Rethinking the Concept of a personal God
Classical Theism, Personal Theism, and Alternative Concepts of God
Thomas Schärtl, Christian Tapp, Veronika Wegener
In February 2014 the Association of Christian Philosophers in Catholic Schools of Theology in German Speaking Countries dedicated its biannual conference to philosophical theology, which has become a recently vibrant and suspenseful area of research and interest. The specific contributions of various experts, who participated in the conference, revolved around the problems of standard and non-standard concepts of God. The main purpose of the conference was to bridge several gaps: between philosophy and systematic the- ology, between continental and analytic traditions, between German and English speaking philosophers and their preferred traditions.
The present volume is dedicated to the question whether or not the concept of a personal God faces serious challenges and whether these challenges also include a serious modification of classical theism. Along these lines the complicated relations between classical theism and personal theism as well as the chances for the development of non-standard conceptions of the divine are discussed and presented.