Open theism, also known as openness theology,[G. L. Bray, “Open Theism/Openness Theology,” in New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic, ed. Martin Davie et al. (London; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press; InterVarsity Press, 2016), 632.] is a theological movement that has developed within Christianity as a rejection of the synthesis of Greek philosophy and Christian theology.[Clark H. Pinnock;Richard Rice;John Sanders;William Hasker;David Basinger. The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God (Kindle Locations 1164-1165). Kindle Edition. Location 1162] It is a version of free will theism[Pinnock, Clark H. “Open Theism: What Is This? A New Teaching? and with Authority! (MK 1:27).” Ashland Theological Journal 2002, Vol. 34, pp: 39–53. ISSN: 1044–6494] and arises out of the free will theistic tradition of the church, which goes back to the early Church Fathers.
Open theist theologian Thomas Jay Oord identifies four paths to open and relational theology:
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following the biblical witness,
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following themes in some Christian theological traditions,
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following the philosophy of free will, and
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following the path of reconciling faith and science.
Roger E. Olson said that open theism triggered the "most significant controversy about the doctrine of God in evangelical thought" in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Exposition of open theism
In short, open theism posits that since God and humans are free, God's knowledge is dynamic and God's providence flexible. Whereas several versions of
Classical theism picture God's knowledge of the future as a singular, fixed trajectory, open theism sees it as a plurality of branching possibilities, with some possibilities becoming settled as time moves forward.
Thus, the future, as well as God's knowledge of it, is
open (hence, "open" theism). Other versions of
classical theism hold that God fully determines the future, entailing that there is no free choice (the
future is closed). Yet other versions of classical theism hold that, though there is freedom of choice, God's omniscience necessitates God's foreknowing what free choices are made (God's
foreknowledge is closed). Open theists hold that these versions of classical theism do not agree with the biblical concept of God; the biblical understanding of divine and creaturely freedom; and/or result in incoherence. Open theists tend to emphasize that God's most fundamental character trait is love and that this trait is unchangeable. They also (in contrast to traditional theism) tend to hold that the biblical portrait is of a God deeply moved by creation, experiencing a variety of feelings in response to it.
Comparison of open and Reformed theism
The following chart compares beliefs about key doctrines as stated by open theists and
Calvinism after "the period of controversy" between adherents of the two theisms began in 1994.
[ WRS Journal 12:1 (Feb 2005), 5.] During this period the "theology of open theism… rocked the evangelical world".
[ WRS Journal 12:1 (Feb 2005), Editor's notes, inside cover.]
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Scripture (the Bible). "In the Christian tradition, the Old and the New Testaments are considered Holy Scripture in that they are, or convey, the self-revelation of God."[Donald K. McKim, Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms (Westminster John Knox, 1996), 251.] | "Committed to affirming the infallibility of Scripture"[Gregory A. Boyd, God at War: the Bible and Spiritual Conflict (InterVarsity, 1997) 106.] | Scripture is "the infallible Word of God".[John Piper, "Why I Trust the Scriptures", http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/ConferenceMessages/ByDate/2008/2629_Why_I_Trust_the_Scriptures/ (accessed October 9, 2009).] |
God's Power. "God's power is limited only by God's own nature and not by any external force."[Donald K. McKim, Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms (Westminster John Knox, 1996), 117.] | "God is all-powerful."[Gregory A. Boyd, Is God to Blame? Moving Beyond Pat Answers to the Problem of Evil. (InterVarsity, 2003) 42.] | "God is all-powerful."[Carl F. Ellis, Jr., "The Sovereignty of God and Ethnic-Based Suffering" in Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, ed. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 124. (Crossway, 2006).] |
"Nothing that exists or occurs falls outside God's ordaining will. Nothing, including no evil person or thing or event or deed."[Talbot, "All the Good That Is Ours in Christ", in Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, ed. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 43-44 (Crossway, 2006).] |
Believes that, because "Scripture says" it, God "will always do what is right".[Mark R. Talbot, "All the Good That Is Ours in Christ", in Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, ed. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 41 (Crossway, 2006).] |
Classically Augustinian-Calvinism view: "God knows the future because he preordains it."[James K. Beilby, Paul R. Eddy, eds., Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views, 11 (InterVarsity, 2001).] |
"Ultimate reason" for the Fall was "God's ordaining will". |
Promotes compatibilism, the doctrine that freedom of the will requires only "the power or ability to do what one will (desire or choose) to do" without constraint or impediment, even if what one wills is determined.[Robert Kane, "The Contours of Contemporary Free Will Debates", in The Oxford Handbook of Free Will, ed. Robert Kane, 12, 13 (Oxford USA, 2005).] |
God governs "the choices of human beings", but without "cancelling their freedom and responsibility".[Mark R. Talbot, "All the Good That Is Ours in Christ" in Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, ed. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 69 (Crossway, 2006).] |
Theodicy issue. "The justification of a deity's justice and goodness in light of suffering and evil".[Donald K. McKim, Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms (Westminster John Knox, 1996), 279.]
