ABSTRACT
What, then, of the universe? What is its ontological status and what, supposedly, is the relation it bears to God? In the last chapter, in discussing the problem of finding out just what God’s attributes are, the assumption was made that the universe was created holus-bolus, out of nothing. This view may, itself, take two quite different forms and, indeed, may even be challenged by a rival picture, stemming from Plato’s Timaeus, that God does the best he can with a recalcitrant, pre-existing matter which can never quite be brought up to scratch. The latter cosmology, also, may take several different turns, each with its own logical peculiarities. The whole issue, then, of the relation of God to the world, and the bearing this has on the question of their ontological dependence or independence, requires closer examination. It will be convenient, in undertaking this, to revert to the facile but flawed analogy between man and God.
