God’s absolute immutability vis-a-vis his real relation with the world

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 95 (1):29-47 (2023)
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Abstract

The absolute immutability of God, as it was expounded by many ancient and medieval thinkers such as Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, contends that God has no real relation with the world, but only a relation of reason. This view lingered until contemporary scholars like the process thinkers such as Alfred North Whitehead and his disciple, Charles Hartshorne, argued that God has a dipolar meaning that God influences the world and that the world also influences him. While protecting God's intrinsic Being, some contemporary thinkers like Clarke, Grant, and others also tried to formulate his real relationship with the world. But the problem remains on how to posit this real relation with the world without insinuating two natures in God. I wish to state in this paper that God has real relation with his creatures which is rooted in what I call “creational relation" that was made manifest at creation and continues after it.

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Aloysius N. Ezeoba
Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu, Nigeria

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The Problems of Philosophy.Bertrand Russell - 1912 - Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 21 (1):22-28.
Phänomenologie des Geistes. Hegel & Georg Lasson - 1908 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 65:218-219.
Omniscience and immutability.Norman Kretzmann - 1966 - Journal of Philosophy 63 (14):409-421.

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