A Criticism of the Theory of the Existential Overlapping between God and His Creatures in the Light of the Correct Definition of God’s Infiniteness

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
Seyyed Mohsen Hendi 1
Habibollah Danesh Shahraki 2
1 Phd student of Islamic philosophy and theology, faculty of theology and islamic studies, Qom University, Qom , Iran
2 Assistant professor at department of islamic philosophy and theology, faculty of theology and Islamic studies, Qom Uinversity, Qom
10.30497/prr.2019.2492
Abstract
Overlapping (tadākhul) between God and His creatures is a novel theory which aims to explain the relationship between God and His creatures. But, it seems that this theory is controversial. Does accepting that God is infinite either entail that God is, in some sense, identical with His creatures – common view for explaining the individual unity of existence – or that God overlaps, in some sense, with His creatures – the view accepted by Gholamreza Fayyazi – or there is a third way? In this paper, we will reveal the weaknesses of Gholamreza Fayyazi’s theory and then we will present a new theory to explain the relationship between God and His creatures, which, in our point of view, is inspired by rational teachings of revelation. According to this third view, it is accepted that God is infinite and does not have any quantity while rejecting that God is identical and that God overlaps with His creatures. Indeed, since God does not have any finitude and does not consist of any quantity, He does not occupy (even infinitely) any place, which entails that God does not overlap with His creatures. Therefore, based on this view, the existence of finite beings and God’s infinite being are consistent.
Keywords
Infinite
Indivisible
Overlapping
Unity
Plurality
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Philosophy of Religion Research
Volume 16, Issue 2 - Serial Number 32
November 2019
Pages 247-266