Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T15:54:08.643Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
Series:   Elements in Religion and Monotheism

Open Theism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2024

Alan R. Rhoda
Alan R. Rhoda
Affiliation:
Christian Theological Seminary

Summary

This Element shows Open theism as a monotheist model of God according to which the future is objectively open-ended, not just from the finite perspective of creation, but from God's perspective as well. This Element has three main sections. The first carefully defines open theism, distinguishes its major variants, compares it to other monotheistic models, and summarizes its history. The second develops biblical and philosophical arguments for open theism against its main rivals, emphasizing a novel philosophical argument that a causally open future must also be ontically, alethically, epistemically, and providentially open as well. The third responds to common objections against open theism related to perfect being theology, the ethics of risk-taking, biblical prophecy, and theological tradition.
Get access

Keywords

open theismopen futureforeknowledgefuture contingentsfatalism
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in Religion and Monotheism
Online ISBN: 9781009349390
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 21 March 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, J. N. (2019). “May it have happened, Lord!”: Open theism and past-directed prayers. In Arbour, B. H., ed., Philosophical Essays against Open Theism. New York: Routledge, pp. 121–139.Google Scholar
Basinger, D. (1988). Divine Power in Process Theism: A Philosophical Critique. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Basinger, D. (1996). The Case for Freewill Theism: A Philosophical Assessment. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar
Boettner, L. (1932). The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.Google Scholar
Boyd, G. A. (1997). God at War: The Bible and Spiritual Conflict. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar
Boyd, G. A. (2001). God of the Possible: A Biblical Introduction to the Open View of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker.Google Scholar
Boyd, G. A. (2003). Neo-Molinism and the infinite intelligence of God. Philosophia Christi 5, 187–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyd, G. A. (2010). Two ancient (and modern) motivations for ascribing exhaustively definite foreknowledge to God: A historic overview and critical assessment. Religious Studies 46(1), 41–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butler, Cuthbert. (1930). The Vatican Council, vol. 2. London: Longmans, Green and Co.Google Scholar
Calvin, J. (1849). Commentary on the Book of Psalms, vol. 5, trans. J. Anderson. Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society.Google Scholar
Cobb, J. B. Jr. , & Griffin, D. R. (1976). Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.Google Scholar
Cobb, J. B., Jr., & Pinnock, C. H., eds. (2000). Searching for an Adequate God: A Dialogue between Process and Free Will Theists. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.Google Scholar
Craig, W. L. (1990). Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Craig, W. L. & Smith, Q. (2008). Einstein, Relativity, and Absolute Simultaneity. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Creel, R. E. (1986). Divine Impassibility: An Essay in Philosophical Theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Crisp, T. (2007). Presentism and the grounding objection. Noûs 41(1), 90–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Den Boeft, J. (1970). Calcidius on Fate: His Doctrines and Sources. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolezal, J. (2011). God without Parts: Divine Simplicity and the Metaphysics of God’s Absoluteness. Eugene, OR: Pickwick.Google Scholar
Dünzl, F. (2007). A Brief History of the Doctrine of the Trinity in the Early Church. New York: T&T Clark.Google Scholar
Edwards, J. (2009 [1754]). Freedom of the Will. Vancouver: Eremitical Press.Google Scholar
Effler, R. R. (1962). John Duns Scotus and the Principle “Omne quod movetur ab alio movetur.” St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute.Google Scholar
Feinberg, J. S. (2001). No One Like Him: The Doctrine of God. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.Google Scholar
Finch, A. & Rea, M. (2008). Presentism and Ockham’s way out. Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion 1, 1–17.Google Scholar
Finocchiaro, M. A. (1989). The Galileo Affair: A Documentary History. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Fischer, J. M. (2016). Our Fate: Essays on God and Free Will. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flint, T. P. (1990). Hasker’s “God, time, and knowledge.” Philosophical Studies 60(1–2), 103–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flint, T. P. (1998). Divine Providence: The Molinist Account. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Fretheim, T. E. (1984). The Suffering of God: An Old Testament Perspective. Philadelphia: Fortress.Google Scholar
Gavrilyuk, P. (2004). The Suffering of the Impassible God: The Dialectics of Patristic Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gersh, S. (1986). Middle Platonism and Neoplatonism: The Latin Tradition. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Grössl, J. & Vicens, L. (2014). Closing the door on limited-risk open theism. Faith and Philosophy 31(4), 475–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansson, S. O. (2013). The Ethics of Risk: Ethical Analysis in an Uncertain World. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, M. J. & Hill, D. J. (2022). Does God Intend that Sin Occur? London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasker, W. (1989). God, Time, and Knowledge. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Hasker, W. (2004). Providence, Evil and the Openness of God. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hasker, W. (2021). Future truth and freedom. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 90(2), 109–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, E. (2015). Arguing from Molinism to neo-Molinism. Philosophia Christi 17(2), 331–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hume, D. (1990 [1779]). Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Hunt, D. P. (1999). On Augustine’s way out. Faith and Philosophy 16(1), 3–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, D. P. (2001). The simple foreknowledge view. In Beilby, J. K. & Eddy, P. R., eds., Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, pp. 65–114.Google Scholar
