246. Ed Romine on Elohim's Divine Complexity v. Yahweh's Divine Simplicity

In this episode, we welcome back Dr. Ed Romine to discuss his article “Elohim v. Yahweh: Divine Complexity of the LDS Church Contra Divine Simplicity of Creedal Christianity”. What is the doctrine of Simplicity, and why does it matter? Is it biblical, is it creedal – and why have so many of the great Christian theologians affirm a robust articulation of the Triune God’s Simplicity? We then ask Ed about how this contrasts with the consistent LDS prophetic teaching of a “corporeal and complex” status of godhood – consistent with a cosmology based on eternally-existent matter and law. Comparing and contrasting the care, core commitments and articulation of one like Thomas Aquinas (in his Summa Theologica) versus LDS apostle Elder Charles Penrose (in a classic 1884 talk) – Ed takes us into what this reveals about the core differences between the doctrine of LDS authorities and those of Creedal Christianity, and why this matters. Whether God is Simple “without body, parts, or passions” – or is in part defined by the complexity of an exalted status of one’s body, parts, and passions leads to completely different definitions of what one means when they say they worship Jesus. Indeed, what one means when they say Jesus is God is at the core of the very definition of Christianity, itself.

Book: A Faithful Steward: Essays in Honor of Richard C. Barcellos

Check out First Baptist Church of Provo

Some other resources by Dr. Romine:

The Booming Baritone Bell of England: The Pedagogy and Practice of Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s Open-Air Preaching (hear interview here, here and here)

- Also check out our past review of President Nelson’s April 2024 General Conference Talk

Some other resources:

Trinity and Creation by Richard Barcellos

All That Is In God by James Dolezal

Reformed Dogmatics by Herman Bavinck

Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas

The Last Superstition; Aquinas by Ed Feser

Aquinas by F.C. Copleston

“King Follett Discourse”; “Sermon in the Grove” by Joseph Smith (also here, here)

President Brigham Young: JD 1. 238; 5.58

President Wilford Woodruff: JD 19. 229

President Lorenzo Snow: JD 14. 302

“The Personality of God…” by Elder Charles Penrose

“The Scriptures Speak” by Elder LeGrand Richards

“The Living Christ” by Elder Bernard P. Brockbank