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 theismPinnock, 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 theism is typically advanced as a biblically motivated and logically consistent theology of human and divine freedom (in the libertarian sense), with an emphasis on what this means for the content of God's foreknowledge and exercise of God's power.
Open theist theologian Thomas Jay Oord identifies four paths to open and relational theology: following the biblical witness, following themes in some Christian theological traditions, following the philosophy of free will, and 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 traditional 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 the future has been fully determined, entailing that there is no free choice (the future is closed) for God or for humans. 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 Calvinists 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. Doctrine Open Theism Calvinism 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). God's Sovereignty. "God's ultimate Lordship and rule over the universe". Portraying God as ordaining whatever happens reduces "humans to robots".Greg Boyd, "How do you respond to Isaiah 48:3-5?", http://reknew.org/2008/01/how-do-you-respond-to-isaiah-483-5/ "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). God's Perfection. "God as lacking nothing and free of all moral imperfection". Believes in "(because Scripture teaches) the absolute perfection of God."Greg Boyd, "A Brief Outline and Defense of the Open View", http://www.gregboyd.org/essays/essays-open-theism/response-to-critics/ (accessed October 11, 2009). 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). God's Foreknowledge. "God's knowing things and events before they happen in history".Donald K. McKim, Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms (Westminster John Knox, 1996), 115. "God is omniscient" about "settled" reality, but the future that God "leaves open" can be known only as open "possibility" without specific foreknowledge.Gregory A. Boyd, "The Open Theism View", in Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views, ed. James K. Beilby, Paul R. Eddy, 14 (InterVarsity, 2001). Classically Augustinian-Calvinist view: "God knows the future because he preordains it."James K. Beilby, Paul R. Eddy, eds., Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views, 11 (InterVarsity, 2001). The Fall. "The disobedience and sin of Adam and Eve that caused them to lose the state of innocence in which they had been created. This event plunged them and all mankind into a state of sin and corruption."Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, R. K. Harrison, eds., Nelson's Student Bible Dictionary: A Complete Guide to Understanding the World of the Bible (Thomas Nelson, 2005), s.v. "FALL, THE". God "does not unilaterally and irrevocably decide what to do". God's decisions are influenced by "human attitudes and responses". "Ultimate reason" for the Fall was "God's ordaining will". Free Will. "The term seeks to describe the free choice of the will which all persons possess. Theological debates have arisen over the ways and to the extent to which sin has affected the power to choose good over evil, and hence one's 'free will'."Donald K. McKim, Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms (Westminster John Knox, 1996), 109. Promotes incompatibilism, the doctrine that "the agent's power to do otherwise" is "a necessary condition for acting freely".Robert Kane, "The Contours of Contemporary Free Will Debates", in The Oxford Handbook of Free Will, ed. Robert Kane, 10-11 (Oxford USA, 2005). 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). Free Will and God's Sovereignty. A "caustic debate" began about 1990 over "God's sovereignty and human free will".Roger E. Olson, The Westminster Handbook to Evangelical Theology (Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 186-187. Saying that God governs human choices reduces "angels or humans to robots in order to attain his objectives."Greg Boyd, "How do you respond to Isaiah 48:3-5?", http://reknew.org/2008/01/how-do-you-respond-to-isaiah-483-5/. 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. To meet the "conditions of love", God exercises "general rather than specific sovereignty, which explains why God does not prevent all evil".John Sanders, The God Who Risks: A Theology of Providence (InterVarsity, 1998), 268. Also, God "does not completely control or in any sense will evil" because the world is "held hostage to a cosmic evil force".Gregory A. Boyd, God at War: the Bible and Spiritual Conflict (InterVarsity Press, 1997), 20, 291. 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).
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 Socinus, and in the early 18th century by Samuel Fancourt and Andrew Michael Ramsay. 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