Ecclesiology and Eschatology

Abstract

Guided by Hugh’s theological anthropocentrism, according to which the relationship between the human body and the human soul mirrors the relationship between God and the physical universe, we have constructed a systematic, analytic philosophical theology interpreting core principles of the Christian faith and engaging a number of contemporary issues. Several distinctive theses have emerged: the essential dependence of all intelligibility upon nothing except divinity, the essential independence of divinity from temporal plurality, a sacramental view of natural causality, a dynamic rather than epistemological account of divine exemplarity, an epistemological rather than biological account of original sin, a dualism of union rather than interaction, human personhood as requiring a particular kind of self-love, and a greater-goods theodicy explaining how evil is eventually defeated and all creatures are ultimately benefited. In pursuing this constructive project we have also adhered to Hugh’s rationalist constraint cautioning us not to derive conceptions of immaterial realities from confusing sensory experiences of material phenomena. The possibility of an alternative philosophical theology true to Hugh’s rationalism—or even of an altogether different philosophical theology—has not been ruled out. Additional tools for tackling difficult questions should be welcomed, not shunned. Even if we have not succeeded in plausibly answering every question we have asked, some progress will have been made if good questions have been replaced with better ones.