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This paper investigates the prospects of a distinctively Plotinian argument for God's existence. Specifically, this paper assesses Plotinus' argument for the One/Good (Enneads; V.1,V.4), a principle rooted in Plato's Republic (509b6‐9), as a philosophical motivation for an argument for God's existence. While the appropriative task of using Plotinus' argument for natural theological purposes is not original to this work, this project remains in its philosophical infancy. It is to this end that the Plotinian background from which the argument proceeds is articulated, and thereafter contextualised in Edward Feser's Plotinian argument. This work defends Feser against two objections he does not consider, concluding that the appropriative strategy is successful and is a significant contribution to natural theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to constructively retrieve Anselm's theology of the Holy Spirit by responding to a recent criticism of his doctrine of atonement. This criticism is called the question of efficacy and focuses particularly on how Anselm holds humanity to participate in and receive the divine gift of atonement. In short, this paper argues that the Spirit's prevenient and subsequent grace allow for an individual to respond freely and in faith to Christ's work, resulting in three individually necessary and jointly sufficient conditions for union to be restored with God and human flourishing to obtain in Anselm's thinking. In order to argue this, the paper proceeds in four sections. First, it discusses the question of efficacy. Second, it discusses the Spirit's work in relation to an individual initially accepting Christ's Gift. The paper then proceeds by discussing the subsequent work of the Spirit and redemptive role of faith that are inherently tied to the initial work. The paper then concludes by analyzing alternative approaches to this question of efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that it cannot be fitting to blame God. I show that divine immutability, even on a weak conception, implies that God's ethical character cannot change. I then argue that blame aims at a change in the ethical character of the one blamed. This claim is directly intuitive, explains a wide set of intuitions about when blame is unfitting, and is implied by most of the theories blame offered in the philosophical literature. Since blame targeted at God aims to change God's ethical character, an impossibility, such blame is not fitting. I then draw on this conclusion to sketch a new theodicy. I argue that a necessary condition on being blameworthy is that one can be blamed under some possible condition. So, God cannot be blameworthy. Further, I argue that if someone cannot be blameworthy, then they cannot do wrong. Wrong actions tend to make us blameworthy, but since God cannot be blameworthy nothing can tend to make him blameworthy – God cannot do wrong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary expositions of God's goodness commonly err either (1) by subjecting God to moral laws, which is to question His sovereignty, or (2) by failing to establish that God will always act in accordance with moral principles, which removes the theist's ability to appeal to God's goodness in response to problems of evil. Current attempts at intermediate positions which avoid these two problems fall short. In this paper, I aim to construct a better intermediate position and account of God's goodness. I do this by claiming that God's ability to create is best explained in terms of God's self‐love. Since God, as the greatest possible being, must be able to create, He must love Himself. I argue that this in turn entails that God loves all things, since by loving Himself, God loves the pre‐existent ideas of everything that will come to exist, and by extension the things themselves. This, I argue, allows us to have confidence that God will act in accordance with moral principles, but without subjecting Him to moral laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The model of atonement presented in Anselm of Canterbury's Cur Deus Homo has aroused a host of worries from theologians. The gist of their criticism is that Anselm inscribes redemptive violence into theology and thus encourages passive acquiescence to abusive power structures or even licenses the violence of abusers. Some suggest that the way forward would be to jettison Anselm's account and develop alternatives that are not liable to the same abuses. This paper argues that while alternatives may be desirable, Cur Deus Homo looms so large in theological imaginations as to defy jettisoning. We should instead try to perform better readings. This paper presents a close reading of this text as a monastic meditation on mortality oriented less toward resolving a problem of systematic theology than drawing readers into a renewed experience of devotion to God. To do that, Anselm works to rewrite the meaning of human mortality, making it less about the necessity of losing one's life and more about the possibility of a gift of death. The ethical paradigm that emerges is far from a complete moral vision, but is still more alluring than the one about which Anselm's contemporary critics worry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Evagrius famously characterises divine nature as γνῶσις οὐσιώδης, 'substantial knowledge'. In the Alexandrian, Cappadocian, and other intellectual contexts informed by Platonic, Aristotelian, and Philonic thought, characterisations of God as a noetic or intellectual being are fairly common. However, these traditions concur in using the term νοῦς rather than γνῶσις. How can we explain that Evagrius deviates from the metaphysical mainstream? In this paper, I review this question from an historical and systematic point of view. I propose to examine ancient theories of Mind about the function and structure of the νοῦς, compare them to the Evagrian theory, and identify a possible explanation for the substitution of γνῶσις to the νοῦς. Since God is the key element in Evagrius's metaphysics, a clearer vision of the divine essence will help us appreciate the whole system more fully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important questions about divine revelation is the question – what is the nature of divine revelation? This conceptual question even precedes such epistemological questions as whether we can know that a divine revelation occurred, or whether divine revelation can produce religious knowledge. In this paper, I argue for a particular analysis of the concept of divine revelation. Key to my proposal is that ‘to reveal’ is a term of epistemic appraisal: if a subject revealed a proposition to a receiver, then this implies that the receiver actually accepted the information offered. I will end this paper by investigating what the consequences of my proposal are for answering the two epistemological questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the argument that scientific thinkers who embrace a religious tradition can promote intellectual integration between religion and science rather than fragmented discourse. It is argued that God's Word as an event and the concept of structural directedness, an organized movement toward a future that does not demand a consciously intended end, may be helpful in understanding God's actions in an indeterminant way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on explicit atheism being a philosophical position where belief in God being irrational following from Cantorian set theory.

