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Divine simplicity is formally linked to four bodies in this atlas: Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Roman Catholicism. Three of those four links carry no further comment; the fourth, Roman Catholicism, carries the only note. This page's own description states the doctrine directly: "God does not have goodness, power and knowledge as a thing has properties; God is his goodness, and in God these are not distinct."

A Thinker Named on Every Abrahamic Side, but Quoted Only Once

The description names the doctrine's roots more richly than the bare links show: "deep roots in all three Abrahamic philosophical theologies, Augustine and Aquinas, Maimonides, Avicenna." Two Christian thinkers, one Jewish, one Islamic, across three religions whose own links carry no further comment. Only the link to Roman Catholicism, filed separately beneath Christianity's own bare link, quotes one of those names directly: "Divine simplicity, that God is not composed of parts, is classical Western doctrine per Aquinas's Summa Theologiae."

A Doctrine Still Argued Over Today

The description does not present the doctrine as settled history: it is "one of the most contested classical doctrines in contemporary theology, some modern theologians holding it hard to reconcile with the personal, acting God of scripture and with the distinctions of the Trinity." That tension is named as this page's own account of live theological argument, not resolved by this essay and not the same claim as the shared philosophical ancestry the four bodies hold in common.

Where To Read More

• Divine simplicityGod and Divine NatureThe doctrine itself; four bodies counted, one Abrahamic thinker named per tradition, only one edge quoting its own
• ChristianityAbrahamic (Monotheistic)A bare edge, though the description names Augustine and Aquinas among the doctrine's roots on this side
• IslamAbrahamic (Monotheistic)A bare edge, though the description names Avicenna among the doctrine's roots on this side
• JudaismAbrahamic (Monotheistic)A bare edge, though the description names Maimonides among the doctrine's roots on this side
• Roman CatholicismChristianityThe tier's only noted edge, naming Aquinas's Summa Theologiae directly