Thinking Through Feeling by Anastasia Philippa Scrutton

Thinking Through Feeling by Anastasia Philippa Scrutton

Contemporary debates on God's emotionality are divided between two extremes. Impassibilists deny God's emotionality on the basis of God's omniscience, omnipotence and incorporeality. Passibilists seem to break with tradition by affirming divine emotionality, often focusing on the idea that God suffers with us.

Contemporary philosophy of emotion reflects this divide. Some philosophers argue that emotions are voluntary and intelligent mental events, making them potentially compatible with omniscience and omnipotence. Others claim that emotions are involuntary and basically physiological, rendering them inconsistent with traditional divine attributes.

Thinking Through Feeling: God, Emotion and Passibility creates a three-way conversation between the debate in theology, contemporary philosophy of emotion, and pre-modern (particularly Augustinian and Thomist) conceptions of human affective experience. It also provides an exploration of the intelligence and value of the emotions of compassion, anger and jealousy.

"This is a highly original contribution to the discussion of emotion and of divine passibilityAre emotions automatic reactions, which we cannot control, to external events; or can we sometimes or always control them?  Is God able to suffer, to be angry, jealous, loving, compassionate?  These and many other questions are discussed lucidly and with profound insight.   This book will be of great interest to theologians, psychologists, and all who appreciate intellectual stimulus." -- John Hick, Emeritus H.G.Wood Professor of Theology, University of Birmingham, UK. 
"Scrutton displays insight and skill in artfully weaving together several related strands of thought, and this breadth does not detract from her project's depth, by and large. Thinking Through Feeling is a timely book given the growing interest in emotions and their relationships to human rationality, morality, and flourishing. I think this has the kind of material that will spark fruitful research projects for philosophers and theologians (and perhaps even psychologists) alike." - Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
'Scrutton displays insight and skill in artfully weaving together several related strands of thought, and this breadth does not detract from her project's depth, by and large. Thinking Through Feeling is a timely book given the growing interest in emotions and their relationships to human rationality, morality, and flourishing. I think this has the kind of material that will spark fruitful research projects for philosophers and theologians (and perhaps even psychologists) alike.'—Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Anastasia Philippa Scrutton is Frederick J. Crosson Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Religion, University of Notre Dame, USA.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781623560713
ISBN 10	1623560713
Title	Thinking Through Feeling
Author	Anastasia Philippa Scrutton
Series	Bloomsbury Studies In Philosophy Of Religion
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Year published	2013-05-23
Number of pages	240
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.