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Open Theism, or Free will Theism, is a theological movement that has arisen within Evangelicalism, which has grown as a public controversy since 1994, when five essays were published by evangelical scholars under the title of "The Openness of God". Open Theism is an alternative to the classical idea of God, stemming from a single crucial point of difference: Open Theism asserts that God does not know everything about the future. Therefore, Open Theism is a consistent repudiation of any doctrine of predestination and any similar philosophy or theology that is based on fatalism or determinism.
This is not only a rejection of predestination as it is understood by Calvinism, but also in any alternative version. The writers in favor of Free-will Theism differentiate their views from those of Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, Arminianism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Neo-orthodoxy, and Islam, all of which—differently from one another, but similarly over against Open Theism—assert that God has a certain knowledge of all aspects of the future.
Arguments
Proponents of Open Theism assert the following, with some variation:
- The concepts of omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and immutability do not stem from Scripture, but from the subsequent fusion of Judaeo-Christianity with the imaginations of the Hellenic Philosophers of Platonism and Stoicism, which held to an infinite God and a deterministic view of history, and imposed that philosophical framework on Christianity.
- The God described in Scripture was the most powerful, most knowing, most loving, and most unchanging, but not omni-everything. He was shown to have limits in every degree, although those limits were far beyond us and our understanding. In scripture, he changed his mind and plans[1] (http://www.carm.org/open/Exodus32_14.htm), was limited in power, was surprised by events on Earth[2] (http://www.trinitycrc.org/sermons/gen22v01-19.html), was hurt [3] (http://www.biblehelp.org/choice6.htm), assumed a definite geographical location[4] (http://www.fairlds.org/apol/misc/misc03.html), physically wrestled with people[5] (http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/tools/printer-friendly.pl?book=Gen&chapter=32&version=nltp&Go.x=24&Go.y=11), and took the advice of men and angels[6] (http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Exd/Exd032.html#10).
- The Classical OmniGod leads to a number of logical inconsistencies, such as the problem of prayer (of what effect is our prayer if God already knows what will happen before we pray?), the problem of evil (why would a God permit evil to exist when he knows everything, can do anything, and wants only good?), the problem of sin (if God set the universe in motion in such a way that we would inevitably sin, how can we be punished for the sin he planned, and we could not avoid?), as well as other, more trivial inconsistencies (Could God make a stone so big he couldn't lift it?).
- The God of Open Theism resolves those logical inconsistencies. Prayer has meaning, because we can influence God's decisions in an undetermined future. Evil exists because there are other wills and powers in the universe besides God, which wish evil. Sin is punishable because we sometimes make decisions contrary to God's will, and deserving of punishment.
- Open Theists believe that God is finite, but appears infinite to us, because He is so much greater than we are. By analogy, the Earth is finite in size, but appears infinite to a person standing on its surface.
- Open Theists believe that God is not yet omnipotent, but someday will be when the victory is won, as the only use of the word "omnipotent" in scripture is in Revelation 19:6, a picture of God's future victory. Open Theists believe that by His power and through His Church, God will ultimately overcome evil, sin, and death and reestablish His reign on Earth. They frame this not in terms of a historical necessity or a predestined fact, but in terms of Faith and Hope that God will rescue this struggling, desperate, and confused world in time.
Open Theism is distinct from process theology in that while the latter asserts that God evolves, grows, and learns, Open Theism argues only that God has limits which are so far beyond our understanding as to be unreachable. According to G. Boyd in "Is God to Blame?" God's "limits" are the consequenses of decisions he has made in creation, i.e. they are self-imposed, to create a world that supports love of God and fellow man through creaturely freedom. By contrast, the limitations of Process Theology are characteristics of God -- God can only woo, but cannot impose his will. Thus, any similarity between these two views is not supportable by the underlying ideas they offer. As for Socinianism, that shouldn't have even been mentioned in an article on Open Theism.
Proponents of the Classical OmniTheism argue that Open Theism takes a low view of God's attributes, and is contrary to the beliefs of the bulk of the world religions.
See also
Books
Pro
Con
- God's Lesser Glory, by Ware, Bruce A. ISBN 1581342292
- Still Sovereign: Contemporary Perspectives on Election, Foreknowledge, and Grace, by Schreiner, Thomas R.; Ware, Bruce A. (Eds.) ISBN 0801022320
- SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD, THE, by PINK, ARTHUR. ISBN 0801070880
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