Attributes of God Flashcards
What are the traditional characteristics of God from classical theism?
omnipotence Omniscience Eternity Simplicity Omni-Benevolence
What view does Descartes put forward on God’s omnipotence?
God can do anything even the logically impossible . In this view God is not limited by the laws of logic as he created those laws and could abolish them if he wished to do so.
How does Descartes reach this idea of God’s omnipotence?
In his ontological argument he says that God has all perfections (including perfect power). When Descartes explored what it meant for God to be perfectly powerful he therefore cam to the conclusion that God can do absolutely everything, including the logically impossible.
Why does Aquinas disagree with Descartes view of God’s omnipotence?
Aquinas argued that logically impossible actions, such as 2+2=5, are not actions at all. They are not ‘proper things’ that one can or cannot do.
Why did CS Lewis disagree with Descartes view of God’s omnipotence?
He agreed with Aquinas, observing that “meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire a meaning because we prefix to them two other words: ‘God can’ (The problem of evil)
Why did Vardy disagree with Descartes view of God’s omnipotence?
He argued that logic and the laws of contradiction mark the limits of what it makes sense to say. For example, it is meaningless to talk of square circles.
Why do many argue that God’s omnipotence means he can do anything, even the logically impossible?
Many argue that it is incorrect to suggest that God can sin, lie or engage in immoral behaviour (conflicts with his Omni benevolence.)
Why does Vardy claim that the idea that God’s omnipotence means he can do anything, even the logically impossible conflicts with his Omni benevolence?
“The view that God could do the logically impossible is incoherent and, if it were true, would show that God would not be worth worshipping. Such a God could lie and deceive, God could swear to reward the virtuous and then condemn them to everlasting torment.’
Where does the Bible contradict the idea that God’s omnipotence allows him to do anything, even the logically impossible?
Hebrews 6:18 states that it is impossible for God to lie. There are those two things, then, that cannot change, and about which God cannot lie.”
Why does Descartes view on God’s omnipotence create problems for theodicy?
If Descartes is correct and God is capable of suspending the laws of logic to allow us to have free will without the consequent evil, then the existence of evil in the world becomes something that God could change if he wanted, but he just chooses to inflict on us even though there is no justification for it.
What is a theodicy?
An attempt to justify God’s existence in the face of evil.
What do the theodicies which have been put forward by Christian thinkers suggest?
That God could not act in any other way than the way he does, without depriving us of free will. Suffering is the price we pay to make free choices and be autonomous moral agents.
What did Thomas Aquinas say God is completely omnipotent in?
Being in charge of the whole world, creating it and keeping it in existence.
What does Thomas Aquinas say God’s omnipotence means?
God is omnipotent because he can do everything that is absolutely possible”; qualified by saying that “everything that does not imply a contradiction is among those possibilities in respect of which God is called omnipotent.” Therefore, God can do anything which is not inconsistent with his nature.
What are the two main view on God’s omnipotence?
- God can do anything, even the logically impossible
2. God can do anything that is logically possible for a perfect God to do.
What does Richard Swinburne claim omnipotence means?
“Omnipotence denotes ‘an ability to bring about any (logically possible) state of affairs’. Therefore, he argues this excludes both logical contradictions and that which God could not do without contradicting God’s own nature as God, e.g. to make a thing equal to himself.
Why does Richard Swinburne argue against the idea that God’s omnipotence allows him to do the logically impossible?
“A logically impossible action is not an action…it is no objection to A’s omnipotence that he cannot make a square circle.”
Why does Anthony Kenny agree with defining God’s omnipotence as God can do anything that is logically possible for a perfect God to do?
In view of God’s goodness, and the fact that he is not a being that possesses a body, it seems that this definition may be more appropriate.
How does Anthony Kenny define God’s omnipotence?
“A narrower omnipotence, consisting in the possession of all logically possible powers which it is logically possible for a being with the attributes of God to have. “ (The God of Philosophers)
What does Alvin Plantinga say about God’s omnipotence?
He argued that an omnipotent being may not have omnipotence as a necessary quality. He may choose to limit his powers in certain circumstances in order to preserve human free will.
Why does Peter Vardy say that God’s omnipotence is necessarily limited?
To suit the existence of free, rational beings. This limitation is self-imposed as this is how he chose to create the universe.
What quote did Vardy give about God limiting his own omnipotence?
“God is limited by the universe he chose to create. This limitation does not however lessen God in any significant way. It is rather a recognition of God’s wish to create a universe in which human beings can be brought into a loving relationship with him. “ (Puzzle of evil)
What does John Macquarrie say about God’s omnipotence?