| Because "Scripture says" it, God "will always do what is right".[Mark R. Talbot, "All the Good That Is Ours in Christ", ''Suffering and the Sovereignty of God'', ed. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 41 (Crossway Books, 2006).]
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Historical development
Contemporary open theists have named precursors among philosophers to document their assertion that "the open view of the future is not a recent concept," but has a long history.
[Gregory A. Boyd, Satan and the Problem of Evil (InterVarsity, 2001), 91, n.11.]
The first known post-biblical Christian writings advocating concepts similar to open theism with regard to the issue of foreknowledge are found in the writings of Calcidius, a 4th-century interpreter of Plato. It was affirmed in the 16th century by Fausto Sozzini, and in the early 18th century by Samuel Fancourt and by Andrew Ramsay (an important figure in Methodism). In the 19th century several theologians wrote in defense of this idea, including Isaak August Dorner, Gustav Fechner, Otto Pfleiderer, Jules Lequier, Adam Clarke, Billy Hibbard, Joel Hayes, T.W. Brents, and Lorenzo D. McCabe. Contributions to this defense increased as the century drew to a close.
The dynamic omniscience view has been affirmed by a number of non Christians as well: Cicero (1st century BC) Alexander of Aphrodisias (2nd century) and Porphyry (3rd century). God's statement to Abraham “Now I know that you fear me” (Gen 22:12) was much discussed by Medieval Jewish theologians. Two significant Jewish thinkers who affirmed dynamic omniscience as the proper interpretation of the passage were Ibn Ezra (12th century) and Gersonides (14th century).
Sergei Bulgakov, an early-20th-century Russian Orthodox priest and theologian advocated the use of the term panentheism, which articulated a necessary link between God and creation as consequence of God's free love and not as a natural necessity. His sophiology has sometimes been seen as a precursor to 'open theism'.
David R. Larson claimed in 2007 that "in less detailed forms the basics of 'Open Theism' have been taught at Loma Linda University for about fifty years, beginning at least as early as long-time professor Jack W. Provonsha."[David Larson, " Richard Rice Discusses Open Theism ". Spectrum Blog, 11 November 2007] Provonsha started teaching at Loma Linda about 1960.
Millard Erickson belittles such precursors to open theism as "virtually unknown or unnoticed."[Millard J. Erickson, What Does God Know and When Does He Know It?: The Current Controversy over Divine Foreknowledge (Zondervan, 2006), 248.]
