Midterm Argumentative Paper:
St. Thomas Aquinas and His Five Ways of Proving a Foreign God’s Existence
Reflective Writing:
The decision to challenge and qualify Thomas Aquinas's world- and God-view was a bit perplexing from the start. Although I sincerely wanted to convey my own views without minimizing his "beautiful argument" (Instructor Shannon Atkinson, 2013), I concluded that it would be suitable to my own preferences of composition and cognition to illustrate, via objective reasoning, the not-so-minute failure of the Saint's proclamations to depict a God Who exhibits love, while also feeling it. I believe, as an open theist (someone who believes God is actively participating in life with His Creation and Who feels emotion and is changeable and is the "most" competent), that if God were to act as the Divine factor in Aquinas's Five Ways (Arguments from Motion, Efficient Cause, Necessary Being, Morality, and Design), then He would, most naturally, decline to demonstrate Himself as One Who--I say--refuses to change, feel, be understood, or receive the love from Creation as He experiences utter will and desire to express it to us, as well. Fundamentally, Aquinas misses the boat when he, as a classic theist, claims the Holy Father is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, impassible, immutable, et cetera. For why or how would God be moved to create life if He did not deign to be markedly affected in the process, in light of my standpoint that, in order to be a "Father," He must conclusively be a parent?
The decision to challenge and qualify Thomas Aquinas's world- and God-view was a bit perplexing from the start. Although I sincerely wanted to convey my own views without minimizing his "beautiful argument" (Instructor Shannon Atkinson, 2013), I concluded that it would be suitable to my own preferences of composition and cognition to illustrate, via objective reasoning, the not-so-minute failure of the Saint's proclamations to depict a God Who exhibits love, while also feeling it. I believe, as an open theist (someone who believes God is actively participating in life with His Creation and Who feels emotion and is changeable and is the "most" competent), that if God were to act as the Divine factor in Aquinas's Five Ways (Arguments from Motion, Efficient Cause, Necessary Being, Morality, and Design), then He would, most naturally, decline to demonstrate Himself as One Who--I say--refuses to change, feel, be understood, or receive the love from Creation as He experiences utter will and desire to express it to us, as well. Fundamentally, Aquinas misses the boat when he, as a classic theist, claims the Holy Father is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, impassible, immutable, et cetera. For why or how would God be moved to create life if He did not deign to be markedly affected in the process, in light of my standpoint that, in order to be a "Father," He must conclusively be a parent?
phil_of_religion_midterm_paper_final_version.docx | |
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