William of Ockham and the odium Dei

Ockham’s reflection on the omnipotence of God has long been considered as one of the most radical in the field of late-medieval philosophy. This work is aimed to show how this traditional interpretation should be resized in the light of the issue of the odium Dei. The analysis of some passages of Ockham’s works will demonstrate that the domain of the potentia Dei is regulated, even according to this author, by some eternal truths which cannot change. God’s will, in fact, is supposed to comply with both the necessity of the principle of non-contradiction and the moral nature of His essence. Even in a topic that is often considered as an example of Ockham’s voluntarism, the divine intervention will turn out to be firmly anchored to some eternal and uncreated conditions. The Ockhamist analysis therefore does not conflict with the previous philosophical tradition, but it still remains within that cultural horizon.