{"id":69574,"date":"2021-09-07T23:30:40","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T22:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theskepticalzone.com\/wp\/?p=69574"},"modified":"2021-12-05T13:30:33","modified_gmt":"2021-12-05T13:30:33","slug":"window-dressing-or-is-the-god-of-thomistic-classical-theism-as-dumb-as-a-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/theskepticalzone.com\/wp\/window-dressing-or-is-the-god-of-thomistic-classical-theism-as-dumb-as-a-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"Window dressing, or: Is the God of Thomistic classical theism as dumb as a rock?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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Dr. Gaven Kerr<\/a> is a lecturer in philosophy at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Ireland. In a recent online interview with writer and philosopher Pat Flynn<\/a> on a Youtube video titled, “Philosophy Friday: Classical Theism and Divine Simplicity”<\/a> (March 23, 2021), Dr. Kerr (who is a Thomist and a stalwart defender of classical theism) made nine incredible metaphysical claims<\/a><\/strong> (two about agents in general, and seven about God), as well as six philosophically controversial background assumptions<\/a><\/strong>. Below, I shall argue that when taken together, these claims and assumptions add up to a picture of a God Who is literally as dumb as a rock.<\/strong> Basically, He’s a black box. The exalted language which Thomists use to describe God is mere window dressing, obscuring the fact that the God they worship never even thinks about<\/em> the creatures He has made: they depend on Him, but on the Thomistic view, God creates them without having to think any thoughts about them<\/em>, like “Let there be light” or “Let us make man in our own image.” All God ever thinks about<\/em> is Himself, and even His act of “thinking about” Himself consists in nothing more than His being<\/em> Himself. In other words, God knows Himself (and His creatures) simply by existing<\/em>. In this post, I shall argue that the Thomistic account of knowledge<\/em> is downright nonsensical, that Thomists’ reasons for denying<\/em> that God has any thoughts and feelings about us are based on faulty assumptions, and finally, that if their account of God were<\/em> correct, it would be irrational<\/em> of us to love God or to feel grateful to Him for anything.<\/strong> Taken to its logical extreme, Thomistic classical theism makes the hearts of believers grow cold, and it is a lucky thing indeed that most Christians (Catholics included) are blissfully ignorant of what it teaches about God. <\/p>\n

For those readers who are interested, here is Pat Flynn’s interview with Dr. Kerr:<\/p>\n


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