Brian Davies | |
---|---|
Born | Brian Evan Anthony Davies 7 July 1951 |
Nationality | British |
Ecclesiastical career | |
Religion | Christianity (Roman Catholic) |
Church | Latin Church |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | |
Thesis | Reasons and Belief [1] (1976) |
Influences | |
Academic work | |
Discipline | |
Sub-discipline | |
School or tradition | Analytical Thomism |
Institutions | |
Doctoral students | Mark Wynn [2] |
Brian Evan Anthony Davies OP (born 7 July 1951) is a British philosopher,Roman Catholic priest,and friar. He is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy,Fordham University (since 1995),and author of An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion,now in its fourth English edition,which has been translated into five languages.
Brian Davies studied theology at the University of Bristol [3] (BA 1972) and undertook graduate studies at King's College London (MTh,1973;Tutorial Assistant,1974–6;PhD,1976). [4]
He spent the period 1982–95 at the University of Oxford. Throughout those years he was a lecturer in theology and philosophy at Blackfriars,Oxford. Davies was also Tutor in Theology,St Benet's Hall and a member of the Faculty of Theology (1983–95);Regent of Studies of the English Dominican Province (1988–95);University Research Lecturer (1993–95);and member of the Sub-Faculty of Philosophy (1994–95). [4]
In 1994 Davies was appointed Regent of Blackfriars and,as a Head of House,received the degree of Master of Arts by Special Decree by the University of Oxford. In 1995 he took up his current appointment at Fordham University. [3] He held Visiting Professorships at the Beda College,Rome (Spring 1987 and Spring 1988),Fordham University (July–August 1987,July–August 1988,and Fall 1994),and Candler School of Theology,Emory University (Spring 1993). [4]
Davies takes influence from Thomas Aquinas and is a proponent of classical theism. To solve the problem of evil,Davies has argued that God is not a created person or moral agent and is therefore not responsible for evil in the way that creatures are. God the creator and sustainer of the universe is not existent among others so cannot be expected to conform to moral standards external to himself. [5] In 2008,Davies stated:
I want to reject the theistic and nontheistic discussions of God and evil that start from the presupposition that God is the sort of thing I am, a moral agent subject to duties and obligations [...] If someone said, 'Oh well, the tsunamis prove that God isn’t doing what he ought to do,' I am going to describe that comment as very misguided since it does not make sense to suggest that God is subject to moral obligations. [6]
He has also contributed:
Davies also edits the Outstanding Christian Thinkers series (Continuum: London and New York, 1989–2004), having overseen the publication of twenty-eight volumes, and of the Great Medieval Thinkers, published by Oxford University Press. He was Book Reviews Editor for New Blackfriars (1979–95) and a member of the editorial board for Religious Studies (2000–6). He is now Associate European Editor (since 1992) for the International Philosophical Quarterly.
As literary executor for the late Herbert McCabe (died 2001), Davies edited and published five volumes of work that McCabe left at the time of his death: God Still Matters (Continuum: London and New York, 2002); God, Christ and Us (Continuum: London and New York, 2003); The Good Life: Ethics and the Pursuit of Happiness (Continuum: London and New York, 2005); Faith Within Reason (Continuum: London and New York, 2007); and On Aquinas (Continuum: London and New York, 2008).
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Omnipotence is the quality of having unlimited power. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence only to the deity of their faith. In the monotheistic religious philosophy of Abrahamic religions, omnipotence is often listed as one of God's characteristics, along with omniscience, omnipresence, and omnibenevolence. The presence of all these properties in a single entity has given rise to considerable theological debate, prominently including the problem of evil, the question of why such a deity would permit the existence of evil. It is accepted in philosophy and science that omnipotence can never be effectively understood.
In Christian theology, charity is considered one of the seven virtues and was understood by Thomas Aquinas as "the friendship of man for God", which "unites us to God". He holds it as "the most excellent of the virtues". Aquinas further holds that "the habit of charity extends not only to the love of God, but also to the love of our neighbor".
Sir Anthony John Patrick Kenny is a British philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of religion, and the philosophy of Wittgenstein of whose literary estate he is an executor. With Peter Geach, he has made a significant contribution to analytical Thomism, a movement whose aim is to present the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas in the style of analytic philosophy. He is a former president of the British Academy and the Royal Institute of Philosophy.
