Open Theism Timeline

Open Theism Timeline by Tom Lukashow

An argument that is frequently raised against the open view is that it is a recent innovation.  Paul Eddy had discovered Calcidius, a fifth century advocate, and I and others knew of L.D. McCabe and Billy Hibbard, two 19th century advocates. But that was about it – until I met Tom Lukashow.

Tom is a lawyer in Florida who has spent much of his spare time over the last thirty years researching the history of the open view. And what he has discovered is, at least to me, absolutely amazing! In preparation for the Open2013 Conference that will be held at Woodland Hills Church next week, I asked Tom if he could bring all his research together into one single annotated time line, and he has graciously obliged.

And now I share it with you.  On this chart you will find that from 1642 up to the 1941, there has been a steady stream of scholars advocating the open view. I have not read all of these works, but those I have read– e.g. Fancourt (1720’s-30’s) Ramsey (1748), Bromley (1820), McCabe (1870’s), Brents (1874) and a few others – defend this view using many of the same arguments that advocates of openness today use. In fact, I’ve found in several of the works Tom has sent me several arguments I’ve not seen before. More importantly, this chart demonstrates that the open view is just about as old as Protestantism is! It can therefore no more be dismissed as an innovation than can Lutheranism, Calvinism or any other expression of the Protestant faith.

We should all tip our hats to Tom Lukashow. His tireless labor has done us all a tremendous service!  Thank you Tom!