Introduction to classical theism
pp. 95-100
in: Jeanine Diller, Asa Kasher (eds), Models of God and alternative ultimate realities, Berlin, Springer, 2013Abstract
"Classical theism" is the name given to the model of God we find in Platonic, neo-Platonic, and Aristotelian philosophy and in Christian, Muslim, and Jewish thinkers who appropriate those traditions of classical Greek philosophy. The God of classical theism is unqualifiedly perfect, where "perfection" is conceived in ways congenial to the mind of Greek metaphysics: as requiring absolute unity, self-sufficiency, and immutability. The unqualifiedly perfect being is atemporal and immaterial – free from all limitations of time and place. It acts but is not acted upon, and so it is said to be impassible. It is perfect in knowledge, perfect in power, and perfect in goodness.
