Nature of God (attributes of omniscience)

Divine

related to a god; supremely good or beautiful

Timeless

Boethius's perspective

Everlasting

Swinburnes persepective

If God knows the future as part of his omniscience what does this mean

God foreknows all my acts

What God foresees must happen

Therefore, if my acts must happen then they cannot be free

Divine foreknowledge

God knows what will happen, God is omniscient, knows past, present, and future)

Who supports the view that God knows the future as part of his omniscience

John Calvin

Predestination

Before creation God determined the fate of the universe throughout all of time and space

John Calvin quote on predestination

'For he does not create everyone in the same condition, but ordains eternal life for some and eternal damnation for others'

Biblical quote that supports predestination

'In love he predestined us..' Ephesians 1:5

What does the view of predestination mean God has done

Means God has already chosen (pre elected) who will be saved and who will be eternally damned

What was boethius' problem with divine foreknowledge

How can God have divine foreknowledge of the future (full omniscience) and humans beings still remain free agents

Boethius quote that argues his problem with divine foreknowledge

'Hopeless conflict between divine foreknowledge of all things and freedom of human will'

What problem does Boethius work through

If God knows the future of our actions how are our actions therefore free?

What does God being able to see our future actions mean

It means God cannot be fooled or deceived and whatever Gods providence foresees will happen

Providence

Knowledge of the future

What does this mean for the future

The future cannot change otherwise what God sees is just 'fallible knowledge' (flawed knowledge)

If God has full knowledge does this mean we are free

No, Boethius does not agree with this

What problem does boethius have

That we do not have free will if God has divine foreknowledge

Why does boethius believe it is pointless to argue a pre deterministic God whereby God has knowledge of all our actions

Because it will be pointless to reward and punish if my actions are not free/voluntary and therefore not governed by my own will it is therefore unjust to punish or reward me

Who does Boethius believe should be in control of our actions

Ourselves

Vices

Bad

Virtues

Good

What is the conflict with Boethius' view

God should be able to have full knowledge but i must be able to have free will over my actions. It isn't fair for someone to be pre destined to hell by acting out what God already decided

What is boethius

A traditionalist (believes good go to heaven and bad go to hell)

What is Boethius' answer to omniscience

God is eternal because Gods eternity explains how God can be both omniscient and our free will

How does God being eternal explain Gods omniscience and allow humans to have free will

As God doesn't see past, present and future but instead sees time together as the 'eternal present'. Whilst having full knowledge of time we humans are in control of the events we do within that

What does boethius conclude

This is 'not knowledge of future events but knowledge of a never changing present'

Does boethius beleive in divine foreknowledge (Calvinistic perspective)

No

Aquinas quote about Gods omniscience

'God sees all things together and not successively'

What does Aquinas' quote mean

God sees everything but not linear (not like the human perspective on time). God takes in history as a whole

Does Aquinas believe in Divine foreknowledge

No

What is Gods perspective of time

A 'Birds Eye view'

How does the walkers up the hill example explain how God doesn't interfere with our free will

Theres a hill and God is sat on top of it and below this hill there are paths where walkers are walking, the walkers are humans making there decisions, God can see the path and the walkers but does not interfere with the decision of which path each walker takes

What does Aquinas' view show

Both a Boethius' perspective and Swinburne perspective

Swinburne argument about everlasting omniscience

Gods omniscience is limited to what is logically possible. The future has not happened yet making it unknown. God is omniscient=perfect knowledge of what has occurred and is occurring this means Gods knowledge changes over time. God can acquire new knowledge as time passes

Self imposed limitation in everlasting omniscience (vardy and Macquarie have similar view)

God makes deliberate choice to limit what he knows = human free will

Schleirmacher argument about everlasting omniscience

God is aware of all possible choices but we are free to decide which ones to choose

What does scheiermacher argue about the problem of whether Gods omniscience restricts our freedom

He argues that there is possible solution to the problem

What analogy does schleiermacher use to explain his argument

He drew the analogy of the knowledge that close friends have of each others future behaviours=omniscience but still free will

What example does schleirmarcher use to explaine his analogy

When is go out with my friend she doesn't like to drink after eating we always have go for a b tootle of wine before our meal rather than after

What is schleirmacher saying with is analogy and example

He's saying his example and analogy are comparable with Gods knowledge of our actions, his knowledge does not force or affect what we choose to do therefore we can be hold morally responsible

Who else supports schleirmacher

Luis of molina- Gods omniscience includes all possibilities

Augustine- God simply knows our choices

Philosophical problems with divine foreknowledge

How can humans be held responsible for their actions?

How can human actions be judged 'evil' and therefore punished if they do not have free will?

And does this make God repsonsible for suffering?

Classic problem of evil=Epicurus and Hume

Philosophical problems with boethius omniscience

Can God really know everything if God doesnt know what it's like to change?

Tries to support free will of humans and allows for God to reward and punish justly

But even if God just sees events not on a timescale are we totally free?

Philosophical problems with limited omniscience

Can God 'know new events as they happen if God doesnt change?

And if God does change with humans is God still perfect?

If God cannot see the future even if it is logically impossible to see does it take away Gods omnipotence?