In Crossing the Threshold of Divine Revelation, William Abraham offers a rich, subtle defense of an epistemology of divine revelation. In this paper, I focus on a cluster of metaepistemological claims made by Abraham. Specifically, I argue that Abraham's remarks about epistemic fit and the epistemic standards we bring to bear in making evaluations of divine revelation claims commit him to a species of epistemic relativism. I suspect, however, that Abraham does not think of himself as an epistemic relativist. If this is the case, then I believe Abraham needs to rethink his metaepistemological commitments that imply epistemic relativism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite recent attention on the social implications of his work, little has been done to articulate a substantive Kierkegaardian social theory. In this paper, I argue that Kierkegaard's A Literary Review describes four principles of social analysis. Together they reveal the social character of Kierkegaard's thought while presenting significant challenges for more traditional ‘social readings’ of his work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Practice in Christianity, Søren Kierkegaard's pseudonym, Anti‐Climacus enters into an extended engagement with Matthew 11.6, ‘Blessed is he who takes no offense at me’. In so doing, he comes to an understanding that ‘the possibility of offense’ characterises the ‘crossroad’ at which one either comes to faith in Christ's revelation or rejects it. Such a choice, as he is well aware, cannot be made from a neutral standpoint, and so he is led to propose that it is ‘the thoughts of the heart’ (i.e. a person's disposition) that constitute the pivotal factor in determining whether or not God will reconcile a person into the Christian faith. In this paper, I discuss Anti‐Climacus' interpretation of Mt. 11.6 and consider his reasons for interpreting a person's predisposition as being so decisive for faith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question of whether animals have souls and the ability to experience God after death within the limitations of their nature. Plausible explanations for the natural origin of life and for the development of subsequent complexity are increasingly being advanced by molecular biologists. Christian tradition and scholasticism teach that the human body is animated by the soul which is the agent of vital activities. This teaching is incompatible with the claim for a natural origin for life. At some stage in the evolution of chordates and cephalopods a sense of self-awareness and an ability to distinguish between pleasure and the absence of pleasure would have arisen permitting the potential for ensoulment. The premise that evolution was gradual but ensoulment was discontinuous predicates the irrational conclusion that for one generation the parents were animals without souls and their children humans, made in the image of God, and with souls. Biological gradualism is incompatible with a sudden ensoulment dichotomy both in the evolutionary history of humans and for a maturing foetus, human or animal. Gradualism must apply to both body and soul. A Christian interpretation of physicalism, however, provides an alternative to dualism and resolves the paradoxes and difficulties relating to animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is debate in the philosophy of religion about whether the being of God is timelessly eternal or is instead temporal but unbounded. In this paper, I seek to defend the first view by motivating and deriving it from the Christian doctrines of the trinity and salvation. My goal is to present the notion of eternity in a way that makes clear that it belongs to God by nature and to man by grace, with the condition of time being part of the medium of grace. To this end, I also employ the doctrine of theosis, as found in Maximus the Confessor and Dumitru Staniloae, and the Augustinean theory of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is becoming increasingly more common in Christian theism to conclude that the classical