INCARNATION121who denied matter has a mind-
independent existence. A thoroughgoing
immaterialist denies that matter (and
energy) has a reality independent of the
mind and various immaterial activities,
objects, and states. There is an important
difference between idealist theists like
Berkely and non-idealist theists. Berkeley
thought that matter was not independent
of mind because he held that what we
recognize as matter is in some sense
constituted by divine and created minds,
whereas classical theists hold that the
material world is dependent upon the
divine mind but its reality is not consti-
tuted or made up of mental states (divine
or human). The latter would therefore
only be a moderate form of immaterial-
ism in contrast to a more radical idealist
claim.
IMMORTALITY. A person or soul is
immortal if it will not perish or cease to
be. Some distinguish between an immor-
tality that is innate (a soul by its nature
cannot perish) versus conferred (a soul
will not perish because of God’s love).
Arguments for individual immortality
have been developed on the grounds that
the soul does not contain parts and thus
is not subject to dissolution, and on the
grounds that if there is an omnipotent
God who loves created persons, then that
God would lovingly preserve persons
through death, transforming them to a
higher state (heaven, union with God,
and so on). Immortality has also been
defended on the grounds of God’s justice;
survival of death is essential if there is to
be both a concord between virtue and
felicity, as well as wickedness and punish-
ment. See also LIFE AFTER DEATH.IMPARTIALITY. A judgment is impar-
tial when it is determined by objective
reasons and not by an individual’s partic-
ular, subjective preferences. Some philo-
sophers contend that impartiality is one
of the basic, essential conditions for
moral inquiry.IMPURITY. Concepts of impurity have
a role in many religions that demarcate
the sacred or the holy from that which
is profane or worldly. So, in traditional
Judaism, adultery was seen as making the
adulterer impure, a state that either called
for a capital punishment or for rigorous
rites and acts of cleansing. Impurities may
stem not just from immoral acts, but from
the failure to properly observe rituals.
Historically, the concept of impurity is
akin to the concept of a pollutant, a toxin
that despoils something good or intended
to be pure.INCARNATION. The belief that God
assumed human nature. Classical, Chal-
cedonian Christianity holds that Jesus
Christ is fully human and fully God.
Some Christians believe this involved the
second person of the trinity undergoing a
self-limitation (Greek, kenosis), whereby
God put aside omnipotence, omniscience,
and omnipresence to assume a human