“The subject of philosophy, or the matter it treats of, is every body of which we can concieve any generation, and which we may, by any consideration thereof, compare with other bodies, or which is capable of composition and resolution; that is to say, every body of whose generation or properties we can have any knowledge….Therefore it excludes Theology, I mean the doctrine of God, eternal, ingenerable, incomprehensible, and in whom there is nothing neither to divide nor compound, nor any generation to be concieved.
It excludes the doctrine of angels, and all such things as are thought to be neither bodies nor properties of bodies; there being in them no place for composition or division, nor any capacity of more and less, that is to say, no place for ratiocination…
It excludes all such knowledge as is acquired by divine inspiration, or revelation, as not derived to us by reason, but by divine grace an an instant, and, as it were, by some sense supernatural….
The principal parts of philosophy are two. For two chief kinds of bodies, and very different from one another, offer themselves to such as search after their generation and properties; one whereof being the work of nature, is called natural body, the other is called a commonwealth, and is made by the wills and agreement of men. And from these spring the two parts of philosophy, called natural and civil. But seeing that, for the knowledge of the properties of a commonwealth, it is necessary first to know the dispositions, affections, and manners of men, civil philosophy is again commonly divided into two parts, whereof one, which treats of men’s dispositions and manners, is called ethics; and the other, which takes cognizance of thier civil duties, is called politics, or simply civil philosophy. In the first place, therefore (after I have set down such premises as appertain to the nature of philosophy in general), I will discourse of bodies natural; in the second, of the dispositions andmanners of men; and in the third, of the civil duties of subjects.”
Thomas Hobbes. Quoted in Jones, W.T. Hobbes to Hume, vol. 3 of A History of Western Philosophy 4 vols. New York Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1952.
April 2, 2010 at 1:31 am
What happens to both philosophy and so called “theology” when The Incarnate Divine Avatar appears in human time, and thoroughly investigates EVERY Spiritual, philosophical and “theological” point of view every posited?
For example these essays on what is usually called religion for example.
http://www.adidam.org/teaching/aletheon/truth-religion.aspx
And on philosophy/theology altogether
http://global.adidam.org/books/perfect-knowledge.html
http://global.adidam.org/books/ancient-teachings.html
The last reference is The Ancient Reality Teachings, which has also been published by Inner Traditions under the title Reality Is All The God There Is.
Apart from the work of Meister Eckhart, Christian “theology” does not come anywhere near what is communicated here.
As for modern “theology”–it is ALL entirely reductionist, or about the human dilemma of being very solidly identified with a fear-saturated mortal meat-body.
All of it only binds any and every one to fearful mortality.
http://www.dabase.org/dualsens.htm
http://www.dabase.org/tfrbkgil.htm