predication of a necessary God who interacts with contingent creation is logical inconsistency. This criticism is especially made by Process theists, but joining with them have been proponents of Open theism as well as others who seek to more closely unite God with the contingency in creation. It is feared that a God who is the transcendent cause of all that exists is unable to relate to creation without necessarily determining it. Yet Thomas Aquinas was not unaware of the potential difficulty in maintaining both a necessary God and created contingency and postulated a solution to the dialectic that fits comfortably within the classical synthesis. This paper examines Aquinas' solution against the charge of incoherence and finds that far from being inconsistent, it coherently succeeds in reconciling the dialectic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Philosophical debate about the problem of evil derives, in part, from differing definitions of almighty power or omnipotence. Modern atheists such as John McTaggart, J. L. Mackie, Earl Condee, and Danny Goldstick maintain that an omnipotent God must be able to accomplish anything, even if it entails a contradiction. On this account, the Christian God cannot be omnipotent and benevolent, for a benevolent, omnipotent God would have forced free agents to desist from evil and this prevented the introduction of suffering into the world. It does not matter if the idea of creating free agents that were forced to be good entails a contradiction. On this account, a God who is truly omnipotent can perform contradictory feats. In this paper, I argue that the atheistic tradition is mistaken. In the first place, even an absolutely omnipotent God could, as an act of benevolence, create a world in which there is suffering. In the second place, I argue that the concept of absolute omnipotence is fatally flawed. An absolutely omnipotent God would lack, in a decisive sense, power. He would be weak rather than strong. So the atheist's argument fails when it is evaluated in light of a more rational account of omnipotence and when it is carefully considered on its own terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To discuss the rationality of religious beliefs of the meaning of those beliefs must be made intelligible, sometimes to those who do not share our presuppositions. Is it possible to explain the meaning of such basic concepts as ‘Religion’, and ‘God’ without presupposing other religious concepts? The present paper is an attempt at such a radical interpretation of religion. This is done by wedding a full-fledged constructivist epistemology with insights from the mystical traditions of the East and the West. How such an epistemology can account for both the unity and plurality of religions is also indicated. In the process I give not only a new interpretation of ‘God’ but also suggest the reasons for the failure of the “proofs” for the existence of God. Thus, a new way is opened up for discussing the rationality of religious beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to provide a new philosophical explication of the doctrine of the Incarnation. A compositional model of the doctrine is formulated within the Dispositional Personhood account of Lynne Rudder Baker and the Composition as Identity framework of Donald L.M. Baxter. Formulating the doctrine of the Incarnation within this account and framework will enable it to be explicated in a clear and consistent manner, and the oft‐raised objections against this type of model can be answered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the religious crisis of philosopher Søren Kierkegaard by analyzing his journal entries in 1848. It highlights how Kierkegaard does not succeed in dividing inclosing reserve and the journal entries for Easter do not show the climax of religious crisis of Kierkegaard or his metamorphosis. It discusses the certainty of Kierkegaard that his sins are forgiven by God in such as way that God has forgotten them for him to succeed in breaking out his fundamental disposition.

