Attributes of God- AO2 and Essay Plans Flashcards
“Boethius was successful in his argument that God rewards and punishes justly”
Agree
- To what extent can God be all powerful if he is inside of time? All power would contain all knowledge; such would entail a being who does not change, but an everlasting God would seem to change by his interactions in the world.
- He solved the paradox in two ways; firstly, he maintained that due to the nature of God’s eternity, with no past or future, actions are as if they have already been decided on and thus, God does not influence them by seeing them.
- Also he distinguished between two types of necessity- our actions are necessary because God sees them and God’s omniscience is perfect and cannot be wrong, but they are conditionally necessary- they have the condition of free will: we could have chosen otherwise.
- Logically consistent as allows God to have omniscience in the fullest sense, without compromising human freedom and a sense of divine justice.
- Hughes tries to redeem a benevolent God who is just by suggesting that God who is wholly simple but has dependent omniscience
“Boethius was successful in his argument that God rewards and punishes justly”
Disagree
- If God is timeless, what sense can be made in the Bible where God seems to change his mind, or remember things or act surprised?
- Response- Scholars who support this view that God is timeless suggest that these verses should be read metaphorically, and argue that a time bound God runs the risk of Anthropomorphism.
- Boethius’ concept of God is fairly Platonic: God is not part of the patio-temporal world and thus, time does not pass for him as it does for us. There is no succesion if events as we experience them, rather, God experiences them in “one ‘unchanging’ present”.
- Aquinas recognised that Boethius had tried to escape God’s causal omniscience (God knows x and x so happens) by saying that in reality “x happens and so God knows x” but Aquinas said that this is not possible if one holds a belief in a wholly simple God because God is now dependent on the acts of creation in order to be omniscient.
- Thus, God cannot be simple because the definition of simplicity is that all God’s attributes are all in perfect balance. A wholly simple God must not be dependent on anything, and if this omniscience is not dependent, it must be to some extent causal. In this case a God who punished or rewarded could not be just as we would not be morally responsible for our actions. (supported by Vardy)
How far is it to claim that an omnipotent God should be able to do absolutely anything, even the logically impossible?
IT IS FAIR
- Descartes argued that omnipotence should mean the power to do absolutely anything. Limited omnipotence is no omnipotence at all.
- Anselm claims that God is that which is nothing which can be greater conceived. A God with unlimited power is greater than a God with limited power.
- Descartes argument that God created the laws of logical and is therefore not subject to them might be considered a strong argument.
- Descartes argument that God created the laws of logic and is therefore not subject to them might be considered a strong argument.
- It could be argued that we should not expect to reach a rational understanding of the power of God given that we have finite minds and so if we cannot comprehend omnipotence this does not rule it out.
How far is it to claim that an omnipotent God should be able to do absolutely anything, even the logically impossible?
IT IS NOT FAIR
- Total omnipotence is incompatible with the concept of an omnibenevolent God.
- Total omnipotence is incompatible with many theodicies.
- Aquinas’ understanding of the power of God is the best way of capturing the nature of divine omnipotence
- Swinburne argued that logically impossible things are not the ‘logically impossible’
- God can do absolutely anything but self-limits his power for human benefit so we have an orderly world and epistemic distance.
- Hartshorne suggested that total omnipotence is not as impressive as a great power which is not total.
Discuss critically issues arising from the belief that God is omniscient
Challenges
-Future knowledge within this understanding of God’s attributes. Free will- does God’s all knowingness include knowledge of future events? e.g. God foreknows all my acts/What God foresees must come to pass/Therefore, if my acts must come to pass, then it cannot be free/Determinism must be true - no free will (Calvin)
Response- Augustine, have said that God simply has the foreknowledge that we are going to sin and it is not his fault, in the same way it is not your friends fault.
-Undermines the theodicies/may raise the question of what it might mean for humans to be genuinely free in a philosophical sense if God knows how we will behave in any given situation and that he does not stop us from acting immorally should he not infact be held at least partly responsible for our actions.
This may lead some to asses the extent to which believers can hold the view that they are free agent before God as some would argue that God’s foreknowledge holds within aspects of pre-destination. Any valid and relevant approach should be given credit provided the assessments are justified and not asserted.
-Benevolence of God- how can an all-knowing/all powerful God have knowledge of evil and not act? (response- Wiles)
SCHOLARS FOR :swinburne, D.Z Phillips, Process theology,
AGAINST Flew, Schliermacher, A.J Ayer, Anthony Flew
Discuss the problems surrounding Gods eternity
ETERNAL GOD
Interpretation 1: Eternal God
- Timeless God- explanation (PLATO, BOETHIUS, AUGUSTINE, AQUINAS AND ANSELM)
- God is immutable (unchanging) and transcendent (beyond time and space)
- Boethius explanation- God experiences time ‘all at once’
- Aquinas explanation- analogy of a man walking on a road.
Strengths
- omniscience- has all knowledge
- omnipotence- has all power to create and remain separate from time.
- perfect, no limits, constraints.
- immutable- not changed by time.
Critics:
- Anthony Kenny: notion of time being simultaneously present to God is incoherent.
- Swinburne agrees: he could not make much sense of this.
- How can God be so personal and act in creation if we are to accept this definition of God?
- Love involves a relationship- it is a two way process of time and space.
- how can an eternal God respond to peoples prayers?
Discuss the problems surrounding God’s eternity
TEMPORAL GOD
- Gods omniscience cannot include future events (Woltestoff)
- God cannot know what has yet to happen.
- Philosophical problems surrounding Temporal God
- Alternative views- William Lane Craig, AJ Ayer, Anthony Flew, Process theology, D.Z phillips.
Strengths
- omnibenevolence- active in human lives
- personal: answered prayers/miracles etc.
Weaknesses
- omniscience- if God does not know future events how can he be all knowing?
- immutable: If time/humans change God, He can still be perfect?
- Perfect: is God limited by time?