After 1980
The term "open theism" was introduced in 1980 with theologian Richard Rice's book
The Openness of God: The Relationship of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Free Will. The broader articulation of open theism was given in 1994, when five essays were published by evangelical scholars (including Rice) under the title
The Openness of God. Recent theologians of note expressing this view include:
Clark Pinnock (deceased as of 2010), Greg Boyd, Thomas Jay Oord, John E. Sanders,
Dallas Willard, Jürgen Moltmann, Richard Rice, C. Peter Wagner, John Polkinghorne, Hendrikus Berkhof, Adrio Konig, Harry Boer, Bethany Sollereder, Matt Parkins, Thomas Finger (Mennonite), W. Norris Clarke (Roman Catholic), Brian Hebblethwaite, Robert Ellis, Kenneth Archer (Pentecostal), Barry Callen (Church of God), Henry Knight III, Gordon Olson, and
Winkie Pratney. A significant, growing number of philosophers of religion affirm it: Peter Van Inwagen, Richard Swinburne (Eastern Orthodox),
William Hasker,
David Basinger, Nicholas Wolterstorff, Dean Zimmerman, Timothy O'Connor, James D. Rissler, Keith DeRose, Richard E. Creel, Robin Collins (philosopher/theologian/physicist), J. R. Lucas, Vincent Brümmer, (Roman Catholic),
Richard Purtill, Alan Rhoda, Jeffrey Koperski, Dale Tuggy, and
Keith Ward. Biblical scholars Terence E. Fretheim, Karen Winslow, and
John Goldingay affirm it. Others include writers Madeleine L'Engle and Paul C. Borgman, mathematician D.J. Bartholomew and biochemist/theologian
Arthur Peacocke.
[To see documentation to verify most of the people on this list see John Sanders, The God Who Risks: A Theology of Divine Providence, revised edition (InterVarsity press, 2007) 166-169.]
Philosophical arguments
Open theists maintain that traditional classical theists hold the classical attributes of God together in an incoherent way. The main classical attributes are as follows:
[Classical theism]
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Omnibenevolence: God is the standard of moral perfection, all-benevolent, and perfectly loving.
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Simplicity: God has no parts, cannot be differentiated, and possesses no attribute as distinct from His being.
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Theomorphism: God cannot change in any respect.
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Impassibility: God cannot be affected by outside forces.
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Omnipresence: God is present everywhere, or more precisely, all things find their location in God.
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Omniscience: God knows absolutely everything: believes all truths and disbelieves all falsehoods. God's knowledge is perfect.
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Omnipotence: God can do anything because he is all-powerful and not limited by external forces.
Alleged contradictions in the traditional attributes are pointed out by open theists and atheists alike. Atheist author and educator George H. Smith writes in his book that if God existed, God cannot be omnipotent because: "If God knew the future with infallible certainty, he cannot change it – in which case he cannot be omnipotent. If God can change the future, however, he cannot have infallible knowledge of it".
Open theism also answers the question of how God can be blameless and omnipotent even though evil exists in the world. H. Roy Elseth gives an example of a parent that knows with certainty that his child would go out and murder someone if he was given a gun. Elseth argues that if the parent did give the gun to the child then the parent would be responsible for that crime.[N. T. Wright Evil and the Justice of God] though this is not the traditional answer to evil.
Varieties of open theists
Philosopher Alan Rhoda has described several different approaches several open theists have taken with regard to the future and God's knowledge of it.
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Voluntary Nescience: The future is alethically settled but nevertheless open for God because he has voluntarily chosen not to know truths about future contingents. It is thought Dallas Willard held this position.
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Involuntary Nescience: The future is alethically settled but nevertheless epistemically open for God because truths about future contingents are in principle unknowable. William Hasker, Peter Van Inwagen,
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Non-Bivalentist Omniscience: The future is alethically open and therefore epistemically open for God because propositions about future contingents are neither true nor false. J. R. Lucas and Dale Tuggy espouse this position.
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Bivalentist Omniscience: The future is alethically open and therefore epistemically open for God because propositions asserting of future contingents that they 'will' obtain or that they 'will not' obtain are both false. Instead, what is true is that they 'might and might not' obtain. Greg Boyd holds this position."
Criticism
Norman Geisler, a critic of open theism, addresses the claims that the Classical attributes were derived from the Greeks with three observations:
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The quest for something unchanging is not bad.
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The Greeks did not have the same concept of God.
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Philosophical influences are not wrong in themselves.
An open theist might respond that all such criticisms are misplaced. As to observation (1), it is not characteristic of open theists to say that the quest for something unchanging is bad. Indeed, open theists believe God's character is unchanging.
