Tag Archives: metaphysics

Review: Reason, Metaphysics, Mind

Posted on May 12, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

This might be a series of essays in honor of Alvin Plantinga, but few of the essays have anything to do with Plantinga.  Some are extremely technical and it’s not always clear what is going on. Nevertheless, there are a … Continue reading →

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Review: McCall, Invitation to Analytic Theology

Posted on April 24, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

This is an old review, but I thought I had already posted it.  I hadn’t. Despite it’s relatively simple-sounding and generic title, this book is unique in offering both a model for analytic theology as well as a brief crash … Continue reading →

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Review: Delivered from the Elements

Posted on March 15, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

My earlier notes here.  A potential problem with Leithart is that most people who read him either “join his camp” or “attack his camp.” I don’t want to do either. I actually think the book is quite good.  It has … Continue reading →

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Review: Cosmic Mystery

Posted on February 3, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

I’ve read this book six or eight times.  It’s probably the most important theological piece ever written on cosmology. Ambiguum 7 All created being is in motion since it aims toward some end. This combats Origenism.  Origen (de Principis I.2) … Continue reading →

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Analytic Outline, Balthasar’s Cosmic Liturgy

Posted on January 17, 2018 by J. B. Aitken

This isn’t an outline of the whole book–only the first half.  That is where Balthasar’s discussion on Person and Nature is.  I first read this book in 2010 when I was new to Maximus the Confessor.  Those were heady days.  … Continue reading →

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McGuckin on Natures

Posted on December 1, 2017 by J. B. Aitken

This ties in with my recent reflections on universals, natures, and metaphysics.  This is from John McGuckin’s fine work on St Cyril. I applaud Perry Robinson for doing the legwork in putting these quotes on his blog: Ousia: Essence, substance, … Continue reading →

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Review of Aristotle’s Categories

Posted on November 4, 2017 by J. B. Aitken

Categories is the intro text to Aristotle’s Metaphysics, or so some essay from Plato.Stanford.Edu said.  Good enough for me.  It is short and clear.   Some things are predicable of a subject but never in a subject.  By “being present … Continue reading →

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Outline of God, Revelation, Authority (vol 5)

Posted on May 8, 2017 by J. B. Aitken

By Carl F Henry. The first four volumes dealt with epistemology.  The final two deal with ontology and the doctrine of God. “God who stands” = personal sovereign containing in himself the ground of his own existence. “God who stays” … Continue reading →

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Review: Untamed God

Posted on April 18, 2017 by J. B. Aitken

This is a magnificently fine book.  Richards seeks to offer a robust defense of classical theism, yet he is sensitive to the challenges. He mostly succeeds. Thesis:  “Christians should affirm that God has an essence, which includes his perfections and … Continue reading →

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Heidegger Review: Introduction Metaphysics

Posted on February 14, 2017 by J. B. Aitken

Thesis and Conclusion: our asking “Why is there being rather than Nothing?” is a historical process and in that process opens us to different vistas. Heidegger concludes, “Being is the basic happening which first makes possible historical Dasein amid the … Continue reading →

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