THE ESCHATOLOGICAL CHARACTER OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

In this essay, I show how Thomas Aquinas circumscribes epistemological questions concerning both the possibility and character of our knowledge of God within a larger eschatological framework that acknowledges the beatific vision as the ultimate good that we desire as well as the ultimate end for which we were created. Thus, knowledge of God is possible and actual on Aquinas's view because it is eternally rather than merely temporally indexed—that is, properly attributable to the blessed in heaven and only derivatively attributable to persons of faith. I further argue that interpreting Aquinas's account of faith in the light of his account of the beatific vision allows us to carve out polemical space for the theologically realist claim that there can be and in fact is objectivity in our knowledge of God, whether that knowledge comes through faith (in this life) or the beatific vision (in the next life).     

THE MEASUREMENT OF VERBAL PREDISPOSITIONS: SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION

A self-report instrument (PVB), designed to measure Predispositions toward Verbal Behavior, was found to have acceptable internal reliability, content validity, moderate construct validity, and strong criterion-related validity. Subjects were found to have a generalized cognitive orientation toward their speech patterning that correlated positively with number of words and duration of talk in both highly-structured interviews and unstructured discussion situations.     

THE RETRIEVAL OF DEIFICATION: HOW A ONCE-DESPISED ARCHAISM BECAME AN ECUMENICAL DESIDERATUM

Adolf von Harnack and Karl Barth were equally incensed by the detrimental impact that the notion of deification had had on Christian theology. Lately, however, theosis has been discovered in Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, the Wesleys, and an impressive number of other western authorities. This essay considers this sensational development and finds that (1) there is little agreement on what is constitutive of deification, making the notion an ecumenist's dream and a philosopher's nightmare; and (2) the agreement between the Greek Fathers and Aquinas, Luther, and Calvin on deification amounts to their endorsement of some form of participatory metaphysics. Calling for greater precision, this essay argues that the Greek patristic doctrine of deification includes synergistic anthropology and sacramental realism that are in tension with the Reformation understandings of participation in God.