Opponents of open theism, both , and , such as John Piper,
They also point to verses that suggest God is immutable, such as:
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: For I, the Lord, have not changed; and you, the sons of Jacob, have not reached the end.
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: God is not a man that He should lie, nor is He a mortal that He should repent. Would He say and not do, speak and not fulfill?
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: And also, the Strength of Israel will neither lie nor repent, for He is not a man to repent."
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: I tell the end from the beginning, and from before, what was not done; I say, "My counsel shall stand, and all My desire I will do."
Those advocating the traditional view see these as the verses that form God's character, and they interpret other verses that say God repents as anthropomorphistic. Authors who claim this can be traced back through John Calvin, Martin Luther, Thomas Aquinas, Ambrose, and Augustine. Open theists note that there seems to be an arbitrary distinction here between those verses which are merely Anthropopathism and others which form God's character. They also note that the immediate sense of the passages addressing God's inalterability ought to be understood in the Hebrew sense of his faithfulness and justice. In other words, God's love and character is unchanging; this, however, demands that His approach to people (especially in the context of personal relationship) be flexible.Gregory A. Boyd (2025). 080106290X, Baker Books. 080106290X
Literary debate
In the early 18th century, an extended public correspondence flourished around the topic of open theism. The debate was incited by Samuel Fancourt's 1727 publication,
The Greatness of Divine Love Vindicated. Over the next decade, four other English writers published polemical works in response. This led Fancourt to defend his views in six other publications. In his 1747 autobiography, in response to some who thought that this controversy had affected his career, Fancourt wrote, "Should it be suggested, that my religious principles were a prejudice unto me—I answer: so are those of every Dissenting Protestant in the United Kingdom with some, if he dares to think and to speak what he thinks." Fancourt also names other writers who had supported his views.
In 2005, a "raging debate" among evangelicals about "open or free-will theism" was in place.
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| 1980 | – Rice was the "pioneer of contemporary evangelical open theism." | Critical acclaim, but public mostly unaware of open theism; the controversy had not yet begun. |
| 1989 | |
| 1994 | – "ignited a firestorm of controversy". | "Provoked numerous hostile articles in academic and popular publications."[ The "conservative backlash" was "quick and fierce".] |
| 1996 | – Considers divine omniscience, theodicy, and petitionary prayer in freewill perspective.[Back cover of cited book.] | – Sees open theism as wrong biblically, theologically, and philosophically. |
| 1997 | – Made open theism the centerpiece of a theodicy. | – Asserts that open theism should be called new theism or neotheism because it is so different from classical theism. |
| 1998 | – "The most thorough standard presentation and defense of the openness view of God." | – Accuses open theists of selective use of Scripture and caricaturing classical theism. |
| 2000 | – "The most passionate and articulate defense of openness theology to date."
– "A genuinely evangelical portrayal of the biblical God."[On back cover of Brueggemann] | – "The most influential critique of open theism." |
| 2001 | – "A renewed defense of open theism" and a theodicy grounded in it. |
– "Debate seemed to turn somewhat in favor of classical theism." |
| 2002–2003 | – Attacked classical theists as "blueprint theologians" espousing a "blueprint world view". |
– Attacked "open theism as theologically ruinous, dishonoring to God, belittling to Christ, and pastorally hurtful".
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| 2004–2012 | – Contains appendix titled "Replies to my critics". | – Book's stated purpose is to "demonstrate the errors of open theism". |
| 2013–2014 | – Argues that proponents of open theism have a right to be called "evangelical". | – Declares that "open theists get God all wrong". |
| present | The Internet brought open theists and their debate with classical theists into public view. | The Internet brought classical theists and their debate with open theists into public view.
