Albert C. Knudson
The Abingdon Press
New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, 1930
The Doctrine of God
THE ABINGDON PRESS
DEDICATED
FRONT PAGE PREFACE PART I. INTRODUCTION: THE PROVINCE OF THEOLOGY
CHAPTER I — RELIGION AND THEOLOGY
Definition of theology, p. 19 .
ILLUSIONISM, p. 20
Lucretius, p. 21
Feuerbach, p. 22
Freud, p. 23
Religion as a device of state and priestcraft, p. 25
Karl Marx and Otto Gruppe, p. 26
Animism, p. 28
Animatism, p. 29 Mana-ism, p. 30
Comte and Frazer, p. 31
Emile Durkheim, p. 32
F. A. Lange and Paul Natorp, p. 33
Humanism, p. 34
Criticism of the illusionistic theories, p. 35 .
MAGIC AND MYTHOLOGY, p. 38
Differentia of religion as compared with magic, p. 39
Relation, of religion, to mythology, p. 41
Religion as a fusion of mythology with morality, p. 42
Two fundamental defects in illusionism, p. 43 .
NATURE OF RELIGION, p. 45
Essential elements in religion, p. 45
Buddhism, p. 49
Religion and doctrine, p. 50
Origin of belief in God according to Soderblom, p. 52 .
MYSTICAL AND PROPHETIC TYPES OF PIETY, p. 54
Advantages of the prophetic or personalistic standpoint, p. 56
Attempted synthesis of mysticism and philosophic naturalism, p. 58
Relation of mysticism and prophetism to theology, p. 61
True function, of theology, p. 64 .
CHAPTER II — THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AND THEOLOGY
Three fundamental questions relative to Christianity, p. 66 .
FAITH AND REASON, p. 67
History and criticism of the dualistic view, p. 67
Augustinian conception of faith and reason, p. 72
Thomistic conception, p. 73
Hegelian, theory, p. 77
Contributions of modern thought to the solution of the problem of faith and reason, p. 80
Three different views of reason, p. 83
Relation of “revealed” theology to “natural” theology, p. 85 .
FAITH AND MYSTICISM, p. 85
Meaning of “superrational,” p. 85
“Mystical” theology, p. 88
Ritschlian attitude toward mysticism, p. 89
Criticism of the Ritschlian view, p. 90
Emil Brunner and Karl Earth, p. 94
Criticism of the Barthian position, p. 97
Milder and more extreme types of mysticism, p. 98
Mysticism as a supplement to and validation of faith, p. 100
Barthian conception of faith, p. 103
Richard Jefferies and his significance for our conception of the relation of faith and mysticism to each other, p. 104 .
THE ABSOLUTENESS OF CHRISTIANITY, p. 106
Early Christian view, p. 107
Supernaturalistic theory, p. 110
Hegelian theory, p. 111
Schleiermacher’s theory, p. 113
“Unsurpassability” of Christianity, p. 114
Troeltsch’s view, p. 115
Buddhism and Christianity, p. 118
Essence of Christianity as defined by Schleiermacher, Ritschl, and Troeltsch, p. 120
Norm of theology, p. 124 .
CHAPTER III — SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY
Prestige of empirical science, p. 125
Conflict between science and religion, p. 126
Two different views of science, p. 128 .
THEOLOGY AS AN EMPIRICAL SCIENCE, p. 130
Difference between sense experience and religious experience, p. 132
Difference between theology and the psychology of religion, p. 134 .
VIEWS OF RITSCHL AND BOWNE, p. 135
Distinction between natural and normative sciences, p. 136
Theory of value judgments, p. 136
Distinction between phenomenal and metaphysical reality, p. 138 .
SOURCES OF CONFLICT BETWEEN SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY, p. 139
Biblical criticism, p. 140
Miracle, p. 140
The Jesus of history and Christ of faith, p. 142
Copernican astronomy and Darwinian theory of evolution, p. 143
Harmony of science and theology, p. 144 .
CHAPTER IV — PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY
Present status of philosophy, p. 146 .
POSITIVISTIC PHILOSOPHY, p. 147
Relation of positivism to pure science, p. 148
Positivism and theology, p. 150 .
METAPHYSICAL PHILOSOPHY MORALLY GROUNDED, p. 153
Kant and the philosophy of value, p. 153
Kant and Protestantism, p. 155
Postulatory and mystical theories of religious knowledge, p. 156
Ritschlianism, p. 157
Criticism of morally grounded metaphysics, p. 158 .
METAPHYSICAL PHILOSOPHY INTELLECTUALLY GROUNDED, p. 161
Meaning and criticism of “intellectualism,” p. 162
Value of speculative theism, p. 165
Reality of the self, p. 167
Religious significance of the problem of causality, p. 169 .
CHAPTER V — SOURCES AND METHOD
Summary of argument up to the present, p. 171
Relation of theology to philosophy of religion, p. 172 .
