Tkachenko R. Peter Lombard's philosophical theology

It is demonstrated that Peter Lombard approaches the topic of divine attributes through the lens, and only after the treatment of, the divine Trinitarian essence. Such attributes as God's will or God's knowledge cannot hang on in the air or be analyzed purely dialectically. They are aspects or "sides" of one, perfect, and simple divine essence which is called "one and the highest reality." Master Peter interprets God's knowledge as the divine essence as knowing, God's potency (power) as the divine essence as being able to do, and God's will as the divine essence as willing some things. It is highlighted that the Lombard closely links the divine knowledge and will because he includes a lot of narrower attributes under the umbrella doctrine of God's knowledge although some of them strictly imply not only knowing but willing and taking decisions. Thus, God's providence, disposition, and predestination are all listed as aspects of the divine knowledge joined with some volitions, but there is no confusion between the two key attributes of knowledge and will because the Sentences' teaching presupposes a certain logical order of the attributes. The divine knowledge as such has no causative power unless connected with the divine will, with the knowledge logically preceding any volition. In general, God's potency implies immediate God's knowledge (in the eternal now) but both logically precede God's will. God eternally knows what he can do or allow and eternally wills to turn some of these potentialities into actualities. But God's knowledge or voluntary decisions could be different. The Lombard argues that, potentially, God's knowledge is capable of including more items than he knows and his potency implies that he can or could have done otherwise. Divine potency as such is an immense reservoir of realizable potentialities and it is regulated by the divine will. This picture of the relationships between the three attributes implies certain meanings of such notions as "possibility" and "necessity." The given research work shows that the Lombard implicitly accepts and hands over to posterity a number of specific modal theories and paradigms. In particular, he thinks of possibility as capacity and potency and interprets necessity in terms of compulsion, or temporal fixity and immutability, or necessity of (logical) entailment. In the last analysis, it is only the necessity of entailment that exists in God as his possibilities as potencies are eternally and immutably present for him. But it is necessary that if he wills (or not-wills) something it accords with his perfection and comes to existence just as God knows, can do, and wills it.