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See also
Footnotes
Sources
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Trinity and Process, G.Boyd, 1992
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"Satan & the Problem of Evil: Constructing a Trinitarian Warfare Theodicy", Greg Boyd (2001)
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The Case for Freewill Theism: a Philosophical Assessment, David Basinger, 1996, InterVarsity Press,
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The Openness of God: The Relationship of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Free Will, Richard Rice, 1980, Review and Herald Pub. Association,
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The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God, Clark Pinnock editor, et al., 1994, InterVarsity Press , Paternoster Press (UK), (followup to Rice book includes contribution from him)
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The God Who Risks: A Theology of Providence, John Sanders, revised edition, 2007. InterVarsity Press,
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The Nature of Love: A Theology, Thomas Jay Oord, 2010. Chalice Press,
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God, Time, and Knowledge, William Hasker, 1998, Cornell University Press,
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God of the Possible, Gregory A. Boyd, 2000 reprint, Baker Books,
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Most Moved Mover: A Theology of God's Openness (The Didsbury Lectures), Clark Pinnock, 2001, Baker Academic,
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Providence, Evil, and the Openness of God, William Hasker, 2004, Routledge,
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Creation Made Free: Open Theology Engaging Science, Thomas Jay Oord ed., 2009, Pickwick,
- Con
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God's Lesser Glory, Bruce A. Ware, 2000, Crossway Books,
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Still Sovereign: Contemporary Perspectives on Election, Foreknowledge, and Grace, Thomas R. Schreiner and Bruce A. Ware (editors), 2000, Baker Academic,
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Bound Only Once: The Failure of Open Theism, Douglas Wilson editor, et al., 2001, Canon Press,
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No Other God: A Response to Open Theism, John M. Frame, P & R Publishing, 2001,
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Consuming Glory: A Classical Defense of Divine-Human Relationality Against Open Theism, Gannon Murphy, Wipf & Stock, 2006,
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Beyond the Bounds: Open Theism and the Undermining of Biblical Christianity, John Piper et al., 2003, Crossway Books,
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What Does God Know and When Does He Know It?: The Current Controversy over Divine Foreknowledge, Millard J. Erickson, Zondervan, 2006,
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How Much Does God Foreknow?: A Comprehensive Biblical Study, Steven C. Roy, InterVarsity Press, 2006,
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The Benefits of Providence: A New Look at Divine Sovereignty, James S. Spiegel, Crossway Books, 2005,
- Multiple views
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The Sovereignty of God Debate, D. Steven Long and George Kalantizis editors, 2009 Cascade Books,
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Perspectives on the Doctrine of God: 4 Views, Bruce Ware editor, 2008, Broadman and Holman Academic,
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Divine Foreknowledge: 4 Views, James Beilby and Paul Eddy (editors), et al., 2001, InterVarsity Press,
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God and Time: Essays on the Divine Nature, Gregory E. Ganssle and David M. Woodruff (editors), 2002, Oxford University Press,
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God & Time: Four Views, Gregory E. Ganssle (editor), et al., 2001, InterVarsity Press,
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Predestination & Free Will, David and Randall Basinger (editors), et al., 1985, Intervarsity Press,
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Searching for an Adequate God, John Cobb and Clark Pinnock (Editors), et al., 2000, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,
Further reading
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The Nature of Love: A Theology, Thomas Jay Oord (2010)
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God, Foreknowledge, and Freedom, John Martin Fischer (editor), 1989, Stanford,
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The Only Wise God: The Compatibility of Divine Foreknowledge & Human, William Lane Craig, 2000, Wipf & Stock Publishers,
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The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge, Linda Zagzebski, 1996, Oxford,
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Eternal God : A Study of God without Time, Paul Helm, 1997, Oxford,
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Time and Eternity: Exploring God's Relationship to Time, William Lane Craig, 2001, Crossway Books,
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Time and Eternity, Brian Leftow, 1991, Cornell,
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Travels in Four Dimensions: The Enigmas of Space and Time, Robin LePoidevin, 2003, Oxford, * The Ontology of Time, L Nathan Oaklander, 2004, Prometheus Books,
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Four-Dimensionalism: An Ontology of Persistence and Time, Theodore Sider, 2003, Oxford, * Real Time II, Hugh Mellor, 1998, Routledge,
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The Suffering of God, Terence E. Fretheim, 1984, Fortress Press,
External links
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– A website maintained by Open Theist Boyd
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– magazine article
