Divine Impassibility in Eastern Patristic Thought: Origen of Alexandria and Gregory Thaumaturgus

Abstract

James Loxley Compton explores and defends the doctrine of divine impassibility. He notes that there has been a ‘passiblist turn’ in Western philosophy which has become hostile to the traditional notion that God is impassible. With very few exceptions, the contemporary debate over divine impassibility has taken place in what he calls a ‘Western arena’ with very little input from the Eastern tradition. To fill this lacuna, Compton draws upon the resources of the Eastern Christian tradition to offer an original response to contemporary critiques of the doctrine of divine impassibility. He does this by exploring two key thinkers, Origen of Alexandria and Gregory Thaumaturgus, and bringing a nuanced discussion of their concept of impassibility into conversation with contemporary philosophy of religion.