Metaphysics: The Creation of Hierarchy (Interventions)

"This book does nothing less than to set new standards in combining philosophical with political theology. Pabst’s argument about rationality has the potential to change debates in philosophy, politics, and religion." (from the foreword)

This comprehensive and detailed study of individuation reveals the theological nature of metaphysics. Adrian Pabst argues that ancient and modern conceptions of "being" ― or individual substance ― fail to account for the ontological relations that bind beings to each other and to God, their source. On the basis of a genealogical account of rival theories of creation and individuation from Plato to ‘postmodernism,’ Pabst proposes that the Christian Neo-Platonic fusion of biblical revelation with Greco-Roman philosophy fulfills and surpasses all other ontologies and conceptions of individuality.

Adrian Pabst is lecturer in politics at the University of Kent,Canterbury, United Kingdom, and fellow of the Centre ofTheology and Philosophy. He is the editor of many volumes,most recently The Crisis of Global Capitalism: PopeBenedict XVI's Social Encyclical and the Future of PoliticalEconomy. This is his first monograph.,