Hunt, D. P. (2009a). Contra Hasker: Why simple foreknowledge is still useful. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 52(3): 545–550.Google Scholar
Hunt, D. P. (2009b). What does God know? The problems of open theism. In Copan, P. & Craig, W. L., eds., Contending with Christianity’s Critics. Nashville, TN: B&H, pp. 265–282.Google Scholar
John of Damascus. (2022). On the Orthodox Faith, trans. N. Russell. Yonkers, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press.Google Scholar
Jorgenson, J. (1992). Predestination according to divine foreknowledge in patristic tradition. In Meyendorff, J. & Tobias, R., eds. Salvation in Christ: A Lutheran–Orthodox Dialogue. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, pp. 159–169, 182–183.Google Scholar
Kane, R. (2005). A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Karamanolis, G. (2021). The Philosophy of Early Christianity, 2nd ed. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, W. W. (2015). The New Chosen People: A Corporate View of Election, rev. ed. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock.Google Scholar
Kuhn, T. (1957). The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Kvanvig, J. L. (2011). Destiny and Deliberation: Essays in Philosophical Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leithart, P. J. (2004). Evangelicals in the dock. First Things 141(March), 9–11.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. (1973). Counterfactuals. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. (1986a). On the Plurality of Worlds. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. (1986b). A subjectivist’s guide to objective chance. In Lewis, D., Philosophical Papers, vol. 2, pp. 83–132. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lodahl, M. (2009). The (brief) openness debate in Islamic theology. In Oord, T. J., ed., Creation Made Free: Open Theology Engaging Science. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, pp. 53–68.Google Scholar
Lossky, V. (1978). Orthodox Theology: An Introduction. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press.Google Scholar
Mawson, T. J. (2019). The Divine Attributes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
McCall, S. (1994). A Model of the Universe: Space-Time, Probability, and Decision. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
McCann, H. (2005). The author of sin? Faith and Philosophy 22(2), 144–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullins, R. T. (2016). The End of the Timeless God. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullins, R. T. (2020). God and Emotion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullins, R. T. (2022). From divine timemaker to divine watchmaker. In Schmücker, M. et al., eds., Temporality and Eternity: Nine Perspectives on God and Time. Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 33–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullins, R. T. & Sani, E. (2021). Open theism and risk management: A philosophical and biological perspective. Zygon 56(3), 591–613.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagasawa, Y. (2017). Maximal God: A New Defence of Perfect Being Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ockham, W. (1983). Predestination, God’s Foreknowledge, and Future Contingents, 2nd ed. Indianapolis: Hackett.Google Scholar
O’Keefe, T. (2005). Epicurus on Freedom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peckham, J. C. (2021). Divine Attributes: Knowing the Covenantal God of Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker.Google Scholar
Pereboom, D. (2011). Theological determinism and divine providence. In Perszyk, K., ed., Molinism: The Contemporary Debate. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 262–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perszyk, K. (2019). Open theism and the soteriological problem of evil. In Arbour, B. H., ed., Philosophical Essays against Open Theism. New York: Routledge, pp. 159–177.Google Scholar
Pickup, M. (2008). New Testament interpretation of the Old Testament: The theological rationale of midrashic exegesis. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 51(2), 353–381.Google Scholar
Pike, N. (1965). Divine omniscience and voluntary action. The Philosophical Review 74(1), 27–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinnock, C., Rice, R., Sanders, J., Hasker, W., & Basinger, D. (1994). The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar
Pinnock, C. H. (2001). Most Moved Mover: A Theology of God’s Openness. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker.Google Scholar
Plantinga, A. (1974). The Nature of Necessity. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Plantinga, A. (1986). On Ockham’s way out. Faith and Philosophy 3(3), 235–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prior, A. N. (2003). Papers on Time and Tense, 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Ramsay, A. (1748). The Philosophical Principles of Natural and Revealed Religion. Glasgow: Robert Foulis.Google Scholar
Rhoda, A. R. (2008). Generic open theism and some varieties thereof. Religious Studies 44(2), 225–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhoda, A. R. (2009). Beyond the chessmaster analogy: Game theory and divine providence. In Oord, T. J., ed., Creation Made Free: Open Theology Engaging Science. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, pp. 151–175.Google Scholar
