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Int J Philos Relig (2011) 69:103118
DOI 10.1007/s11153-010-9267-0
Received: 21 June 2010 / Accepted: 21 June 2010 / Published online: 9 October 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
Abstract I display the historical roots of perfect being theology in Greco-Roman philosophy, and the distinctive reasons for Christians to take up a version of this project. I also rebut a recent argument that perfect-being reasoning should lead one to atheism.
Keywords God Perfect being theology Christianity Atheism
Perfect being theology (PBT) began in Greco-Roman philosophy and migrated to the Christian tradition. Some Christian theologians claim that this was just aping philosophical fashion, and brought into the Christian tradition notions in fact incompatible with its Biblical roots.1 I now suggest that these claims are false. Early Christians had Biblical reasons to adopt a particular version of the perfect being project. This version is not purely a priori, but sees PBT as a way to ll out concretely a less determinate description of God given in the Bible. To the extent that it does so, PBTs results cant count as anti-Biblical. I show that this more modest sort of PBT avoids some problems those face who try to construct a notion of God purely a priori from abstract considerations about greatness or perfection. Stephen Maitzen has recently argued that the sort of argument that features in the a priori project actually supports atheism. I argue below that Maitzens case fails.
1 The locus classicus is Harnack (1958), though his ire focuses more on the deliverances of PBT than on the method.
B. Leftow (B)
Oriel College, Oxford University, Oxford, UK e-mail: [email protected]
Why perfect being theology?
Brian Leftow
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104 Int J Philos Relig (2011) 69:103118
Origins
PBT traces back at least to Plato, who takes as premisses in the Republic that a god and what belongs to him are in every way in the best condition they are the most beautiful and best possible (Plato 1992). These claims could hardly have been based on Greek popular religion; they in fact let Plato reject that religion entirely in working out his ideal society, though on a basis that avoided the impiety charge that brought Socrates to trial. Nor did Platos conclusionsimmutable gods, gods identical with Platonic Forms2owe anything...