Like Vardy and Aquinas before him, Macquarrie also emphasises that any limits on God’s omnipotence are self-imposed. God chooses to limit his power out of love for humanity.
What is the problem with the idea that God’s omnipotence means that God can do anything that is logically possible for a perfect God to do?
One cannot say that God can do everything that is logically possible, nor can one say that God can do everything that is possible for God to do while at the same time maintaining his omnipotence. To make a claim of omnipotence assumes God may do everything, yet to go on to clarify this definition of omnipotence removes such an attribute- a clarification creates a sense of semi-omnipotence, a contradiction in itself.
What are the two ways that you can view God as eternal?
- Timeless
2. Everlasting
What is the view of God as eternal and timeless?
The belief that God stands outside of time and that all time is equally present to him in an ‘eternal present.’ All of time is immediately visible and are ‘now’ as far as God is concerned.
What quote does St. Augustine have on God as eternal and timeless?
“Thy years neither come nor go; whereas ours both come and go.”
How did St Augustine view God as eternal?
He argued that God was outside of time- he is atemporal. Whilst we experience time in a linear dimension- the only real experience we have of time is the present, as the past is a memory and the future is an expectation. God, on the other hand is the creator of time and can see all of things in one go (non-linear)
What does Boethius say about God as eternal?
He argues that God takes in the past, present and future in a single glance, including our free choices. God simply sees things as present things which for us are in the future (therefore it is not foreknowledge). God knows but does not cause.
What does Anselm say about God as eternal?
Anselm argument for God is that he is the greatest thing that could exist, and has all the greatest-making properties (including existence.) Anselm believed that timelessness is among the great-marking or perfection-making properties of God.
What analogy did Aquinas write to explain how God can be timeless and humans can still have free will?
“He who goes along the road does not see those who come after him; whereas he who sees the whole road from a height sees all at once those travelling on it.”
What does Aquinas analogy about God as eternal mean?
The person who travels along the road is only able to see it from their own particular viewpoint, whereas God is situated above the road and can see where the person has been, where we are, and where we are going. The traveller makes free choices, but God only sees those choices he does not cause them.
What is the strength of God as eternal and timeless in terms of him not being limited?
If God were bound by time, then he would be much more limited. He would not the outcome of his actions, and his plans might be disrupted by unforeseen circumstances. However, in this view time is something created by God rather than something to which God is subject.
What is the strength of God as eternal and timeless in terms of him being immutable?
If God is timeless, it is easier to affirm the traditional belief in the immutability of God. If God is in time, then God may be subject to change. Some philosophers and theologians believe that immutability is a necessary attribute of God.
What are the challenges against God as eternal and timeless in terms of scripture?
The idea of time not applying to God seems to contradict the plain reading of scripture. The Bible speaks of God promising and remembering, suggesting he has a past, present and future. Also the doctrine of incarnation provides a strong objection to divine timelessness.
What are the arguments for God as eternal and timeless despite scripture?
Supporters of this view that God is timeless argue we ought to understand these texts metaphorically or analogically.
What are the challenges of God as eternal and timeless in terms of religious language?
If God is outside of time, he is beyond our understanding. We can only talk about Good using analogy, myth, symbols or the via negative and even then, perhaps we can have no actual understanding of what it is we are talking about.
What are the challenges of God as eternal and timeless with the idea of a God actively involved in the world?
God would seem too far logically removed to be active in the world, but then how could we account for the answering of prayers and miracles or even religious experience if God is not actively involved in the world?
What does Boethius present in The Consolations of Philosophy?
The difficulty of eternity and foreknowledge and the conflict with human free will as a dialogue between himself and Lady Philosophy. “There seems to be a hopeless conflict between divine foreknowledge of all things and human free will”
What does Boethius observe that a omniscient God is a challenge to free will?
He observes that what the omniscient God foresees in the future must happen. Whether it happens because he sees it or he sees it because it will happen is irrelevant. God may not directly cause our actions but, in seeeing them, they become necessary and we cannot do otherwise.
What problems does God’s omniscient and foreknowledge cause according to Boethius?
- It is pointless or unjust to reward the good and punish the wicked, as all actions are predestined to happen.
- If evil events are foreseen but no prevented, does this not make God responsible? (problem of evil)
- There seems little point to prayer as the outcome will not change.
What solution did Boethius put forward to an omniscient God conflicting with human free will?
