A Manual of the History of Dogmas ...
by Bernard John Otten (9780217432146)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER I THE EXISTENCE OF GOD: GOD'S ESSENCE In tracing up the doctrinal development that took place during the Middle Ages, it appears advisable to arrange the various topics of dogmatic interest in the same order that is commonly observed in modern textbooks of theology. For thereby is secured that continuity of thought with which modern students are most familiar. This requires, indeed, some rearrangement of the subject-matter as treated by the Schoolmen, but only to a limited extent; because most modern authors retain the order of treatment established by the theologians of the Middle Ages. Furthermore, it is hardly necessary to remark, as the point is sufficiently obvious, that in the study of mediaeval theology the writings of the most representative Scholastics call for special consideration, and that the works of less important writers need be studied in so far only as they contain points of special interest to the history of dogmas A ? The Existence Of God In all the great Summae, whatever be the date of their composition, one of the first questions turns about the existence of God. The old arguments made use of by the Apologists of the second century, and incidentally also by many of the later Fathers, were overhauled and scientifically examined. The arguments from design, from the different degrees of perfection, from the contingency of all finite beings, and from the obvious necessity of a Causa Prima, were all investigated and retained. Besides these, however, others also were excogitated, as may be seen by referring, for instance, to the Summa of Alexander of Hales.1 1 Op. cit . q. 2, m. 3. An entirely new argument to prove the existence of God, commonly called the ontological argument, was devised by St. Anselm. He derived it from the idea of a bei...

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