Aseity (Self-Existence of God)
God alone exists from himself, needing nothing to be
Aseity is the doctrine that God exists of and from himself, depending on nothing else for his being. The medieval term aseitas is Scholastic, but the idea is rooted in the Fathers, with Augustine and later Anselm in his Monologion giving it classic expression. It marks the radical difference between the Creator, who simply is, and creatures, who receive their existence from him.
How it traveled
- On the Morals of the ManichæansHippo Regius · 430explains
- MonologiumCanterbury · 1109explains
- ProslogiumCanterbury · 1109explains
- Treatise on The One God (QQ[2-26])Paris · 1274explains
- Treatise on The Creation (QQ[44-46])Paris · 1274explains
- Treatise on the Angels (qq[50]-64)Paris · 1274explains
- Dissertation on the End for Which God Created the WorldNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
Key passages(20)
Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans · Augustine of Hippo
Dissertation on the End for Which God Created the World · Jonathan Edwards
Against the Heathen. (Contra Gentes.) · Athanasius of Alexandria
Book First. of the Knowledge of God the Creator · John Calvin
Dissertation on the End for Which God Created the World · Jonathan Edwards
On the Morals of the Manichæans · Augustine of Hippo
Treatise on The One God (QQ[2-26]) · Thomas Aquinas
Treatise on the Angels (qq[50]-64) · Thomas Aquinas
Fragments. · Methodius
Against Hermogenes. · Anti-marcion
Answer to Eunomius' Second Book · Gregory of Nyssa
Dissertation on the End for Which God Created the World · Jonathan Edwards
Dissertation on the End for Which God Created the World · Jonathan Edwards