The article presents the discussion on cosmological argument from contingency attempts to reason from the existence of dependent beings to the existence of God.

The article offers the author's insights on the Christianity and ethical subjectivity of Emmanuel Levinas as compared to the idea of Thomas Aquinas. The author says that he prescind from the basis of Aquinas in Christian revelation which focuses on the phenomenological and philosophical aspects of his thoughts. The author also discusses the associations between Aquinas band Thomas regarding the inspiration of the basis of ethical subjectivity by an Infinite God.

The article analyses the book "A Grief Observed" by C.S. Lewis. It mentions important themes in Aquinas and Augustine about the relationship between love of creatures and love of God. It reveals that second half of the book moves towards a sense of peace in which Lewis' feelings of anger and anxiety are resolved.

A literary criticism is presented for the book "Philosophical Investigations" by Ludwig Wittgenstein. Topics discussed include a quotation from St. Augustine's Confessions in the book, Wittgenstein's spirit of affinity with Augustine by developing Cavell's proposal and Augustine's authority to speak out of humility toward God.

The article explores the idea that God can be jealous. Topics include author presents four theories of jealousy that finds in the literature: an affective theory in terms of fear of loss, a cognitive theory in terms of normative judgments, a cognitive-conative theory in terms of desiring the possession of certain goods, and an affective-cognitive-conative theory in terms of loving attention; and author argues those who take the Bible to be inspired have a prima facie reason to think.

The article discusses that in order to see the argument between the priest and the doctor accurately, we should attune ourselves to several earlier descriptions and intimations concerning each character. It mentions that Christ demands more than taking up one's destiny, or resignation; and also mentions the presence of evil cannot change the preceding and ever present fact of the presence of God.

Religious art can reconfigure our conception of God's omniscience. This should be seen in terms of divine understanding, with empathy and love required for God's understanding of human beings. §I surveys reasons to think that God can empathize with us. §II and §III consider different ways that religious art has attempted to represent such empathetic relations. There are images of Christ's suffering that elicit empathy in the viewer, and there are depictions of God's empathetic understanding of humanity. §IV and §V consider the epistemic roles of art and how religious art can reconfigure how we think of God's omniscience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If the world has been fine‐tuned for human life, why does that life encompass such calamity and suffering? It seems that in so far as we are impressed by the fine‐tuning intuition that the world has been designed for human life, the problem of natural evil gains in urgency. I propose that observing the world from the anthropic point of view is the source of theists' challenge which arises from this tension. Dealing with this challenge I suggest perhaps the world is fine‐tuned for God's telos, which may be His manifestation of love through sentient beings' pains and emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article proposes the philosophical and theological views of Thomas Aquinas as a solution to the evil-god challenge and the problem of evil. Topics discussed are semantic theodicies and the privation view of evil according to philosophers Stephen Law and John Collins, sovereignty of God and His power over the free-willed and moral choices of human beings, and Aquinas' view of the goodness of God and the privation view of evil, and the a posteriori notion of the interchange of good and being.

The article argues that a personal form of anti-theism reduces to a form of gratuitous evil. Topics discussed are meaningful life-eradicating arguments against God's existence for persons striving for independence, understanding of the world, privacy and solitude, benefit of obtaining restricted values rather than unlimited values as a way to prevent the existence of persons who are hoping for His non-existence, and gratuitous evil as a special sort of goodness.

The article explores the moral problem with the free will defense against the problem of evil. Topics discussed are limited value of free will when it comes to allowing evil versus doing morally good, the idea that God allows free will to determine who deserves to get into heaven or hell after death, God's omnipotence and absolute ability to prevent evil, moral maturity as a response to the problem of evil, free will to believe in God, and similarity of God's divinity and human goodness.

The article explores the intellectual relationships of philosopher Jacques Maritain and theologian Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange on the permission of evil as it pertains to sin, reprobation and antecedent permissive decree. Topics discussed include neo-Bazinian position that God is an indirect cause of evil actions, dysymmetry between good and evil, shatterable motion that causes a free agent do moral good, reprobation as a positive exclusion from God's glory, and sufficient and efficacious grace.

Becoming is a process in which a thing moves from one state to another. In Section 1, the study will elaborate on the discussion of the Aristotelian causes taken broadly, primarily focusing on the relation between efficient and final causes. In Section 2, the study discusses the implications of Scotus's conception of contingency and freedom, as they are reflected in the relation of the future to the past, for the efficient and final causalities. Similarly in Section 3 an examination of Scotus's conception of matter is conducted. Based on the ideas established in these sections, the study attempts to present an initial Scotistic view of becoming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of divine hiddenness, currently a much‐discussed topic in analytic philosophy of religion, can be (roughly) summarized in the question, ‘Why is God not more obvious or apparent?’ Sometimes the problem is used to undermine theistic belief. Here we seek to add a unique contribution to the growing debate on this theme from the perspective of Reformed epistemology, particularly Alvin Plantinga's construal; moreover, we do so in a way that is theologically relevant. We conclude, with assistance from Scripture and from Plantinga, that the problem of divine hiddenness is not a problem for the Reformed epistemologist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the beatific vision based on the philosophy of Catholic Saint Thomas Aquinas and theologian Pseudo-Dionysius. Topics discussed include the negative and positive knowledge of God's existence, the concept and definition of the Divine Substance, and the possibility that infinite beings may be able to reveal themselves to finite creatures.

