Theology P1 — Divine Attributes

Perfection

That than which nothing greater can be conceived (Aquinas)

Omnipotence (Aquinas)

Ability to do anything logically possible

Omnipotence (Descartes)

Ability to do anything, unbound by logic and morality

Omnipotence (Process T)

God isn’t omnipotent, but rather ‘unsurpassably great’

Omnipotence in scripture

“God said ‘Let there be light’ and there was light” - Genesis 1:3

‘“Jesus looked at them and said

Explain the Paradox of the Stone

P1: If God can create a stone that He can’t lift then He can’t lift it

P2: If God can lift the stone then He can’t have created it

P3: Either way there’s something that God can’t do

P4: It is impossible to both create and lift the stone

P5: Therefore the concept of omnipotence is incoherent

C1: Therefore God is not omnipotent

Solution to Paradox of the Stone (Savage)

God has infinite lifting power and infinite creating power; God can both lift and create infinite stones; God can create a stone and then lift it without limitation

Paradox between omnipotence and supreme goodness

P1: To commit evil is to fail to be supremely good

P2: If God is supremely good, then God cannot committ evil

P3: Therefore, if God is supremely good, there is something that God cannot do

C1: Therefore, God cannot be both supremely good and omnipotent

Solution to paradox between omnipotence and supreme goodness

*Aquinas: There is no distinct power of ‘committing evil’; it is merely a privation/absence of good; failure is not a power/perfection so not having that doesn’t invalidate omnipotence

Vardy: God can commit evil (omnipotence) but chooses not to (supreme goodness)

Problem if morality is good because God wills it.

Tautology; if God’s will = good, then God’s will = God’s will

Problem if God wills what He wills because it is good

God would be bound to a standard of goodness greater than Him

Possible solutions/interpretations of ‘God wills what is good’

Kant/Avarroes - God’s perfect understanding of good → always wills what is good

Ockham - goodness is determined by what God wills

Aquinas - goodness is in God’s nature and cannot be separated from what He wills

Supreme goodness/omnibenevolence in scripture

“And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.’” - Luke 18:19

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good and his love endures forever” - Psalms 118:1

God’s Agapé love

Originates from God - ‘God is love… He sent His one and only son into the world so that we might live through him’ - John 4:7-9

Unconditional

Sacrificial

Selfless

Motivational > emotional; primary example = crucifixion

Omniscience

Knowledge of all truths

Omniscience in scripture

“Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit” - Psalm 147:5

“If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything” - 1 John 3:20

Problems with divine attribute of omniscience

Free will; if God is omniscient+eternal, and therefore God knows I do x, then I must do x, therefore I have no free will

Schleiermacher’s solution to omniscience vs free will

God knows what He will do because He knows us; God makes perfectly accurate predictions about our actions

Why believe that God is eternal/timeless?

Maintains God’s perfection and immutability

God’s plan cannot be thwarted or avoided

God knows everything a priori

Boethius’ solution to omniscience and free will

‘… to embrace simultaneously the whole of an unending life in one present’

Anselm’s four-dimensional solution to omniscience and free will

God is in all of time because all of time is in God

God perceives all time simultaneously

God learns what I do when I do it, but God’s K is never changeable;

God learns everything at once

I am still free because from my temporal perspective the future does not exist;

I don’t know what God knows

The only way I get from T1 -> T2 is by making choices

Similarities and differences between Boethius and Anselm

Compatibilism

Actions are free if they are internally motivated

Everlasting

Exists throughout all of time but not outside of time

Eternal

Existing outside of time, timeless

Swinburne’s solution to omniscience and free will

God exists for all of time but is not outside of time; everlasting