Open Theism
Isn’t Open Theism outside of historic orthodoxy?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism What it is and is not
The Church has never used one’s view of divine foreknowledge as a test for orthodoxy. And while the open view has always been a very minor perspective, it has had its defenders throughout Church history…
Why the 35W Bridge Collapsed – blog post 8/09/2007
Category: General
Tags: Current Events, Free Will, Open Theism, Predestination
Topics: Open Theism, The Problem of Evil
As all of you know, I’m sure, a little over a week ago the 35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed. This is the most traveled bridge in Minnesota. It was a tragedy, though the fact that…
Isn’t it true that God doesn’t know the future in the open view?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism What it is and is not
This is the single most common misconception people have about the open view. Open Theists and Classical Theists disagree about the nature of the future, not about how much God knows about it. Both sides…
Revelation 13:8 refers to “everyone whose names have not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life.” How does that square with open theism?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Bible, Free Will, New Testament, Open Theism, Predestination, Q&A, Responding to Calvinism, Revelation
Topics: End Times, Providence, Predestination and Free Will, Responding to Objections
Verse: Revelation 13
Three possibilities exist in terms of reconciling Revelation 13:8 with open theism. 1) First, the “from the foundation of the world” clause can attach to either “everyone whose names have not been written” or to…
Revelation 17:8 refers to people whose names haven’t been written in “the book of life from the creation of the world.” Doesn’t this conflict with open theism?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Bible, End Times, New Testament, Open Theism, Q&A, Responding to Calvinism, Revelation
Topics: End Times, Providence, Predestination and Free Will, Responding to Objections
Verse: Revelation 17
As in Revelation 13:8, the clause “from the foundation” (apo kataboleis) need not mean “from before the foundation” but simply “from the foundation” (= since the foundation). It’s not that names either were or were…
What is the “classical view of God” and what about it do you find objectionable?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Classical Theism, God, Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Attributes and Character
The “classical view of God” refers to the view of God that has dominated Christian theology since the earliest Church fathers. According to this theology, God is completely “immutable.” This means that God’s being and…
Response to the September 11th attacks
Category: Essays
Tags: Current Events, Essay, Free Will, Open Theism, Predestination
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues, The Problem of Evil
Was God Punishing Us? Since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11th, many people have asked the question, “Why did God allow this to happen?” In response, some Christian…
Response to Bruce Ware’s “Defining Evangelicalism’s Boundaries: Is Open Theism Evangelical?”
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Open Theism
Topics: Responding to Objections
The following essay was written in response to Bruce Ware’s article, “Defining Evangelicalism’s Boundaries: Is Open Theism Evangelical?” Published in The Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, June 2002. Introduction I want to begin by…
A Brief Outline and Defense of the Open View
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Open Theism
Topics: Defending the Open View, Open Theism What it is and is not
While many Christians have found the open view of the future to be the most helpful and accurate view of God’s foreknowledge of the future based on biblical, philosophical, and experiential evidence, others have criticized…
Scientific Support for the Open View
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Open Theism
Topics: Defending the Open View
If a position is true, every avenue of reflection ought to point in its direction. What follows are two more “pointers” to the view that the future is at least partly open (indefinite, composed of…
Neo-Molinism and the Infinite Intelligence of God
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Open Theism
Topics: Defending the Open View
Classical Molinism holds that, since God is omniscient and knows all truths, he knows not only what every agent will do in the future, but also what every agent would have done in every other…
Five Brief Philosophical Arguments for the Open View
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Open Theism, Philosophy
Topics: Defending the Open View
Introduction I believe that sound philosophical arguments support the open view in which God doesn’t foreknow the future free decisions of humans. My main reasons for holding this view are biblical and theological, but since…
What do you think of the classical view that God is impassible?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Classical Theism, God, Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Attributes and Character
The classical view has historically held that God is impassible, meaning he is above pathos (passion or emotions). The main reason the church came to this view was that, following the Hellenistic philosophical tradition, they…
Do you believe God is pure actuality?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Classical Theism, God, Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Attributes and Character
The basis of the classical view of God as pure actuality (actus purus) is the Aristotelian notion that potentiality is always potential for change and that something changes only because is lacks something else. So,…
What do you think of Thomas Aquinas’ view of God?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Classical Theism, God, Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Attributes and Character
Question: You have written (in Trinity and Process) that the relational God of the Bible is the antithesis of the immutable God of Thomas Aquinas. Could you explain this? Answer: Aquinas and much of the…
What is omni-resourcefulness?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Free Will, God, Open Theism, Predestination, Q&A
Topics: Attributes and Character
Question: What do you mean when you refer to God’s omni-resourcefulness? Can you support this with Scripture? Answer: I and others use the term omni-resourcefulness to highlight a feature of God in Scripture that the…
How can we determine what is and is not “open” about the future?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Free Will and the Future
Question: You believe that the future is partly open. You’re writing has pretty much convinced me this is true, but I’ve still got some serious questions about it. For example, how does anyone determine what…
What is your perspective on the classical view that God is above time?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Classical Theism, God, Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Attributes and Character, Open Theism
In a major strand of hellenistic (Greek) philosophy, change was seen as being an imperfection. This idea was adopted by many early Church fathers and eventually became almost an assumed dogma of the Church. It…