Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Random Term from the Dictionary:

SIMPLICITY OF GOD

The absence of any composition or divisibility in God. According to the Fourth Lateran and First Vatican Councils, God is an "absolutely simple substance or nature" (Denzinger 800). His simplicity is absolute. In him there is no composition of any kind, of substance and accidents, of essence and existence, of nature and person, of power and activity, of genus and specific difference. The theological basis of divine simplicity is that God is pure actuality, which is incompatible with any kind of composition.