Omnibenevolence is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "unlimited or infinite benevolence". Some philosophers have argued that it is impossible, or at least improbable, for a deity to exhibit such a property alongside omniscience and omnipotence, as a result of the problem of evil. However, some philosophers, such as Alvin Plantinga, argue the plausibility of co-existence.
Analytical Thomism is a philosophical movement which promotes the interchange of ideas between the thought of Thomas Aquinas, and modern analytic philosophy.
The Summa contra Gentiles is one of the best-known treatises by Thomas Aquinas, written as four books between 1259 and 1265.
Thomism is the philosophical and theological school which arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Dominican philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church.
The Peripatetic axiom is: "Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses". It is found in De veritate, q. 2 a. 3 arg. 19 by Thomas Aquinas.
The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are an enumeration of seven spiritual gifts first found in the book of Isaiah, and much commented upon by patristic authors. They are: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.
The Summa Theologiae or Summa Theologica, often referred to simply as the Summa, is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a scholastic theologian and Doctor of the Church. It is a compendium of all of the main theological teachings of the Catholic Church, intended to be an instructional guide for theology students, including seminarians and the literate laity. Presenting the reasoning for almost all points of Christian theology in the West, topics of the Summa follow the following cycle: God; Creation, Man; Man's purpose; Christ; the Sacraments; and back to God.
Denys Alan Turner is an English philosopher and theologian. He is Horace Tracy Pitkin Professor of Historical Theology emeritus at Yale University having been appointed in 2005, previously having been Norris–Hulse Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in philosophy from the University of Oxford. He has written widely on political theory and social theory in relation to Christian theology, as well as on medieval thought, in particular, mystical theology and Christian mysticism.
Thomistic sacramental theology is St. Thomas Aquinas's theology of the sacraments of the Catholic Church. It can be found through his writings in the 13th-century works Summa contra Gentiles and in the Summa Theologiæ.
Brian Leftow is an American philosopher specializing in philosophy of religion, medieval philosophy, and metaphysics. He is the William P. Alston Professor for the Philosophy of Religion at Rutgers University. Previously, he held the Nolloth Chair of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion at Oriel College, Oxford, succeeding Richard Swinburne.
Thomas Aquinas was an Italian Dominican friar and priest, an influential philosopher and theologian, and a jurist in the tradition of scholasticism from the county of Aquino in the Kingdom of Sicily.
Medieval philosophy is the philosophy that existed through the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century until after the Renaissance in the 13th and 14th centuries. Medieval philosophy, understood as a project of independent philosophical inquiry, began in Baghdad, in the middle of the 8th century, and in France and Germany, in the itinerant court of Charlemagne in Aachen, in the last quarter of the 8th century. It is defined partly by the process of rediscovering the ancient culture developed in Greece and Rome during the Classical period, and partly by the need to address theological problems and to integrate sacred doctrine with secular learning. This is one of the defining characteristics in this time period. Understanding God was the focal point of study of the philosophers at that time, Muslim and Christian alike.
James Francis Ross was an American philosopher of religion, law, metaphysics and philosophy of mind. He was a member of the Philosophy Department at the University of Pennsylvania from 1962 until his death in 2010.
James F. Keenan is a moral theologian, bioethicist, writer, and the Canisius Professor of theology at Boston College.
The philosophy, theology, and fundamental theory of Catholic canon law are the fields of philosophical, theological (ecclesiological), and legal scholarship which concern the place of canon law in the nature of the Catholic Church, both as a natural and as a supernatural entity. Philosophy and theology shape the concepts and self-understanding of canon law as the law of both a human organization and as a supernatural entity, since the Catholic Church believes that Jesus Christ instituted the church by direct divine command, while the fundamental theory of canon law is a meta-discipline of the "triple relationship between theology, philosophy, and canon law".
Karen Kilby is an American lay Catholic theologian. She is currently the Bede Professor of Catholic Theology in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University.
The Oxford Handbook of Aquinas is a book edited by the Catholic philosophers Brian Davies and Eleonore Stump. A reference work, it features a number of writers who provides scholarly essays on the life and views of the Italian Catholic philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas. The book, published on 25 January 2012 by Oxford University Press, was a part of the Oxford Handbook series, and was positively reviewed by critics, some deemed it a valuable introduction to Aquinas' thoughts, collectively known as Thomism.