Appel à contributions
The Divine Omnipotence
in Medieval European Thought
in Medieval European Thought
Workshop of he 12th International Conference of ISSEI
Date limite : 30 mars 2010
One of the questions that presented itself with the rise and development of the Christian faith was the problem of divine omnipotence. By resolving the problem of divine power, it became possible to explain many focal problems of mankind and the world, including, for example, the problem of the existence of evil, or of suffering.
Usually, the eleventh-century theologian Peter Damiani is pointed to as a pioneer and originator of the discussion of divine powers. St. Isidor Pelusiot's considerations were developped five centuries before Damiani wrote his famous treatise De divina omnipotentia. The debate in Scholasticism emerged as a long and lively discussion of different ways of defining the problem. The distinction of potentia absoluta and potentia ordinata contributed greatly to debating the general question of divine omnipotence. However, although it was useful in the theological-philosophical sense, this distinction later on provoked political solutions which sometimes served the interest of only one man (for example, the authority of the pope and the request of Henry VIII regarding the annulment of his marriage).
The aim of this workshop is to consider the attribute of the divine power as elaborated during the Middle Ages, in both Western and Byzantine cultural spheres, in theological, philosophical, literary works (papers that deal with Byzantine tradition are particularly encouraged). Papers that point out the contemporary significance of the problem are especially welcome.
The themes suitable for the workshop could include, but are not limited to, the following questions :
- The divine omnipotence in the West and in Byzantium
- The anthropological issues - human will, divine will, the problem of will in Christ
- The problem of evil in relation with the divine power
- Political issues - popes, kings, emperors, State-Church
- The creation - relationships creator-creature, divine nature-divine will
- Ockham on divine omnipotence
- Contingency of the world
- The relationship between ancient religion/philosophy/literature and medieval religion/philosophy/literature
- Divine power in medieval and contemporary perspectives (for example traditional theology vs. process theology)
Abstracts of ca. 300 words should be sent by e-mail to : Filip Ivanovic filiwycat@yahoo.com.Cet e-mail est protégé contre les robots collecteurs de mails, votre navigateur doit accepter le Javascript pour le voir Lieu de la manifestation : Ankara, 2-6 August 2010
Organisation : Filip Ivanovic
Source : Research News in Late Antiquity (http://researchnewsinla.blogspot.com/2009/09/cfp-12th-international-conference-of.html) et Compitum (http://www.compitum.fr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=949&Itemid=38)
