripture, on the other hand, may speak plainly of the many problems besetting the world and its inhabitants while nevertheless affirming its basic goodness as God’s creation. Scripture thereby expands our imagination to see the world as Scripture depicts it: good, damaged, but under the promise of transformation. In this series, we survey some basics of this confession by looking at (i) the Goodness of the Creator; (ii) the goodness of created being; (iii) the relative goodness of materiality; and (iv) finally, the goodness of creation’s end.
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Commonly, they lead many to despair of or deny creation’s goodness, turning instead to nihilistic philosophies that revel in purposelessness or pragmatism. Responses to these errors often enough run into opposite delusions, mistaking creation for God. Confession instructed by Holy Scripture, on the other hand, may speak plainly of the many problems besetting the world and its inhabitants while nevertheless affirming its basic goodness as God’s creation. Scripture thereby expands our imagination to see the world as Scripture depicts it: good, damaged, but under the promise of transformation. In this series, we survey some basics of this confession by looking at (i) the Goodness of the Creator; (ii) the goodness of created being; (iii) the relative goodness of materiality; and (iv) finally, the goodness of creation’s end.