theological determinism

Question 1

key term

Answer 1

theological determinism - form of hard determinism according to which the future is determined by god’s omniscience

Question 2

what is theological determinism

Answer 2

• the view is rooted in the christian idea that god is omniscience
• it led to st augustine & calvin to the doctrine of predestination
• an omnisceint god knows the entire past, present and future
• calvin said about god’s omniscience that ‘some are externally ordained to glory through sheer will of god and rest ordained through eternal torment’
• this view receives less support now as it appears to make god a monster
• a more reasonable option would be to not create humanity in the first place
• the problem with an omniscient god is that foreknowledge must be causal as god knows you do something in future and you can’t avoid this
• this means free will must be an illusion and all events in universe both physically & mentally determined by god’s omniscience

Question 3

evaluating theological determinism

Answer 3

• when evaluating this must bear in mind if there’s no god then it doesn’t get of the ground
• the issue hinges on god’s relationship to time

Question 4

evaluating theological determinism - a timeless god

Answer 4

• aquinas’ view that god doesn’t exist in time but rather timelessly
• a timeless god sees all times so sees entire history of universe timelessly
• following this idea, some argue that god’s omniscience means god sees results of our future free choices but doesn’t cause them
• thus god has power to intervene and control but doesn’t as permits human free choices

Question 5

evaluating theological determinism - a temporal god

Answer 5

• alternate view is god exists in time
• if this is the case then god cannot know the future so theological determinism is false
• process theologians see god & physical universe as two aspects of one reality
• god is equivalent with all physical processes of universe
• thus a temporal god wouldn’t know future so wouldn’t be threat to free will

Question 6

main conclusions

Answer 6

• no conclusive evidence yet to show hard determinism as general theory being true or false
• for non-religious, theological determinism is a non-starter