through a mystical glance, jami looks, understands and explains the universe. in such an interpretation, love is the most determining concept. love, in this view, isn’t just an emotional relation between two humans- though it is too- but is a widespread and pervasive category that helps you to find creation stimulus and interrelations in different universal phenomenon. what stimulate god to cre...

The Fourth Lateran Council teaches that God is a " substantia seu natura simplex omnino " —an " altogether simple substance or nature " —and the First Vatican Council reiterated the teaching. The doctrine of divine simplicity is at the center of Thomas's natural theology, since it is essentially involved in his attempt to show that the First Cause that he has proved to exist in the Five Ways ha...

According to the much-discussed argument from divine hiddenness, God’s existence is disconfirmed by the fact that not everyone believes in God. The argument has provoked an impressive range of theistic replies, but none has overcome – or, I suggest, could overcome – the challenge posed by the uneven distribution of theistic belief around the world, a phenomenon for which naturalistic explanatio...

This paper contrasts materialism and theism in their ability to give a plausible account of mathematics. The ideal, abstract entities of mathematics do not fit readily within a materialist world. Truth, logic, and mathematics require the existence of universal norms. However, materialism has no place for abstract entities or universal norms. How can such ideal norms, inert in themselves, influe...

This essay explains and analyzes Robert John Russell’s theory of divine action. Russell’s proposal has exercised significant influence on others working in the area of science and religion with interests in Christian systematic theology. It would be valuable to trace the lines of that influence, but I do not have space to do that here. I can testify to his influence in more personal terms, howe...

love and its transformative power have long been at the center of islamic sufism. for sufi writers profane love, perceived as the love of worldly beloved, was the first step on the path toward the union with the divine. farid al-din ‘attar (1145-1221) was one of the most significant authors to espouse and articulate profane love as a representation of both earthly and heavenly love. 'attar’s us...

In recently published letters to her children, Susanna Wesley (16691742) claims a vocation as a spiritual guide. She grounds this claim in her maternal love and responsibility; indeed, her vocation is forged in the practice of maternal love. The mother of J oho and Charles Wesley emerges as a compassionate but tough spiritual director and a fiercely loving parent. Her writings reveal her strugg...