First Cause (Prime Mover)
Everything that moves was moved by something else - so what moved first? The Greek answer, baptized into Christian theology.
The argument and doctrine that the whole chain of causes and motions in the universe must trace back to a single uncaused First Cause or unmoved Prime Mover - identified by Christian thinkers with God. Inherited from Aristotle and developed by the apologists, Augustine, and supremely by Thomas Aquinas in the 'Five Ways.'
How it traveled
- Select Orations of Saint Gregory NazianzenNazianzus · 390
- Answer to Eunomius' Second BookNyssa · 395
- Against EunomiusNyssa · 395
- Letters of St. AugustinHippo Regius · 430
- On the Holy TrinityHippo Regius · 430
- The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of TheodoretCyrrhus · 458
- Treatise on The One God (QQ[2-26])Paris · 1274
- Treatise on the Incarnation (qq[1]-59)Paris · 1274
- Treatise on the Conservation and Government of Creatures (qq[103]-119)Paris · 1274
- Treatise on Man (qq[75]-102)Paris · 1274
- Treatise on the Work of the Six Days (qq[65]-74)Paris · 1274
- Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90)Paris · 1274
- Treatise on The Creation (QQ[44-46])Paris · 1274
- Treatise on The Distinction of Good And Evil (Q[48-49])Paris · 1274
- Treatise on The Most Holy Trinity (QQ[27-43])Paris · 1274
- a careful and strict inquiry into the prevailing notions of the freedom of willNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758
- XIV Five discourses on the soul's eternal salvationNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758
- Dissertation on the End for Which God Created the WorldNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758
Key passages(20)
A Dissertation on the Nature of True Virtue · Jonathan Edwards
Against Heresies: Book II · Irenaeus of Lyons
Answer to Eunomius' Second Book · Gregory of Nyssa
Answer to Eunomius' Second Book · Gregory of Nyssa
Answer to Eunomius' Second Book · Gregory of Nyssa
Answer to Eunomius' Second Book · Gregory of Nyssa
Answer to Eunomius' Second Book · Gregory of Nyssa
Appendix: Against All Heresies. · Anti-marcion
Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It · John Calvin
Dissertation on the End for Which God Created the World · Jonathan Edwards
Dissertation on the End for Which God Created the World · Jonathan Edwards
Exhortation to the Heathen · Clement of Alexandria
Homilies on First Corinthians · John Chrysostom
Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo