The nature or attributes of God Flashcards
(16 cards)
What does God being eternal mean to Boethius?
Means that God’s experience of time is different to that of humans. Humans are finite, have a beginning in the past, experience in the present, and will have an end in the future. For Boethius, God cannot be subject to time, so to be eternal means to be outisde of past, present and future.
According to Beothius, what is Gods relationship with time?
- What is Boethius’ solution to the paradox?
- Does God’s omniscience interfere with free will?
- Is God’s knowledge foreknowledge?
Boethius’ solution was to suggest that God is eternal – outside of time. This would mean God sees all time (past, present and future) simultaneously in the ‘eternal present’. God’s eternal omniscience does not interfere with our free will – he simply sees the results of our free choices in our future in his eternal present. God’s knowledge is not ‘foreknowledge’ – it does not exist ‘prior’ to our action as it exists outside of time.
How did Boethius write his work?
His work is written as a conversation between himself and an imaginary Lady Philosophy. Lady Philosophy helps him to understand what God’s knowledge is like. Lady Philosophy states that God’s ‘foreknowledge’ is not the cause of future events happening, but rather that the free will of humans causes these things.
What does Boethius use to help us understand why we still retain free will?
Conditional and simple necessity:
- Conditional necessity: an action is observed only because it has been freely chosen
- Simple necessity: the necessity of nature acting according to natural, physical laws.
Boethius: A01 summarise his view
- Boethius believed that all moments in the past, present and future are simultaneously present for God, what we call the past, present and future (time) is all ‘now’ for God.
Anselms view of God and time
- For Anselm, time is a fourth dimension to God, similar to how we speak about the other three spatial dimensions (height, width, depth).
- Anselm states that God is neither spatial nor temporal.
- He agues that all moments in the past, present and future are equally present and equally real for God; all times and places are in God equally.
Anselms development of Boethius
Anslem develops Boethius’ view and argues that all times and places are equally present to God, not because they are ‘now’ to God but because God himself is actually eternity and so each moment is actually in God.
Anselm: is God limited by time or space?
No, God is not limited by time or space like we are, but rather he is in control of them.
Evaluate Boethius’ use of simple and conditional necessity
Although these terms are more coherent than Anselm’s hypocritical use of temporal language; who uses the temporal terms ‘preceeding’ and ‘following’ necessity to defend the free will of humans, contradicting his rejection of such language. Boethius’ argument is incompatible with Biblical evidence such as the creation story, which uses temporal language when describing how God created the Earth in ‘six days’ and ‘six nights’. To further this, why or how would a timeless God created a world limited by time?
Boethius: what is another problem with his explanation?
- In relation to believers?
- How does it contradict Biblical evidence, other than the creation story?
The God that Boethius describes cannot have temporal relations with believers as God experiences the past, present and future as ‘now’, unlike how humans experience time linearly in the physical world. This is incompatible with a classic theist God as it doesn’t allow for a relationship with God. To develop this, the classical theist God seems to be invovled in the world - its creation - rather than outside of it. Furthermore, Biblical evidence of miracles such as God parting the Red Sea suggests that God can interact with time and does have a relationship with his creation; it is a God that is involved and lives up to its attributes.
Boethius A03: what demonstrates that God is able to react in time?
The Holy Trinity (God the father, God the son and God the holy spirit) and the incarnation clearly shows that God is/was restricted by time; he was able to enter time. This may suggest that philosophers such as J.McQuarrie are correct; that God is somehow both inside and outside of time.
What does a timeless God seem to be? (such as Anselm and Boethius’ views)
A timeless God seems to be transcendent, unchanging and uninterested in the world. This seems more like a God of the philosophers, or a deist God, than a God of faith. The God portrayed in the Bible seems to be immanent and interacts with believers, unlike Aristotles PM, which only thinks about its own existence and does not interact with the world. Therefore, the God proposed by Boethius is either arbitrary (random) and partisan (bias) in his interactions or God is deist, and more like the God of the Philosophers.
What is another problem with Boethius’ view of an eternal God?
Prayers
If we accept Boethius’s argument that God exists outside of time and perceives all events simultaneously, then we may need to reconsider the fundamental nature and purpose of prayer. Traditionally, Christian prayer is understood as an act of thanksgiving, seeking guidance, and establishing a personal connection with God. Boethius’s timeless God, who already knows all events and prayers, challenges this understanding - presenting a view that appears incompatible with the relational and temporal aspects of Christian prayer and practice.
Unlike Boethius and Anselm, how does Swinburne view ‘eternity’?
- Swinburne interprets ‘eternity’ as God being within time and everlasting, having no beginning or end, so God has and always will exist. Cullman calls this ‘endless duration’.
What is a problem with Swinburnes everlasting God?
It creates a problem of God being arbitrary - why intervene some times to help one individual but ignore the plight of millions at other times?
Reasons why an everlasting God makes more sense than a timeless God
- Fits with the view that God can only do and know the logically possible. It makes more sense because this is how we understand and think about linear time
- It is possible for God to react and respond to prayer because he can interact with time-bound humans
- humans retain free will because the future is not yet determined or known, so humans can make free choices
- It respects the biblical portrayal of a God who interacts with history, responds to prayer, and grants genuine freedom.
