Array
(
    [fullTitle] => On Knowing an Ineffable God Personally: A Study in the Joy of the Saints
    [abstract] => 
What might it mean for a person’s joy to be ‘complete’? Granting that such conditions obtain at the beatific vision, I suggest beatific enjoyment requires a specific kind of knowledge of God; namely, fundamental personal knowledge. However, attaining such personal knowledge necessitates the divine gifting of a special grace, that is, a power to know God’s infinite essence. Furthermore, this power, and so, this knowledge, can come in an infinite number of degrees. Granting this, one saint could come to a greater degree of fundamental personal knowledge of God than another, and therefore, one saint might experience a greater intensity of joy than another. Despite this difference in intensity, however, both saints may have their joy ‘complete’. 

    [authors] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [givenName] => David
                    [affiliation] => Univ. of York
                )

        )

    [keywords] => Array
        (
        )

    [doi] => 10.24204/ejpr.v12i1.3183
    [datePublished] => 2020-03-25
    [pdf] => https://www.philosophy-of-religion.eu/menuscript/index.php/ejpr/article/view/3183/version/693/2536
)
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On Knowing an Ineffable God Personally: A Study in the Joy of the Saints

David
Univ. of York

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.v12i1.3183

Abstract

What might it mean for a person’s joy to be ‘complete’? Granting that such conditions obtain at the beatific vision, I suggest beatific enjoyment requires a specific kind of knowledge of God; namely, fundamental personal knowledge. However, attaining such personal knowledge necessitates the divine gifting of a special grace, that is, a power to know God’s infinite essence. Furthermore, this power, and so, this knowledge, can come in an infinite number of degrees. Granting this, one saint could come to a greater degree of fundamental personal knowledge of God than another, and therefore, one saint might experience a greater intensity of joy than another. Despite this difference in intensity, however, both saints may have their joy ‘complete’. 

Keywords:

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