Divine Contradiction

Jc Beall extends a robust contradictory theology with an account of the trinity, arguing that one can accept central axioms of the trinity at face value and accept the contradictory truths thereby entailed. He rejects the quest for a logically consistent account of divine reality, stating that the triune god is truly and fully described only via contradiction.

Format: Hardback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 11 May 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Building upon his groundbreaking exploration of the incarnation in The Contradictory Christ (OUP, 2021), Jc Beall expands a robust and challenging contradictory theology with an account of the trinity. Throughout the history of the Christian church, heretics, apophatics, mystics, atheists, and countless others have long proclaimed that the doctrine of the trinity, one of the central doctrines of the Christian faith, is contradictory. In this work, Beall agrees; however, as Beall convincingly argues, one need not abandon orthodoxy, engage in linguistic games, inflate one's metaphysics, or abandon the standard faith in the face of such divine contradiction. Instead, one can accept central axioms of the trinity at face value and, with a suitable account of logical entailment, embrace the contradictory truths thereby entailed. With the clarity and precision that only a logician could provide, Beall presents theology and the Christian church in general with a remarkably simple and viable (and, arguably, correct) model of divine reality. Unlike the vast majority of theologians and philosophers before him, Beall rejects the quest for a logically consistent account of divine reality. The triune god (viz., God) is truly and fully described only via contradiction. As such, attempts to remove the contradiction are attempts to remove truths of God.

Weight: 332g
Dimension: 222 x 144 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192845436