God in Christianity Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === {{anchor|Attributes and nature of God}}Attributes and nature === {{Main article|Attributes of God in Christianity}} {{Attributes of God}} The theological underpinnings of the attributes and nature of God have been discussed since the earliest days of Christianity. In the 2nd century, [[Irenaeus]] addressed the issue and expounded on some attributes; for example, Book IV, chapter 19 of ''Against Heresies''<ref>([[Wikisource:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume I/IRENAEUS/Against Heresies: Book IV/Chapter XIX.|Book IV, Chapter 19]]</ref> states: "His greatness lacks nothing, but contains all things".<ref name=Irena27>''Irenaeus of Lyons'' by Eric Francis Osborn (26 November 2001) {{ISBN|0521800064}} pages 27–29</ref> Irenaeus based his attributes on three sources: Scripture, prevailing mysticism and popular piety.<ref name=Irena27/> Today, some of the attributes associated with God continue to be based on statements in the Bible, such as the [[Lord's Prayer]], which states that the Father is in Heaven, while other attributes are derived from theological reasoning.<ref name=SGuthrie>''Christian Doctrine'' by [[Shirley C. Guthrie]] (1 July 1994) {{ISBN|0664253687}}</ref>{{rp|111, 100}} In the 8th century, [[John of Damascus]] listed eighteen attributes for God in his ''An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith'' (Book 1, chapter 8).<ref>[[Wikisource:Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume IX/John of Damascus/An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith/Book I/Chapter 8|Book 1, Chapter 8]]</ref><ref name=Globe352>''Global Dictionary of Theology'' by William A. Dyrness, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Juan F. Martinez and Simon Chan (10 October 2008), {{ISBN|0830824545}}, pages 352–353.</ref> These eighteen attributes were divided into four groups based on time (such as being everlasting), space (such as being boundless), matter or quality and the list continues to be influential to date, partially appearing in some form in various modern formulations.<ref name=Globe352/> In the 13th century, [[Thomas Aquinas]] focused on a shorter list of just eight attributes, namely ''simplicity'', ''perfection'', ''goodness'', ''incomprehensibility'', ''omnipresence'', ''immutability'', ''eternity'' and ''oneness''.<ref name=Globe352/> Other formulations include the 1251 list of the [[Fourth Lateran Council]], which was then adopted at [[Vatican I]] in 1870 and the [[Westminster Shorter Catechism]] in the 17th century.<ref name=Globe352/> Two attributes of God that place him above the world, yet acknowledge his involvement in the world, are [[Transcendence (philosophy)#Religious definition|transcendence]] and [[immanence]].<ref name="Theokritoff 2010"/><ref name="Young 2008"/><ref name="Cross-Livingstone 2005"/> Transcendence means that God is eternal and infinite, not controlled by the created world and beyond human events.<ref name="Theokritoff 2010"/> Immanence means that God is involved in the world, and Christian teachings have long acknowledged his attention to human affairs.<ref name="Theokritoff 2010"/> However, unlike [[Pantheism|pantheistic]] religions, in Christianity, God's being is not of the substance of the created universe.<ref name="Theokritoff 2010"/> Traditionally, some theologians such as [[Louis Berkhof]] distinguish between the ''communicable'' attributes (those that human beings can also have) and the ''incommunicable'' attributes (those that belong to God alone).<ref name="Berkhof"/> However, others such as [[Donald Macleod (theologian)|Donald Macleod]] hold that all the suggested classifications are artificial and without basis.<ref>[[Donald Macleod (theologian)|Donald Macleod]], ''Behold Your God'' ([[Christian Focus Publications]], 1995), pages 20–21.</ref> There is a general agreement among theologians that it would be a mistake to conceive of the essence of God existing by itself and independently of the attributes or of the attributes being an additional characteristic of the Divine Being. They are essential qualities which exist permanently in his very Being and are co-existent with it. Any alteration in them would imply an alteration in the essential being of God.<ref name="Berkhof"/> Hick suggests that when listing the attributes of God, the starting point should be his ''self-existence'' ("aseity") which implies his eternal and unconditioned nature. Hick goes on to consider the following additional attributes: ''Creator'' being the source of all that composes his creation ({{lang|la|"creatio ex nihilo"}}) and the sustainer of what he has brought into being; ''personal''; ''loving, good''; and ''holy''.<ref>John H. Hick, ''Philosophy of Religion'' Prentice-Hall 1973, pp. 7–14</ref> Berkhof also starts with ''self-existence'' but moves on to ''immutability''; ''infinity'', which implies ''perfection'' ''eternity'' and ''omnipresence''; ''unity''. He then analyses a series of intellectual attributes: ''knowledge-omniscience''; ''wisdom''; ''veracity'' and then, the moral attributes of ''goodness'' (including love, grace, mercy and patience); ''holiness'' and ''righteousness'' before dealing finally with his ''sovereignty''.<ref>Berkhof, Louis ''Systematic Theology'', Banner of Truth 1963, pp. 57–81 & p. 46 respectively.</ref> [[Gregory of Nyssa]] was one of the first theologians to argue, in opposition to [[Origen]], that God is ''[[Infinity|infinite]]''. His main argument for the infinity of God, which can be found in ''Against Eunomius'', is that God's goodness is limitless, and as God's goodness is [[essence|essential]], God is also limitless.<ref>''The Brill Dictionary of Gregory of Nyssa''. (Lucas Francisco Mateo-Seco and Giulio Maspero, eds.) 2010. Leiden: Brill, p. 424</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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