Ep. #68 – Divine Immutability w/ Fr. Dodds OP
Summary
Why should we think God is absolutely immutable? Doesn’t Scripture affirm that He changes His mind? How can an unchanging God cause a world full of change? Fr. Michael Dodds OP joins me to answer these questions and more.
Guest Bio
Fr. Michael Dodds is a professor of philosophy and theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. Though he has been teaching some of the same courses for almost 30 years, he finds it most exciting to present new ideas to students and see the light turn on. He’s the author of several books including: The Unchanging God of Love: Thomas Aquinas and Contemporary Theology on Divine Immutability and Unlocking Divine Action: Contemporary Science and Thomas Aquinas.
Show Outline
In the first segment, Fr. Dodds speaks about his favorite topics to teach in the classroom. He tells the story of what led him to write his 2008 book: The Unchanging God of Love: Thomas Aquinas and Contemporary Theology on Divine Immutability.
In the next segment, I ask Fr. Dodds why we should affirm that God is absolutely immutable. Next, we consider some episodes from Scripture where God seems to change his mind. Fr. Dodds explains how we might understand these from the perspective of Church Tradition.
In the final segment, I press Fr. Dodds with a couple more objections: 1) How can the unchanging God cause a world that changes? 2) How is divine immutability a good thing when it makes it seem that God is a boring block of ice? At the end of the episode, Fr. Dodds provides some helpful tips about analogical and univocal language.
Resources Mentioned
The Unchanging God of Love: Thomas Aquinas and Contemporary Theology on Divine Immutability
Unlocking Divine Action: Contemporary Science and Thomas Aquinas
Related Episodes
Ep. #64 – Absolute Divine Simplicity w/ Dr. Dolezal
BONUS|Aquinas and the Metaphysics of Creation w/ Dr. Kerr
