Digital Logos Edition
Volume Three, The Divine Essence and Attributes, examines post-Reformation theology on the unity of God’s existence, God’s divine essence and attributes, and divine will. Included is an analysis of the doctrine of God from the twelfth to the early eighteenth century.
“Among the divine attributes one stands forth as a governing concept which determines the way in which theology discusses the attributes and their relation to the divine essence: the divine simplicity. Here we encounter the basic question of the difference between God and his creatures and of the relation of universals to God.” (Page 38)
“Leaving aside differences of formulation found throughout the tradition, the basic doctrinal point is plain: in God there is an essential or substantial simplicity but there are distinctions—and these distinctions can be represented on the analogy of distinctions in the intellect.” (Page 58)
“The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture.” (Page 99)
“As is often the case with Barth’s reviews and critiques of the tradition, his argument is directed more toward the justification of his own position than toward a genuine understanding of the past.” (Page 155)
“In Anselm, as in the fathers, simplicity serves to safeguard trinitarianism from tritheistic implications” (Page 43)