The article discusses the philosophical idea of Bernard Lonergan about the natural knowledge of God based on three texts such as "Insight" (1957), "Natural Knowledge of God" (1968), and "Method in Theology" (1972). Topics include the increasing number American adults who considered themselve as atheist, the religious belief of Roman Catholic theologians, and the results of the report "America's Changing Religious Landscape," from the Pew Research Center.

The article examines the appellation of God in Dionysius as Beyond Being, affirming God as a Superbeing. It highlights an analysis of the implication of respective views for epistemology. Preservance of the transcendence of God by various writers is also referred. It discusses convergence between Aquinas and Dionysius on the issue of God Beyond Being or Being Itself.

In defining the theological problem of participation as the question of how created beings, namely human beings, can participate ( μέθεξις) in the transcendent Uncreated God towards deification ( θέωσις) without a pantheistic blurring of essences, this article examines the Christologically intuitive way in which Maximus the Confessor (580-662) would have responded. Specifically, Maximus' Cyrilline Chalcednonianism, featuring an unconfused perichoretic union between Christ's two natures in his hypostatic union, serves directly as an apologetic and hermeneutic for humanity's and creation's participation in God. In addition, taking into account the scholarly debate over Maximus' understanding of the relationship between the Logos and the logoi, it is argued that this indirectly provides a second Christological way forward to resolve the problem at hand, particularly when the two types of logoi (that 'of being' and that 'of virtue') are correctly distinguished. Insofar as the Logos and the logoi, not to mention the notions of participation and deification, were viewed by Maximus through his Cyrilline Chalcedonian lens, his Cyrilline Chalcednonian Christology was ultimately his answer to the theological problem of participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an study of the theory of time by Saint Augustine. Topics discussed include philosophical analysis of time, dialectical investigation of time by Augustine, and eternity of God. Also being discussed is the measurement of time by Augustine as one of the incorporeals, and non-reducibility of time to physical motion.

An essay is presented which examines the relationship between the teleological suspension of philosopher Søren Kierkegaard and the re-appropriation of the suspension of philosopher Slavoj Žižek. It explores Kierkegaard's "Fear and Trembling" which depicts the decision of Abraham to obey the command of God and sacrifice his son Isaac. It discusses the attempt of Žižek to place the Kierkegaardian insight within his own ethico-political project.

The article offers information on the attempt of philosopher Søren Kierkegaard to introduce Christianity to Christendom. It explores the pseudonym Johannes Climacus of Kierkegaard that is indebted to Apostle Paul because Climacus presents the Christocentric epistemology of Paul in 1 Corinthians. It highlights an epistemology of various kinds focused on a "who" rather than of "what" that displaces the significance of human knowledge with the significance of the knowledge of God.

An essay is presented on the concept of Bernard Lonergan vertical finality which is pertained to the supernatural inclination of intellect. It says that the natural desire of humans in seeing God involves the purpose, orientation, and meaning of human life which evoked complications between grace and nature. It discusses the debate with regards to the origination of the natural desire in seeing God.

The article provides information on the distinction made by philosophers Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle between human and nonhuman animals. It discusses the assertion of Aquinas that human rationality is that in light where the human person is stated to be made in the likeness of the Creator. It highlights the argument of McIntyre on the types of reasons for actions used in depicting nonhuman animal behavior and what attribution to such animals for practical rationality's capacity entails.

The article provides information on the differences between logical and empirical to offer a methodology for filling gaps in the knowledge within the domains of religion and science. It mentions that empirical gaps are those that can be met through greater empirical research and discovery. It states that logical gaps need to be addressed logically and cannot be filled with discovery and research, and to understand logical gaps can help in solving skeptical problems.

