this idea of talking about what people in the past thought about god is deeply flawed.

would you ask aristotle what he thought about relativity? then why ask him what he thinks about god? it's just as foolish.

why would we think newton's theology is less flawed than his physics? and, that is ignoring the threat of harm he was under for deviating from orthodoxy.

we need to look at the evidence that exists today, not the arguments that existed in the past, before much of that evidence was available.

i would rather ask the question of what past thinkers might think if presented with the evidence we have today than ask the question of what they thought given the evidence available to them. while this can only be speculative, it's far more useful.