omniscience Flashcards
full omniscience
-refers to gods unlimited knowledge, incluing all history, past + present + future
-god is outside of time + has knowledge of whole of time from the beginning
limited omniscience
-gods knowledge is limited to what is logically possible to know or god chooses to limit what he knows to allow human free will
-it changes over time, since god acquires new knowledge as events to occur- everlasting god
middle knowledge
gods omniscience awareness of what would happen if certain circumstances occured- incl. free will-knows all possibilities of what occurs
richard dawkins
-can omniscient god, who knows teh future, find the omnipotence to change his future mind?
does god know future as part of his omniscience
-yes=divine foreknowledge (of future)
-god foreknows all my acts, what god fore sees
-if my acts must happen they cannot be free
john calvin
(1509-1564)
-supports foreknowldge
-ephesians 1:5 ‘he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will’
-“ for he doesnt create everyone in the same condition but ordain external life fore some + dommantion for others”
predestination
-before creation god deterined the fate of the universe throughout all of time + space
boethius (480-524ad)
-‘the consolation of philosphy’
-how can god have full omniscience + humans stay free agents
-‘hopeless cnflict between divine foreknowledge of all things+ freedom of human free will’
-against predetrministic god where gopd has knowledge of all r actions bc:
-pointless to reward + punish, if actions r unfree its unjust to punish/reward. we must be responsible for r vices + virtues
-gods eternity explains how god can be omniscient+humans have free will
support
Swinburne
-God knows what we have done and what we are doing but is only aware of the logical possibilities of our futures.
-This is known as the middle way
support
Schleiermacher
even divine foreknowledge cannot endanger free will – analogy of close friends
Free Will
-locke- freewill=illusion
-Ted Honderich= God has predetermination not humans
-Kant= we must be free to make r own moral decisions + we are morally responsible, exercising free will ‘if we are not free we are not responsible and cannot be punished’
-Sartre = existence precedes essence
-God gave humans free will and Augustine said that God gave himself epistemic distance so that he could not interfere and humans could be free to make their own choices.