In response to prevailing perceptions, I contend that Søren Kierkegaard (1813-55) conceives of the wholly otherness of God via his dialectical category of the 'infinite qualitative difference' between the human and the divine, initially through the self's consciousness of sin and ultimately through the self's acceptance of the gift of forgiveness. Therefore, I claim that while the common designation of Kierkegaard's God as 'Wholly Other' may initially evoke the alterity of sin; it is not ultimately sufficient to describe the divine alterity which Kierkegaard regards as more faithfully manifest in the 'impossible possibility' of forgiveness. Through this reading, I finally suggest that the 'Wholly Other' is not ultimately representative of God in Kierkegaard's writings and might be more faithfully supplemented by the appellation of the Holy Other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's views on the theory of faith given by philosopher Pascal. He tells that the Pascalian view of faith infers the contemporary interpretation of the wager. He says that according to Pascal, faith is the inclination of the will to love God. He also suggests that that the wager can be better understood as an argument of assessment instead of motivation.

The article argues on the existence or non-existence of God. The proofs for God's existence and most of the scientific arguments against God's existence are inductive arguments. The tendency of inductive arguments about God to assume as a premise, which the world needs something beyond the world in order to be explained. The inductive arguments tend to have the same problem in reference to God in that they require some assumption about God's existence or non-existence to get started.

The article discusses the perceptions of David Bentley Hart on human finitude and its relation to the infinity of God, according to his book "The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth." Since its publication in 2003, the book has been receiving hustling reviews from critics. According to the author, Hart portrays human finitude in a paradoxical approach. Further discussed are the different aspects of Hart's characterization of human finitude.

The Book of Job is certainly one of the most enigmatic and attractive books in all of the Hebrew Scriptures. As a masterfully written poem, Job utilizes imagery and metaphor in such a way as to leave even the secular reader in awe. It tells the story of a pious man who, through many sufferings, is tested by the Divine and sent on a spiritual journey which culminates in a face to face meeting with God. As a poem and as Scripture, Job has been the subject many interpretations over thousands of years. Often read as an insight into the mysteries of evil, innocent suffering, human nature, and the Divine, this piece of poetic Scripture has been the source of much debate and frustration among scholars and the faithful alike. It is not the purpose of this essay to attempt an overview of these various interpretations with the intention of settling upon one superior interpretation. Also, it is not the purpose of this essay to refute any previous interpretations. What I will offer is merely one interpretation among many – an interpretation which I hope might further, if only to the smallest degree, the significance of this great text for even one reader. This essay will take the theology of Friedrich Schleiermacher and, relying on an interpretation of Job given by Gustavo Gutierrez, offer a way of reading Job which leads to a transcendental spirituality. I will accomplish this in three parts: first, I will lay out certain Schleiermacherian concepts which advocate a form of transcendental spirituality; next, relying on Gutierrez's interpretation, I will draw parallels between Schleiermacher's concepts and the spiritual journey of Job; finally, I will show how the book of Job itself can be read as a tool for developing a transcendental spirituality within the reader. In the end, it will be clear that, without fear of ‘misinterpretation,’ the Book of Job can guide the reader to a transcendental spirituality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Euthyphro dilemma in the divine command theory. There has been a longstanding argument regarding the obligation to act morally because God dictates so. It was in Plato's "Euthyphro" that the argument first appeared. Further discussed are several aspects of the argument, including the underlying assumptions, and their implications to religion.

St Thomas Aquinas enjoys the repute of having given five proofs of God's existence, the famous ‘Five Ways’: Respondeo dicendum quod Deum esse probari potest quinque viis– I reply that you have to say that God's existence can be proved in five ways – and here they come! For students of philosophy they make their deadly, inescapable appearance in any and every manual, trotted out with a granite certainty comparable only to that with which we are assured that English Catholics once nearly succeeded in blowing up the Houses of Parliament. Here, however, our concern is with St Thomas's teaching method, rather than with a readers' consensus about what he said, that of a readership largely content to ignore the question: and this article is an endeavour, not indeed to ‘flog a dead horse’, but simply to explain the pedagogy implicit in the great Summa. That simply means, how to read it with as much ease and understanding as its author intended – and indeed indicated from his opening sentence onwards. The article ends by mentioning some highly regrettable consequences of the neglect, briefly updating (if the paradox be allowed) the post-Tridentine moral tradition, by adding to it from St Thomas's nowadays largely forgotten legacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]