What is the infinity of God?
CatholicTheology.info
1. When we call God infinite, we mean that God is not limited in any way whatever. All creatures are finite or limited. For creatures receive their being and their perfections, and whatever is received is measured and limited by the giver or by the capacity of the receiver. Now, God’s being is not received; God is self-existent being. There is nothing prior to God from which he could receive anything. Hence nothing can mark or limit God; nothing can set boundaries to God’s self-existing perfection; nothing can diminish that perfection, nothing can add to it. A perfection that can neither be diminished nor increased is necessarily boundless or infinite. Hence, God is infinite in perfection. As God is absolute being, God is absolute infinity.
2. God alone is infinite. Creatures have what is called potential infinity inasmuch as there is no fixed limit to the possibility of succession and variation in them. A lump of wax is a finite thing with a finite shape, but there is no limit to the number or variety of shapes that may be given to it. At any moment, the number of shapes it has received is a finite number; potential infinity attaches only to the shapes not yet received. Again, an abstract number may be multiplied or divided without limit, although at any instant in the process of multiplying or dividing, the number is a finite number. This type of infinity is actual infinity. Actual infinity is absolute. It excludes all potentiality. It can neither be increased nor diminished. Actual infinity is pure actuality. God alone is pure actuality; hence God alone is actual infinity.
3. No bodily thing can be infinite. For bodily infinity would be infinity in size, and size is always measurable; that is, size is always finite. Even a mathematical body must be thought of as contained within its lines and surfaces.
4. There cannot be an actually infinite number. A number has potential infinity, for it can be endlessly multiplied or divided. But actual infinity is incapable of being multiplied or divided. What is actually infinite cannot be increased or diminished, but a number can always be added to or lessened.
«Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things than those which lead to salvation is very unwise. »
Thomas á Kempis
«O Lord, my God, who will seek you with simple and pure love, and not find that you are all one can desire, for you show yourself first and go out to meet those who seek you? »
St John of the Cross, OCD — Doctor of the Church
«Whoever wants to stand alone without the support of a master and guide will be like the tree that stands alone in a field without a proprietor. No matter how much the tree bears, passers-by will pick the fruit before it ripens. »
St John of the Cross, OCD — Doctor of the Church
What is the infinity of God?
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The Infinity of God and a Finite World: A Franciscan Approach
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- Franciscan Institute — Scholars, Authors
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- Classics from the Franciscan Institute
- Francis of Assisi and the Early Franciscan Movement
- Franciscan Heritage Series
- Franciscan Studies and Faith Formation
- John Duns Scotus
- Peter of John Olivi and Other Medieval Texts
- Spirit and Life Series
- St. Bonaventure and Works of St. Bonaventure
- St. Bonaventure University Press
- Washington Theological Union/CFIT
- William of Ockham
- Bundles
- How to Order
- Franciscan Connections Online Subscribers
- Franciscan Studies Index
- Franciscan Studies Online Subscribers
- Greyfriars Review Archives
- The Cord Archives 1950-2019
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- The Infinity of God and a Finite World: A Franciscan Approach
The Infinity of God and a Finite World: A Franciscan Approach
Type: Book
Vendor: Franciscan Institute PublicationsDescription:
by Kenan B. Osborne, OFM
This volume, focuses on the issue of the infinity of God, particularly within the Roman Catholic tradition. The Old and New Testament do not mention God’s infinity. From 100 to 1200, only a few Christian theologians offered some insights into divine infinity. One of the earliest in-depth presentations on divine infinity was developed by Alexander of Hales and his co-editors of the Summa who began to unite the writings of Aristotle on infinity with the Christian understanding of the triune God. Subsequent theologians, namely, Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, and John Duns Scotus, developed lengthy studies on divine infinity. The in-depth theological focus on God’s infinity came to a stop with the Protestant Reformation and the Council of Trent. From the sixteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth-century, the theological focus of almost all Western Christian Churches focused on ecclesiology in which the various Christian scholars argued that only “their church” was the true church established by Jesus. In the post-Vatican II era, interreligious dialogues have developed in an enormous way. However, in these interreligious conferences there has not been a major and intense discussion of the infinity of God. Theologically, there can be only one infinite God, and such a position challenges the positions of the interreligious dialogues vis-a-vis the issue of one God. In my present volume, I explain in depth this up and down focus on infinity and in the final chapter I recommend in a strong way that the inter-religious dialogues once again focus on God’s infinity in a way commensurate with the approach of the medieval scholars. The medieval scholars were united in their religion. The contemporary interreligious scholars are disunited in many ways, but especially in the theology of an infinite God.
Kenan B. Osborne, OFM, was a professor at the Franciscan School of Theology and the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA., from 1968 to 2009. He was also the president of the Catholic Theological Union and a member of the national board of the American Academy of Religion. His many publications have focused on sacramental theology, on the relationship of Christian theology and post-modern philosophy, on the history of Franciscan philosophy and theology, and from 1990 to 2013 he has been invited on ten occasions to give lectures in academic institutions throughout Asia.
