The perfections of the theistic God are developed in contrast to the finitude of creatures, leading to speech about God the creator who is “infinite, self-existent, incorporeal, eternal, immutable, impassible, simple, perfect, omniscient, and omnipotent,” in the descriptive list drawn up by H.P. Owen.3 The theistic God is modeled on the pattern of an earthly absolute monarch, a metaphor so prevalent that most often it is simply taken for granted.
