more from this thinker     |     more from this text


Single Idea 7603

[filed under theme 28. God / A. Divine Nature / 5. God and Time ]

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.


The 9 ideas with the same theme [relationship between God, time and eternity]:

God is not a creator (involving time and change) and is not concerned with the inferior universe [Aristotle, by Armstrong,K]
All things are in the present time to God [Augustine]
If God existed before creation, why would a perfect being desire to change things? [Augustine, by Bardon]
If God is outside time in eternity, can He hear prayers? [Augustine]
Divine eternity is the all-at-once and complete possession of unending life [Boethius]
If time were absolute that would make God's existence dependent on it [Leibniz, by Bardon]
God is 'eternal' either by being non-temporal, or by enduring forever [Davies,B]
God being inside or outside of time both raise a group of difficult problems [Le Poidevin]
How could a timeless God know what time it is? So could God be both timeless and omniscient? [Le Poidevin]