Euthyphro and the goodness of God incarnate
Ratio 24 (2):206-221 (2011)
| Abstract | A familiar problem is here viewed from an unfamiliar angle. The familiar problem is the Euthyphro dilemma: if God wills something because it is good, then goodness is independent of God, so God becomes, morally speaking, de trop. On the other hand, if something is good because God wills it, then, given the absence of constraint on what God may will, moral truths are – counterintuitively – contingent. An examination of the kinds of necessity and possibility at work in this conundrum leads us to the most promising solution: there is a metaphysical connection between God and goodness. What he wills is an expression of his nature. But (and this is the unfamiliar angle), that solution now poses an acute problem for an understanding of the Incarnation. For if God is constitutive of goodness, and Christ is God incarnate, then Christ is constitutive of goodness. But Christ, as a human, is subject to external moral evaluation and obligation, which entails that he is not constitutive of goodness. This metaethical difficulty is not easily met by the usual strategies by which Christ is understood to have two natures. Reflection on our moral relations to our past selves, however, suggests a way forward | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,679 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesElizabeth Drummond Young (2013). God's Moral Goodness and Supererogation. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 73 (2):83-95.
Daniel Schwartz Porzecanski (2003). Should We Will What God Wills? Philosophy and Theology 15 (2):403-419.
R. Zachary Manis (2011). Could God Do Something Evil? A Molinist Solution to the Problem of Divine Freedom. Faith and Philosophy 28 (2):209-223.
Brian Davies (2011). Thomas Aquinas on God and Evil. Oxford University Press.
James Kellenberger (2005). God's Goodness and God's Evil. Religious Studies 41 (1):23-37.
David Basinger (1987). Evil and a Finite God. Philosophy Research Archives 13:285-287.
Hugh Rice (2003). God and Goodness. OUP Oxford.
William Rowe (forthcoming). Can God Be Free? Faith and Philosophy 19 (4):405-424.
Marilyn McCord Adams (1987). Duns Scotus on the Goodness of God. Faith and Philosophy 4 (4):486-505.
Harriet A. Harris (ed.) (2011). God, Goodness, and Philosophy: Morality and Philosophy of Religion. Ashgate.
Joseph L. Lombardi (2005). Against God's Moral Goodness. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 79 (2):313-326.
Norman Kretzmann (1985). Absolute Simplicity. Faith and Philosophy 2 (4):353-382.
James D. Rissler (2002). A Psychological Constraint on Obedience to God's Commands: The Reasonableness of Obeying the Abhorrently Evil. Religious Studies 38 (2):125-146.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2011-05-10Total downloads25 ( #49,599 of 549,087 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,317 of 549,087 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
