PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY INTO GOD-DEFINITION QUESTION: THE CONTEXT OF MERCY
Abstract
the complexity of definition as a term and the obscurity of God-question. The
resultant effect is the divergent voices concerning the nature of God as
represented by theists, atheists and agnostics. This research, nonetheless, aligns
with theists and so argues for the possibility of attaining a definition of God: via
affirmativa (affirmative way), via negativa (negative way), via conjunctiva (way
of conjunction) and via analogia (way of analogy). Of specific note, it underscores
via analogia as the optimum definitional option for God-definition problem.
Further, this research notes that the complexity of God-definition question
dovetails into contextual definition of God - that is, definition of God from any of
his attributes. In this work, the stress is on his attribute of mercy. But the
discourse on God from the aperture of mercy, though perspectival, is inkling into
an exhaustive theistic definition of God. It subsists as one of the gateways to a
more realistic definition of God. Consequently, it complements and reinforces
other attributive definition of God essentially and ontologically. Ipso facto, mercy
corroborates other divine attributes. Such harmony constitutes the index for
conceiving justice-mercy relationship.
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