PRE-SOCRATICS
184they are being prayed for), such as
strengthening people’s moral resolve (e.g.,
Immanuel Kant), bringing their will into
line with God’s will (e.g., D. Z. Phillips),
or bringing them comfort. Such models
are offered by both theists and atheists.
Meditation involves partially-structured
rumination over scriptural words or
the repeated chanting of simple forms
of prayer. It is not synonymous with con-
templation, which is prayer at its most
radical level: silence and attention, in
acknowledgment that all words, images,
and gestures are inadequate religious
expressions.
PRE-SOCRATICS. The philosophers
before Socrates, a group that includes
Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras,
Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Thales, Parmenides,
and others. One of our principal resources
in knowing about the pre-Socratics is
Aristotle’s overview of their contributions.
Aristotle thought of the pre-Socratics as
largely driven by a philosophy of nature,
whereas Socrates was driven more by a
concern for values.
PREDESTINATION. The belief that the
salvation or damnation of all persons is
determined by God, with the result that a
person may be predetermined to be saved
prior to the time when the person actu-
ally attains salvation. Supralapsarianism
is the view that this predestination was
elected by God before the fall, while
infralapsarianism is the view that the
divine decree occurred after the fall.
Single predestination is the thesis that
God only predetermines souls for
salvation, but does not decree who are
reprobate or damned. Predestination is
sometimes advanced as not just a thesis
about ultimate salvation, but about every
detail in the created order. On this view,
providence is determined by God. Some
Christian philosophers have argued that
predestination is compatible with free-
dom of the will of the creature. By their
lights, God’s predestination is linked to
God’s foreknowledge. By foreknowing
what a creature will freely do, God’s deter-
mination of the soul’s end is made in
virtue of what God knows the creature
will freely do.PREDICATE, PREDICATION. A predi-
cate is an attribute; when you assign an
attribute to something you predicate it of
the thing. So, to claim a dog is brown is
to predicate brownness of the dog. To
predicate omniscience of God is to claim
that omniscience is a divine attribute.PRESENTISM. The view that only the
present exists. Theistic presentists hold
that God is temporal, existing in the pres-
ent moment and is not timelessly eternal.PRIMUM MOBILE. From the Latin,
meaning “first mover.” Primum Mobile is
the outermost concentric sphere of the