In February 2014 the Association of Christian Philosophers in Catholic Schools of Theology in German Speaking Countries dedicated its biannual conference to philosophical theology, which has become a recently vibrant and suspenseful area of research and interest. The specific contributions of various experts, who participated in the conference, revolved around the problems of standard and non-standard concepts of God. The main purpose of the conference was to bridge several gaps: between philosophy and systematic theology, between continental and analytic traditions, between German and English speaking philosophers and their preferred traditions.
The present volume is dedicated to the question whether or not the concept of a personal God faces serious challenges and whether these challenges also include a serious modification of classical theism. Along these lines the complicated relations between classical theism and personal theism as well as the chances for the development of non-standard conceptions of the divine are discussed and presented.
Über den Autor
Prof. Dr. Thomas Schärtl – Full Professor of Philosophical Foundations for Christian Theology at the University of Regensburg (Germany)
Prof. Dr. Dr. Christian Tapp – Full Professor of Philsophical Theology at the University of Bochum (Germany), currently holding an endowed chair for Christian Philosophy at the University of Innsbruck (Austria)
Dipl.-Theol. Veronika Wegener – Research and Teaching Assistant, PhD candidate at the school of theology, University of Augsburg
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Editor's Note
S. 1–2
Thomas Schärtl
Introduction: Rethinking the Concept of a Personal God
S. 3–34
I. Classical Theism With and Without Personal Theism
Oliver Wiertz
Classical Theism
S. 35–62
Gunnar Hindrichs
Proofs of God's Existence as the Self-Determination of Thinking
S. 63–78
II. Classical Theism and its Complicated Relation to Personal Theism
Thomas Marschler
Substantiality and Personality in the Scholastic Theology of God
S. 79–106
Hans Kraml
God of Philosophy – God of Qur'an: A Problem of Medieval Islamic Philosophy
S. 107–120
Howard Robinson
Idealism and Orthodox Christian Theism
S. 121–136
III. Theological Struggles with Classical and with Personal Theism
Georg Essen
»... as if one did not know anything about Christ«. Philosophical and Theological Considerations Concerning the Personhood of God
S. 137–150
Hans-Joachim Höhn
Divine Action in the World – No Problem? Religious Claims – Ontological Implications – Theological Perspectives
S. 151–176
IV. Personal and Non-Personal Concepts of God as Alternatives to Classical Theism
Benedikt Paul Göcke
The Paraconsistent God
S. 177–200
Peter Forrest
God as a Person: A Defense of Anthropomorphic Theism
S. 201–210
John Bishop / Ken Perszyk
A Euteleological Conception of Divinity and Divine Agency
S. 211–226
John Bishop / Ken Perszyk
God as Person – Religious Psychology and Metaphysical Understanding
S. 227–242
Table of Contributors
S. 243–244
Index of Names
S. 245–249