Reconsidering the Analogy of Being

March 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment

On March 15, fifty students, guests, and a handful of professors made their way towards Block Hall for the much anticipated presentation of Trinity’s Philosophy Society: a joint lecture by Doctors Archie Spenser and Chris Morrissey titled “Reconsidering the Analogy of Being: An Ecumenical Dialogue.”

Living up to the weighty title, Acts Seminary professor Archie J. Spenser took the floor first, and proceeded to deliver a powerfully convincing support of Karl Barth’s frequently misunderstood rejection of the ontological predication of God. This rather thick topic was delivered with Spenser’s usual auditory gusto, unapologetically denying the traditionally Thomistic interpretation of the analogy of being. Barth based this rejection on his conviction that Catholic Thomism contained deeply problematic philosophical presuppositions, as well as serious theological limitations, such as the placement of the Catholic definition of causality at the core of Thomistic analogy.