Rhoda, A. R. (2010). Gratuitous evil and divine providence. Religious Studies 46, 281–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhoda, A. R. (2014). Foreknowledge and fatalism: Why divine timelessness doesn’t help. In Oaklander, L. N., ed., Debates in the Metaphysics of Time. London: Continuum, pp. 253–274.Google Scholar
Rhoda, A. R. (2017). Bootstrapping divine foreknowledge? Comments on Fischer. Science, Religion & Culture 4(2), 72–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhoda, A. R. (2022). Divine providence and the problem of evil. Encounter 82(2), 1–37.Google Scholar
Rhoda, A. R., Boyd, G. A., & Belt, T. G. (2006). Open theism, omniscience, and the nature of the future. Faith and Philosophy 23(4), 432–459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rice, R. (1985). God’s Foreknowledge & Man’s Free Will. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock.Google Scholar
Rissler, J. (2006). Open theism: Does God risk or hope? Religious Studies 42(1), 63–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, M. D. (2003). The Storms of Providence: Navigating the Waters of Calvinism, Arminianism, and Open Theism. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.Google Scholar
Rogers, K. (2008). Anselm on Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudavsky, T. M. (2000). Time Matters: Time, Creation, and Cosmology in Medieval Jewish Philosophy. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Sanders, J. (1997). Why simple foreknowledge offers no more providential control than the openness of God. Faith and Philosophy 14(1), 26–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanders, J. (1998). The God Who Risks: A Theology of Providence. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar
Sanders, J. (2007). The God Who Risks: A Theology of Divine Providence, 2nd ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar
Schabel, C. (2000). Theology at Paris, 1316–1345: Peter Auriol and the Problem of Divine Foreknowledge and Future Contingents. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Schmid, J. C. (2022). From modal collapse to providential collapse. Philosophia 50(3), 1413–1435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmid, J. C. & Linford, D. J. (2023). Existential Inertia and Classical Theistic Proofs. Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmid, M. (2021). God in Motion: A Critical Exploration of the Open Theism Debate. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press.Google Scholar
Seymour, A. E. (2015). Presentism, Propositions, and Persons: A Systematic Case for All-Falsism, diss. University of Notre Dame.Google Scholar
Sharples, R. W. (1983). Alexander of Aphrodisias on Fate: Text, Translation, and Commentary. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Sijuwade, J. R. (2023). Elucidating open theism. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion. 94(2), 151–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, R. B. (2019). On open theism either God has false beliefs, or I can know something that God cannot. In Arbour, B. H., ed., Philosophical Essays against Open Theism. New York: Routledge, pp. 110–118.Google Scholar
Swenson, P. (2016). Ability, foreknowledge, and explanatory dependence. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 94(4), 658–671.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swinburne, R. (2016). The Coherence of Theism, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, R. (1992). Metaphysics, 4th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Todd, P. (2014). Against limited foreknowledge. Philosophia 42(2), 523–538.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Todd, P. (2021). The Open Future: Why Future Contingents Are All False. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Todd, P. (2023). Foreknowledge requires determinism. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 107(1), 125–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuggy, D. (2007). Three roads to open theism. Faith and Philosophy 24(1), 28–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulrich, D. (2000). Dissonant prophecy in Ezekiel 26 and 29. Bulletin for Biblical Research 10(1), 121–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Inwagen, P. (1989). When is the will free? Philosophical Perspectives 3, 399–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Inwagen, P. (2008). What does an omniscient being know about the future? Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion 1, 216–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ware, B. A. (2000). God’s Lesser Glory: The Diminished God of Open Theism. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.Google Scholar
Wasserman, R. (2021). Freedom, foreknowledge, and dependence. Noûs 55(3), 603–622.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, H. (2016). Theological determinism and the “authoring sin” objection. In Alexander, D. E. & Johnson, D. M., eds., Calvinism and the Problem of Evil. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, pp. 78–95.Google Scholar
Willard, D. (1998). The Divine Conspiracy. New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Wolterstorff, N. (1991). Divine simplicity. Philosophical Perspectives 5, 531–552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, R. K. M. (1996). No Place for Sovereignty: What’s Wrong with Freewill Theism. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Open Theism
  • Alan R. Rhoda, Christian Theological Seminary
  • Online ISBN: 9781009349390
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Open Theism
  • Alan R. Rhoda, Christian Theological Seminary
  • Online ISBN: 9781009349390
Available formats
×

Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Open Theism
  • Alan R. Rhoda, Christian Theological Seminary
  • Online ISBN: 9781009349390
Available formats
×