Much contemporary debate surrounds the traditional teaching that God is unchanging. It is frequently argued that an immutable God must be cold, remote, indifferent, and uncaring - that an unchanging God cannot be the triune God of love revealed in Scripture. Those who reject divine immutability often single out Thomas Aquinas as its most prominent proponent. Unfortunately, such critics of his theology frequently misunderstand the fundamentals of Aquinas' actual teaching.""The Unchanging God of Love"" provides a clear and comprehensive account of what Aquinas really says about divine immutability, presented in a way that allows his theology to address contemporary criticisms. The book first reviews the various ways Aquinas applies the notion of immutability to creatures, showing that he is well aware of both the positive and negative implications of the concept. It then analyzes all of his arguments for divine immutability that are presented in his writings, noting his care in determining which aspects of immutability are to be affirmed and which are to be denied of God. It also demonstrates the distinctiveness of Aquinas' teaching by examining the biblical, patristic, and philosophical sources he employs.Aquinas' unchanging God proves to be no static deity, but the dynamic, trinitarian plenitude of knowledge, love, and life, to whom not only immutability but also motion may in some way be attributed. A study of 'the motion of the motionless God' reveals how the concepts of both motion and immutability function in Aquinas' understanding of the Trinity, the Incarnation, Creation, and Providence. Through this study, it becomes clear that the unchanging God of Aquinas, far from being indifferent or remote, is truly the God of compassion and love revealed in Scripture, who shares a most intimate friendship with the people he has created and redeemed.

What is "A Law of Nature"? It's a question that's vexed philosophers and scientists ever since Descartes first coined the term. Fr. Andrew Younan explores it in this insightful book. After carefully reviewing the positions of Humeans and Anti-Humeans, he employs the philosophy of Aristotle and Aquinas to argue for an essentialist understanding. His study leads him back to the beginnings of modern science and then forward to quantum mechanics. The philosophical account of how the laws of nature arise from observed regularities in the world is followed by a theological discussion of the nature and action of the Lawgiver."-from the foreword by Michael J. Dodds, OP To borrow a phrase from Galileo: What does it mean that the story of the creation is "written in the language of mathematics?" This book is an attempt to understand the natural world, its consistency, and the ontology of what we call laws of nature, with a special focus on their mathematical expression. It does this by arguing in favor of the Essentialist interpretation over that of the Humean and Anti-Humean accounts. It re-examines and critiques Descartes' notion of laws of nature following from God's activity in the world as mover of extended bodies, as well as Hume's arguments against causality and induction. It then presents an Aristotelian-Thomistic account of laws of nature based on mathematical abstraction, necessity, and teleology, finally offering a definition for laws of nature within this framework.

Our ability to talk about God's action in the world is closely tied to our understanding of causality. With the advent of modern Newtonian science the conception of causality narrowed, and the discussion of divine action became locked into that contracted understanding. There seemed to be simply no room for God to act in the world without interfering with nature and the laws of science that describe it. Fortunately, the idea of causality has been greatly expanded through developments in contemporary science. Discoveries in quantum mechanics, cosmology, chaos theory, and biology have all led to a broader understanding of causality. These developments have opened two fundamentally new ways for theologians to ""unlock"" the discussion of divine action. One is to use the developments of science themselves to speak of God's action. The other is to speak of divine action not directly through the theories and interpretations of science, but rather through the broader understanding of causality that they suggest.,br> This book explores both approaches and argues that the latter provides a more effective way for discussing divine action. After showing that the idea of causality in contemporary science is remarkably reminiscent of key concepts in the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, it then retrieves those notions and applies them to the discussion of divine action. In this way, it provides a sustained account of how the thought of Aquinas may be used in conjunction with contemporary science to deepen our understanding of divine action and address such issues as creation, providence, prayer, and miracles.

This book takes the words Jesus used in each Beatitude and examines what they meant in biblical times, how they have been interpreted by saints and scholars throughout the centuries, and how their timeless wisdom can be applied to life today. This book is written for people who want to add more meaning, purpose, and joy to their lives. It is the perfect book for people who want to explore the riches of the Beatitudes on the road to living a happy, complete, and blessed life.