God and the Trinity

The Five Ways are often summarised in a sentence each and then dismissed in another. To see their real force you need the philosophy underneath them: act and potency, the right kind of causal series, and the difference between what a thing is and that it is. Here is that background, the classic objections, and the God the arguments arrive at.

The Church teaches that God is unchanging and knows everything from eternity. So what is the point of asking Him for things? Here is how Catholic theology understands God's immutability, the Bible's descriptions of God 'relenting', and why prayer really makes a difference.

In the Creed, Catholics say the Holy Spirit 'proceeds from the Father and the Son'. The Orthodox say only 'from the Father'. That one Latin word, filioque, became a major cause of division between East and West. Here is its history, the theology behind it, and where the debate stands today.