The Coherence of God-Talk

Adel Daher

doi:10.1017/S0034412500009598

The Coherence of God-Talk

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008

Adel Daher

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Adel Daher: Affiliation:
Brooklyn College of the City University of New York

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God, as viewed by Muslims, Jews and Christians, is a transcendent being. To say that God is transcendent is to say, among other things, that spatiotemporal predicates do not apply to him. He is disembodied and absolutely immutable. God, nevertheless, is on this same view an agent. He makes things happen, he answers prayers, he judges, he forgives, he punishes, he guides, etc. The concept of God as a being worthy of worship seems to require that God be an absolutely eternal being on the one hand with all that this entails and a being that is absolutely just, merciful, forgiving, loving, good, on the other. It is the predication of such attributes of God that yields the concept of transcendent agency. This means in effect that for a being to be God this being must be, at least, a disembodied agent. But the concept of a disembodied agent, it is argued, is a contradiction in terms.

Type: Articles
Information: Religious Studies , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , December 1976 , pp. 445 - 465

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034412500009598 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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^{page 446 note 1} It will be argued in more detail later that the concept of a disembodied action is incoherent.

^{page 446 note 2} Some philosophers argue that it is not necessary to ascribe non-temporality to the nature of God. This view will be discussed later from Penelhum's point of view. See Penelhum, Terence, Religion and Rationality (Random House, 1971), p. 152.Google Scholar

^{page 447 note 1} Alston, W. P., ‘The Elucidation of Religious Statements’, in Process and Divinity, edited by Reese, W. L. and Freeman, E. (LaSalle, Illinois, 1964), p. 151.Google Scholar

^{page 448 note 1} Penelhum, op. cit. p. 151.

^{page 448 note 2} Ibid. p. 156.

^{page 448 note 3} Ibid. p. 156.

^{page 448 note 4} Ibid. p. 150.

^{page 448 note 5} Ibid.

^{page 448 note 6} Ibid. p. 151.

^{page 448 note 7} Ibid.

^{page 448 note 8} Ibid. p. 151.

^{page 448 note 9} Ibid.

^{page 449 note 1} Ibid.

^{page 449 note 2} Ibid. p. 152.

^{page 449 note 3} Ibid. pp. 152–3.

^{page 450 note 1} Ibid. pp. 154–7.

^{page 450 note 2} Ibid. p. 155.

^{page 451 note 1} Ibid.

^{page 451 note 2} Ibid.

^{page 451 note 3} Ibid. p. 156.

^{page 451 note 4} Ibid. p. 155.

^{page 451 note 5} Penelhum, , Survival and Disembodied Existence (New York, Humanities Press, 1970), chap. 5Google Scholar.

^{page 451note 6} Penelhum, Religion and Rationality, op. cit. p. 156.

^{page 4510 note 7} Ibid. pp. 156–7.

^{page 451 note 8} Ibid. p. 157.

^{page 451 note 9} Ibid.

^{page 454 note 1} Ibid. p. 151; see also Survival and Disembodied Existence, op. cit. chap. 3.

^{page 454 note 2} Survival and Disembodied Existence, p. 41.

^{page 454 note 3} Ibid.

^{page 454 note 4} Ibid. p. 40.

^{page 454 note 5} Ibid. p. 38.

^{page 455 note 1} Ibid. pp. 38–9.

^{page 455 note 2} Ibid. p. 38.

^{page 455 note 3} Ibid. p. 39.

^{page 457 note 1} Hampshire, Stuart, Thought and Action (The Viking Press, 1959), p. 41.Google Scholar

^{page 458 note 1} Ibid.

^{page 459 note 1} Penelhum, , Survival and Disembodied Existence, op. cit. p. 25Google Scholar.

^{page 459 note 2} Ibid.

^{page 459 note 3} Hampshire, op. cit. p. 42.

^{page 459 note 4} Ibid.

^{page 462 note 1} For a lucid and illuminating discussion of these issues see Christian, W. A., Meaning and Truth in Religion (Princeton, 1964), pp. 256–61.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 462 note 2} Ibid.

^{page 462 note 3} Ibid. p. 256.

^{page 462 note 4} Ibid. pp. 256–7.

^{page 462 note 5} Ibid. p. 256.

^{page 462 note 6} Ibid.

^{page 464 note 1} Ibid. p. 256.

^{page 464 note 2} Ibid. p. 257–8.

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