Ep. #116 – The One Creator God w/ Fr. Michael Dodds O.P.

Summary

Why think the unmoved mover is also a personal God? How should we understand God as the creator? Why should we use “analogical predication” to speak of God and what does that mean? What is meant by saying God is not “really related” to creatures? If God exercises meticulous providence over creation, does that reduce people to puppets? Fr. Michael Dodds joins us to answer these questions and more as we discuss his new book The One Creator God.

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 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. Also, his most recent book is The One Creator God: Thomas Aquinas and Contemporary Theology.

Topics

• Why did you write this book The One Creator God and what can readers expect from it?
• Why think the unmoved mover is a personal creator?
• How should we understand analogical predication?
• What does it mean that God is not really related to creatures?
• If God exercises meticulous providence, does that turn us into puppets?
• How can God be unchanging when his knowledge would seem to change as he takes in contingent facts about creation?
• How should we understand the metaphysics of creation? What’s going on when God creates?

Resources

The One Creator God: Thomas Aquinas and Contemporary Theology by Fr. Michael Dodds O.P.

Unlocking Divine Action: Contemporary Science and Thomas Aquinas by Fr. Michael Dodds O.P.

The Unchanging God of Love: Thomas Aquinas and Contemporary Theology on Divine Immutability by Fr. Michael Dodds O.P.

dspt.edu (Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology Website)

Fr. Michael Dodds (school web-page)

Best Deal on Fr. Michael Dodds’ Books

Fr. Michael Dodds informed me that several of his shorter books can be found at a much cheaper price on different websites. Here are some links:

The Philosophy of Nature by Fr. Michael Dodds

Philosophical Anthropology by Fr. Michael Dodds

Related Episodes

Ep. #56 – The Doctrine of Analogy w/ Dr. Delfino

Ep. #68 – Divine Immutability w/ Fr. Dodds

Ep. #85 – Unlocking Divine Action w/ Fr. Dodds