Divine Foreknowlege: Four Views

Editors: James K. Beilby and Paul R. Eddy

Authors: Gregory A. Boyd, David Hunt, William Lane Craig, Paul Helm

Publisher: InterVarsity (2001)

Topic: Theology: What are the different views Evangelicals take on the issue of God’s foreknowledge of the future?

Description: The question of the nature of God’s foreknowledge and how that relates to human freedom has been pondered and debated by Christian theologians at least since the time of Augustine. And the issue will not go away. The issue has recently taken on new urgency with the theological proposal known as the openness of God. This view maintains that God’s knowledge, while perfect, includes possibilities inasmuch as the future is “open” and not exhaustively settled.

Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views provides a venue for well-known proponents of four distinct views of divine foreknowledge to present their cases. Gregory A. Boyd of Bethel College presents the open-theism view; David Hunt of Whittier College weighs in on the simple-foreknowledge view; William Lane Craig of Talbot School of Theology takes the middle-knowledge view; and Paul Helm of Regent College, Vancouver, presents the Augustinian-Calvinist view.

All four respond to each of the other essayists, noting points of agreement and disagreement. Editors James K. Beilby and Paul R. Eddy introduce the contemporary debate and also offer a conclusion that helps you evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of each view. The result is a unique opportunity to grapple with the issues and arguments and frame your own understanding of this important debate.

Greg’s story behind the defense of the Openness perspective in Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views: In the mid 90s the Openness of God controversy hit evangelicalism like a tsunami. The three most visible advocates at the center of the storm were Clark Pinnock, John Sanders and myself. These were wild times for all three of us. Among other things, our Openness perspective was often being misrepresented by critics. I was therefore delighted to be asked by Paul Eddy and Jim Beilby to contribute to their book of essays on the topic.

One point of interest is that, while the Open View has continually been portrayed as lacking a biblical foundation, my opening defense of the Open View is entirely biblical, in contrast to the other three who base most of their case on philosophical reasoning. Another point of interest is that this book contains the first published version of my “Infinite Intelligence Argument.” This argument suggests that a God of unlimited intelligence loses no providential advantage by virtue of anticipating possibilities rather than certainties. This is important because most people seem to fear that the Open View presents a God who is less confident about bringing good out of evil and winning in the end than the classical view of God. The “Infinite Intelligence” argument proves that this fear is predicated on a limited, anthropomorphic, view of God.