more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
Aristotle's god had not created the world, since this would involve an inappropriate change and temporal activity; everything yearns towards god, but god remains indifferent, since he cannot contemplate anything inferior to himself.
Gist of Idea
God is not a creator (involving time and change) and is not concerned with the inferior universe
Source
report of Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], God) by Karen Armstrong - A History of God Ch.1
Book Ref
Armstrong,Karen: 'A History of God' [Mandarin 1993], p.49
A Reaction
Trust Aristotle to come up with the only rational and consistent account of a deity anyone has ever offered. Endless paradoxes and inconsistencies arise if god steps into time, makes things, changes, and responds to prayers.
7603 | God is not a creator (involving time and change) and is not concerned with the inferior universe [Aristotle, by Armstrong,K] |
16702 | All things are in the present time to God [Augustine] |
22887 | If God existed before creation, why would a perfect being desire to change things? [Augustine, by Bardon] |
5976 | If God is outside time in eternity, can He hear prayers? [Augustine] |
16692 | Divine eternity is the all-at-once and complete possession of unending life [Boethius] |
22894 | If time were absolute that would make God's existence dependent on it [Leibniz, by Bardon] |
20712 | God is 'eternal' either by being non-temporal, or by enduring forever [Davies,B] |
15196 | God being inside or outside of time both raise a group of difficult problems [Le Poidevin] |
22941 | How could a timeless God know what time it is? So could God be both timeless and omniscient? [Le Poidevin] |