Herbert McCabe

Herbert McCabe (1926-2001) was an English Dominican theologian and philosopher who made distinctive contributions to twentieth-century Catholic thought through his innovative synthesis of Thomistic philosophy and linguistic analysis. Educated at Manchester University and Blackfriars, Oxford, McCabe served as editor of New Blackfriars and taught at Blackfriars Studium. His approach to God emphasized the radical otherness of divine being while insisting on God's intimate involvement with creation. McCabe argued that God is not a being among beings but the source of all existence, developing sophisticated accounts of divine simplicity, creation ex nihilo, and analogical predication. His major works include God Matters (1987), God Still Matters (2002), and Law, Love and Language (1968). McCabe's integration of Wittgensteinian insights with classical Thomism influenced subsequent discussions of religious language and divine action, while his emphasis on God as "what makes the difference between nothing and something" offered fresh perspectives on traditional metaphysical questions.