Divine Simplicity: Christ the Crisis of Metaphysics

Paul Hinlicky, a leading systematic theologian widely respected for his contributions in contemporary dogmatics, critiques various ways the concept of divine simplicity has shaped Christian theology and offers a fresh articulation of the unity of God. Divine simplicity--which posits that the being of God is identical to the attributes of God--was carried over from the Greek metaphysical tradition, and Hinlicky suggests that the concept was heedlessly incorporated into the language of Christian trinitarian theology during the patristic period. Through a probing analysis, he identifies numerous problems that have resulted from its retention in Christian dogmatics during the medieval, Reformation, and modern periods. In short, Hinlicky argues that uncritical use of the concept in Christian theology renders the biblical God inexpressible and unknowable.
Following Hinlicky's critically acclaimed volume Divine Complexity, this major contribution on the doctrine of God brings Christian dogmatics into contact with ancient philosophy, medieval Aristotelianism, Islam, nominalism, and many modern theologians. It also contains a unique approach to the problem of Christian-Muslim relations. Professors, students, and scholars of systematic theology will value this work.
Contents
Introduction
1. The Simplicity of Consistent Perichoresis
Auseinandersetzung
Are Divine Attributes Projections?
Not a Possible Perfection of the God of the Gospel
The Régnon Thesis
2. The Unstable Synthesis of St. Thomas Aquinas
Ground Clearing
Thomas's Theology of Divine Nature
The Patrological Alternative
The Trajectory of Protological Simplicity
Excursus: True Gnosis in Clement of Alexandria
Sitz im Leben
The True Gnostic
The Defense of Philosophy as Handmaiden in Theology
Christian Platonism
The Difficulty of Evaluating Clement
Evangelization of Hellenism
3. Muddle, Not Mystery
Clarity on a Collapsing Synthesis
How Augustine Stumbled (cf. 1 Cor. 1:23) over the Folly of God
The Diversity of Simplicities
In Defense of Augustine
The Radicality of Protological Simplicity
The Personal Union
Christological Apophaticism: The Coincidence of Opposites in Christ Crucified
4. Analogy and the Communicatio Idiomatum
Analogia Entis?
Vindicating Univocity
Sorting out Paradox and Similitude
Jesus as Vestige of the Trinity
The Analogy of Faith as Union with Christ
At the Mercy of the Spirit
Conclusion: And Christ Must Reign until... (1 Cor. 15:25)
The Counterthesis of Analytic Theology
The Rule Theory of Doctrine
The Decalogue's First Table as the Rule of Weak Simplicity
Glossary of Foreign Words and Phrases
Indexes