God and Being

Is God 'beyond being' as Plato said, or 'being itself' as Aquinas said? These contradictory positions are reconcilable.

This Element examines how the Western philosophical-theological tradition between Plato and Aquinas understands the relation between God and being. It argues that we can recognize in the two traditions, despite their apparent contradiction, complementary approaches to a shared project of inquiry into transcendence.This Element examines how the Western philosophical-theological tradition between Plato and Aquinas understands the relation between God and being. It gives a historical survey of the two major positions in the period: (a) that the divine first principle is 'beyond being' (e.g. Plato, Plotinus, and Pseudo-Dionysius), and (b) that the first principle is 'being itself' (e.g. Augustine, Avicenna, and Aquinas). The Element argues that we can recognise in the two traditions, despite their apparent contradiction, complementary approaches to a shared project of inquiry into transcendence.