In the book Four Views on Christian Metaphysics, edited by Timothy M. Mosteller, four individual contributors share their views. 1) Paul M. Gould shares his view on Christian metaphysics and Platonism. 2) Timothy L. Jacobs shares his view on Christian metaphysics and Aristotelianism. 3) James S. Spiegel shares his view on Christian metaphysics and Idealism. 4) Sam Welbaum shares his view on Christian metaphysics and Postmodernism.
By way of critical review, my next four posts will share the summary of each view as summarized by the book’s editor Timothy M. Mosteller. I am providing the following terms and definitions to aid you in this endeavor. Let us begin with the term metaphysics.
The term is a combination of two Greek words, meta (“after” or “beyond”) and physis (“nature”). An initial set of Aristotle’s writings came to be called the Physics about “the things of nature.” Another set of Aristotle’s writings was then called the Metaphysics or “after physics.” The term is appropriate for both the sequencing of Aristotle’s writings and their content – after and beyond physics.
- metaphysics – the study of being or reality
- being – that which is or exists; the real
- monism – the metaphysical view that all reality is one
- pluralism – the metaphysical view that reality is many, not one
- dualism – the metaphysical view of two ultimate realities like physical and non-physical, body and mind, matter and spirit
- materialism – the belief that all of reality is material and no spiritual entities exist like God, angels, nor souls
- idealism – the metaphysical view that reality consists of minds and ideas rather than matter
~ Boethius ~