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The ‘Perfect Person’ conception of God, versus the traditional conception: is the difference so great?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2017

HOWARD ROBINSON
HOWARD ROBINSON*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Central European University, Budapest 1051, Hungary and Center for Philosophy of Religion, Department of Philosophy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, USA
*
e-mail: robinson@ceu.edu
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Abstract

Various contemporary philosophers, with Richard Swinburne prominent amongst them, have abandoned the traditional philosophical conception of God, according to which He is absolutely simple and eternal (as opposed to sempiternal). These contemporary philosophers conceive of Him as a ‘perfect person’, immaterial, but with human-type virtues in a superhuman degree. I argue that, whilst this development is probably mistaken, nevertheless the traditionalist critics perhaps sometimes exaggerate the differences between these conceptions – except on the crucial issue of God's eternity.

Type
Articles
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 53 , Special Issue 3: In Honour of Richard Swinburne , September 2017 , pp. 293 - 306
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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