John E. Sanders - Sanders On Open Theism

Sanders On Open Theism

Sanders situates open theism as a form of freewill theism which goes back to the early church fathers and, in Protestantism, is prominent in the Arminian-Wesleyan traditions. In freewill theism God does not micromanage the creation (as is the case in theological determinism) but, instead, exercises “general sovereignty” by which God enacts the overarching structures in which creatures operate. Humans have libertarian freewill such that for a free act the individual could have acted otherwise than he or she did. God does not determine or tightly control what humans do which means that God takes risks that humans might do things (e. g. sin) that God does not want them to do. The divine will, for some things, can be thwarted. Freewill theists have emphasized reciprocal relations between humans and God when it comes to salvation and prayer. They believe that God graciously initiates the call to redemption by granting enabling grace but humans are free to accept it or reject it. When believers petition God in prayer what the believer prays can have an effect on God. Some divine decisions are contingent upon our actions. In other words, God responds to what creatures do—what happens in history makes a difference to the way God acts in history. When these ideas are applied to the divine attributes, it means that freewill theists reject “strong” divine immutability (God cannot change in any respect) and “strong” impassibility (God cannot be affected by what creatures do). Freewill theists do affirm “weak” impassibility (God is not overcome by emotions as humans are apt to be) and “weak” immutability (the divine nature—love, faithfulness, power, etc.—never changes).

According to Sanders, open theism affirms the core doctrines and practices of freewill theism but believes that freewill theism needs to be modified on two points in order to better explain certain biblical passages and to be logically consistent. First, the majority (but not all) of freewill theists have affirmed that God is atemporal—does not experience time. Open theists believe this is incompatible with the biblical portrayal of God interacting with creatures in which there is a before and an after and a give and receive in the divine experience. Also, Sanders believes that divine atemporality is incompatible with the core tenets of freewill theism since an atemporal being cannot be said to receive or respond to anything because an atemporal being simply cannot change in any respect. Since freewill theists believe that some of God’s decisions are responses to human actions (e. g. in prayer and salvation) which implies change in some of God’s actions, they should not affirm divine atemporality. Open theists hold that God is everlasting (always was, is, and will be) rather than atemporal.

The second point of contention between freewill and open theists is exhaustive definite foreknowledge of future contingent events. Freewill theists have traditionally affirmed what is known as simple foreknowledge according to which God, prior to creation, just “sees” or knows all that will ever happen in history. Sanders argues that the simple foreknowledge view has conflicts with types of biblical texts mentioned below and has two philosophical problems. The first problem is the old debate about whether or not divine foreknowledge entails determinism. Open theists argue that exhaustive definite foreknowledge is incompatible with the freewill of creatures. The other problem with simple foreknowledge is that it is useless for God to possess it since once God knows what is going to happen God cannot change it from happening. Sanders argues that simple foreknowledge cannot explain such things as prophecy, divine guidance, or why God did not prevent particular evils. Instead, open theists affirm “dynamic omniscience” (a term coined by Sanders). God knows all that has happened in the past and all that is happening in the present. God knows those future events that are determined to occur and God knows all that could possibly happen but does not know as definite what creatures with freewill will do. God has anticipatory knowledge (foresight) of what we are likely to do so God is not caught off-guard.

This does not mean that Sanders believes God’s knowledge of the future is “limited” as some critics have charged. Rather, Sanders holds that what is referred to as “the” future is not an ontological reality—it does not exist. If it is does not exist then there is literally “no thing” or actually for God to know. Open theists are not saying that there is a reality about which God is ignorant (which would be limited omniscience). The denial that God has exhaustive definite foreknowledge of future contingent events has been the single most controversial aspect of open theism.

The term “open” in open theism involves two important ideas: (1) God is open to what creatures do (God is affected by creatures) and (2) the future is open in that there are multiple possible futures (the branching tree model of the future or like a create your own story book). Because God is open to us God enters into genuine give-and-receive relations with creatures. For example, God truly responds to our prayers. God responds to what we do and adjusts the divine plans, if necessary. For Sanders, God has flexible strategies for accomplish divine goals (there is more than one route to the destination). There is not a blueprint which God is following for the construction of the kingdom. Rather, it “is a lot like jazz, a melody with a good deal of improvisation.” Open theists are clear to affirm with other freewill theists, however, that even though God has changing emotions, plans, and actions, the divine nature does not change. God’s love, wisdom, power, faithfulness, etc. are unchangeable.