[davem]

Originally Posted by Alatar

The assumption is that God is absolutely Good, and so cannot fathom one degree of unGood? All of the Christian God's subjects/children are by definition ungood, yet exist. Maybe I'm just not seeing it.

That was Eckhart's theory. God has no 'evil' aspect, therefore cannot know evil - or even recognise its existence. This is because evil does not have a real existence, being (as Boethius stated) nothing. Evil is a 'void' hence God cannot be aware of it.

Eckhart believed that God was constantly creating (because He is a Creator in His essence) everything - even the past & future are being constantly created, not just the present is. Nothing can exist unless it is being constantly created. He also believed that we are judged on our intentions - hence, if you so all you can to feed the hungry then from God's POV you actually have fed all the hungry: ie, you fed as many as you could, & if it had been possible you would have fed them all therefore it was only limited resources (for which you cannot be held responsible) which prevented you from feeding them all. From that perspective Hitler would be judged to have killed all the Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, disabled simply because he did all he could to bring that about.

The point is, God cannot create evil, only good, therefore if someone had become completely evil He could not continue to create them as He would not even be aware that they needed to be created....

Hence, God cannot 'talk to the Devil' in Eckhart's view. The Devil,, having been cast from Heaven would not 'be'. I think you're referring to the Book of Job, which clearly was written as a cosmic drama. the problem with the Devil 'creating' Hell is that it ascribes the power of Creation to a being other than God. All the Devil could do was corrupt something pre-existing.

All of the Christian God's subjects/children are by definition ungood, yet exist. Maybe I'm just not seeing it.

No, they have some good in them - mainly in that they have been redeemed, but also, in Eckhart's view they must have some good in them otherwise they would not actually exist.