SOURCES, p. 174
The Bible and other sources of Christian theology, p. 174
Attempt to exclude the Old Testament from the canon, p. 176
Relation of the Old Testament to the New, p. 178
Attempt to limit the authority of Scripture to the Synoptic Jesus, p. 179
The church as a source of theology, p. 182
Reason, p. 184
Religious experience, p. 185 .
METHOD, p. 187
PART II. THE DOCTRINE OF GOD
CHAPTER VI — THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
Relation of the belief in God to religion, p. 203
Nature of the divine attributes, p. 206
Classification of the attributes, p. 207
Meaning of “existence” or “reality,” p. 209
Recent attempts to interpret God in positivistic terms, p. 210
Bearing of origin of religion and its anthropomorphic character on its truth, p. 212
Revelation as a justification of the belief in God, p. 215
Tradition as the source of the theistic belief, and its apologetic significance, p. 217 .
THE RELIGIOUS ARGUMENT, p. 218
Religion as an instinct and the apologetic value of this conception, p. 219
The arguments of Schleiermacher, Troeltsch, and Otto, p. 222
Empiricistic form of the religious argument, p. 225
Essential truth of the religious argument, p. 227 .
THE MORAL ARGUMENT, p. 228
Moral law as evidence of a moral Lawgiver, p. 229
Kantian formulation of the moral argument, p. 229
Broader interpretation of the moral or valuational argument, p. 232 .
THE THEORETICAL ARGUMENT p. 234
Relation of Scripture to the “proofs” of God’s existence, p. 235
Traditional forms of the theoretical argument, p. 237
Epistemological argument, p. 237
Causal argument, p. 238
Value of these arguments, p. 241 .
CHAPTER VII — THE ABSOLUTENESS OF GOD
Origin and history of the quest after the absolute, p. 242 .
THE MEANING OF ABSOLUTENESS, p. 244
Three different views of the Absolute, p. 244
Relation of the philosophical idea of the Absolute to the religious idea of God, p. 246 .
ORIGIN OF THE IDEA OF THE ABSOLUTE, p. 248 .
Relation of metaphysics and religion to each other, p. 249
Intellectual need of the Absolute, p. 249
Religious need of the Absolute, p. 250
Rudolf Otto’s theory of the origin of the sense of tho divine, p. 251 .
THE IDEA OF A FINITE GOD, p. 254
Distinction between a finite God and a growing or changing God, p. 255
Divine finitude and religious experience, p. 256
Divine finitude and the problem of suffering, p. 257
Human experience and the Absolute, p. 259
Bishop McConnell on the limitation of God, p. 262
Professor Brightman’s theory of the divine finitude, p. 263
True meaning of absoluteness, p. 263 .
OMNIPOTENCE, p. 264
History and motive of the belief in the divine omnipotence, p. 264
Meaning of omnipotence, p. 267
Re- lation of the divine nature to the divine power, p. 269
Relation of truth and right to the divine nature, p. 270
Relation of the divine will to creation and to the divine ability, p. 270
Criticism of Professor Brightman’s theory, p. 272 .
OMNIPRESENCE, p. 275
Origin and development of the belief in the divine omnipresence, p. 275
Meaning of omnipresence, p. 276
ETERNITY, p. 278
Religious value of the idea of eternity, p. 278
Difficulties in the conception of eternity as endless duration, p. 280
Conception of eternity as timelessness, p. 281
Relation of the divine consciousness to time, p. 282
Different ways of conceiving the time-transcendence of God, p. 283
Religious significance of the divine absoluteness, p. 284 .
CHAPTER VIII — THE PERSONALITY OF GOD
Relation of the belief in a personal God to Christianity and to religious belief in general, p. 285
Reasons for the slow development of a thoroughgoing theological personalism, p. 286
Reasons for emphasizing the personality of God since the latter part of the eighteenth century, p. 290 .
THE MEANING OF PEBSONALITY, p. 292
Relation of corporeality to personality, p. 292
Distinction between psychical and spiritual personality, p. 293
Attempt to conceive the divine personality without consciousness, p. 295
Essential elements in personality, p. 296 .
PERSONALITY AND THE ABSOLUTE, p. 299
Idea of a superpersonal God and its significance, p. 300
Relation of the agnostic Absolute to personality, p. 301
The logical Absolute and its relation to personality, p. 301
The causal Absolute and its relation to personality, p. 304 .
RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL VALUE, p. 305
Religious values inherent in the idea of the divine personality, p. 305
Philosophical value of the doctrine of the personality of God, p. 308
Attributes of God inherent in the idea of his personality, p. 311 .
UNITY, p. 311
Double meaning of the divine unity and its religious significance, p. 311
Different ways of conceiving the divine unity, p. 313 .
IMMMUTABILITY, p. 314
Twofold sense in which God is metaphysically immutable, p. 315
Biblical teaching relative to the -divine unchangeability, p. 315
Different ways of conceiving the divine immutability, p. 316 .
OMNISCIENCE, p. 317
Practical basis of the belief in the divine omniscience, p. 317
Divine knowledge of physical pain and suffering, p. 318
Divine foreknowledge of free acts, p. 319 .
FREEDOM, p. 322
Meaning of freedom in God, p. 323
Relation of the divine will to the divine omniscience, p. 323 .
CHAPTER IX — THE GOODNESS OF GOD
Religious importance of the idea of the divine goodness, p. 325
Two great steps in the moralization of the superworld, p. 326
BIBLICAL TEACHING, p. 326
Mosaic and prophetic contributions to the moralization of Jehovah, p. 327
Imperfections in the Old Testament conception of Jehovah’s moral character, p. 328
New elements in Jesus’ conception of God, p. 329
Ethical terms applied to the Deity in Scripture, p. 334
Righteousness, justice, truth and holiness, p. 335
Love, mercy, grace and faithfulness, p. 337 .
RIGHTEOUSNESS AND LOVE, p. 339
Relation of divine righteousness and divine love to each other, p. 339
Prophetic, Pharisaic and New Testament conceptions of the divine character, p. 340
Later theological antithesis between the divine love and the divine righteousness, p. 342
Objections to merging the divine justice in the divine love, p. 343
Strict retributive justice and its relation to the divine righteousness, p. 344
Meaning and validity of the divine wrath, p. 346
Dualism of love and justice and the way to overcome it, p. 348 .
LOVE AND PERSONALITY, p. 349
Distinction between God’s love of men and hatred of sin, p. 349
Relative importance of the divine love and divine personality, p. 350
Advantage of laying the primary stress on the divine personality, p. 352
Christian stress on love and personality opposed to Greek intellectualism, p. 353 . PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS, p. 354
Analogical argument for the goodness of God, p. 354
Empirical argument for the divine goodness, p. 355
Aprioristic argument for the moral character of God, p. 357 .
GOODNESS AND ABSOLUTENESS, p. 360
Source of the belief in an ethical Absolute, p. 360
Origin of the problem of theodicy, p. 362
The view of Leibnitz, p. 363
Objection to Professor Brightman’s theory, p. 365
Concepton of God as supermoral or as beyond good and evil, p. 366
Apparent conflict between the love of God and his onliness as an absolute Being, p. 368 .
CHAPTER X — THE TRINITY
Doctrine of Trinity due to new revelation of God in Christ, p. 370 .
ORIGIN OF THE DOCTRINE, p. 370
Ethnic triads and their relation to the Christian Trinity, p. 371
Theories that seek to account for the many triads or trinities that appear in religious history in general, p. 372
Neo-Platonic Trinity and its influence on Christian thought, p. 376
Sharp distinction drawn by Thomas Aquinas between the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of God, p. 377
Earlier Platonic view, p. 378
New Testament Trinity as expounded and supported by Georg Wobbermin, p. 380
Vital source of Trinitarian speculation, p. 385 .
DEVELOPMENT OF THE DOCTRINE, p. 385
Two main periods, p. 386
Fundamental interest, p. 386
Theories that seek to explain the belief in Jesus’ divinity as a myth, p. 388
Impression made by personality of Christ as source of belief in his divine character, p. 390
Five factors that led to the higher view of Christ, p. 390
Paul’s conception of a pre-existent Christ inadequate, p. 395
Five stages in the gradual identification of the divine principle in Christ with a mode of being within God himself, p. 397
Equating of Christ with the Logos, p. 397
Eternal generation of the Son, p. 399
The Son of the same substance with the Father, p. 400
Distinction between “hypostasis” and “essence,” and ascription of divinity to the Spirit, p. 402
Complete equalization of the three persons of the Trinity and doctrine of double procession, p. 404
Doctrine of circumincession, p. 405 .
TRADITIONAL FORM OF THE DOCTRINE, p. 407
Adoptionism, p. 407
Sabellianism, p. 409
Arianism, p. 409
The Trinitarian God a living God, p. 410
Moral absoluteness of the triune God, p. 411
Self-sacrifice attributed to Trinitarian God, p. 413
Philosophical value of doctrine of Trinity, p. 414
Danger of tritheism, p. 415
No philosophical reason for ascribing personality to the Spirit, p. 417
Non-personal Hypostases inconceivable and of little religious value, p. 418
Platonic realism essential to traditional Trinitarianism but untenable, p. 419
Identification of divine element in Christ with his ego and with Logos open to serious question, p. 420
Redemption, as conceived to-day, not directly dependent on doctrine of immanent Trinity as in early Greek church, p. 421 .
CONTEMPORARY TRINITABIANISM, p. 422
Present attitude toward the doctrine of the Trinity, p. 422 The Trinity as a symbol of the richness of the idea of God, p. 424
Modified Sabellianism, p. 425
Christlikeness of God, p. 426 .