In the Consolation of Philosophy, Lady Philosophy states that God’s foreknowledge is not the cause of future events happening. It is the free will of human beings that causes these things. God surveys the whole of time in the eternal present. All of what we call time (past, present, future) is ‘now’ to God. Boethius understood the word ‘eternal’ to mean timeless, rather than everlasting. He argued that if God is eternal, he cannot be subject to time; to be eternal is to be outside of past, present and future. Therefore, this divine foreknowledge does not change the nature of properties of things, it simply sees things present before they will later turn out to be in what we regard as the future “He sees all things in his eternal present as you see some things in your temporal present.”
How is Boethius influenced by Plato’s views? (quote)
“we should follow Plato in saying that God is indeed eternal but the world is perpetual. The world is subject to change, motion and time but God is completely different in all respects. “
What are the problems raised by God’s omniscience?
- Does God truly have knowledge?
- Free will?
- If future events are set, that are all actions contingent present events?
What is meant by the problem of whether God can truly have knowledge if he is omniscient?
If God is simply, than He cannot gain new knowledge from experience, he just has knowledge. But, if God cannot learn from experience is it meaningful to talk about God having knowledge as he gain knowledge through our experiences?
Why does Thomas Aquinas suggest that it is meaningful to talk about an omniscient God having knowledge?
He says that God does have knowledge, because knowledge is not physical, even though we gain knowledge through our bodies. Therefore, if knowledge is non-physical it means a God who is immaterial can still have knowledge.
What does Thomas Aquinas suggest about God’s knowledge?
He goes on to the say that what God knows is ‘self-knowledge’, and as he is the creator, he knows by self-knowledge what he creates and thus God knows about creation. In this view his knowledge is not like human knowledge gained through the senses.
Why does God’s omniscience cause problems for human free will?
If God is eternal and timeless, then he takes in all of history at a “single glance” (Boethius), so he knows the decision i will make before I have made it. As God is omniscient and his knowledge is prefect, whatever he foreknows will happen and has to happen and cannot be any different. This undermines claims that human beings have free will.
How does John Locke define free will?
As the ability to do other in a situation. The ability to choose a different path.
What does Richard Sorabji say about God’s omniscience and free will? (quote)
“If God’s infallible knowledge of our doing exists in advance, than we are too late so to act that God will have had a different judgement”
What is meant by the problem that if God is onmiscient and future events are set, are all actions contingent present events?
If God has knowledge of future actions of human beings it would suggest that future events that we make are contingent on present events and choices are actually necessary. If the future is necessary there “is no free choice as the future has already been set.”
What is the traditional definition of God of classical theism?
Simplicity, Omni-benevolence, Eternity, Omniscience, Omnipotence
What does it mean if you view God’s eternity as him being timeless?
It is the belief that God stands outside to time and that all time is equally present to him. Although everything that we experience as human beings occurs in time, this is not necessarily the case with God. God is outside of time and sees all events in an ‘eternal present’.
What does St Augustine say about God’s eternity meaning he is timeless? (quote)
“Thy years neither come nor go; whereas ours both come and go.”
What did Augustine argue about the definition of God as eternal?
(That he is timeless)argued that God was outside time- he is atemporal. We experience time in a linear dimension- the only real experience we have of time is the present moment. The past is a memory and the future is an expectation. God, on the other hand is the creator of time and can see all of time in one go. His experience of time is non-linear.
What did Boethius argue about the definition of God as eternal?
(That he is timeless). He argued that God takes in the past, present and future in a single glance, including our free choices. He has no foreknowledge, but simply sees things as present things which for us are in the future. God therefore knows but does not cause.
Why did Anselm argue that God as eternal meant he was timeless?
He believed that timelessness is among the greatest-making or perfection-making properties of God. In his ontological argument, God is “that than which nothing greater can be conceived”, and processes all the greatest-making properties. That he exists in reality is greater than that which exists in thought, therefore he exists. But timelessness is also a greatest-making qualitiy, so he must be timeless.
What did Aquinas say about God as eternal meaning he is timeless? (quote)
“He who goes along the road does not see those who come after him; whereas he who sees the whole road from a height sees all at once those travelling on it.”
What example did Aquinas give to argue that God as eternal means timeless and doesn’t affect free will?
He built on the ideas of both Augustine and Boethius. He compared it to the person who travels along the road, who is only able to see it from their own particular viewpoint. However, God is situated above the road and can see where the person has been, where they are, and where they are going. The traveller makes free choices, but God only sees those choices, he does not cause them.
What are the strenghts of viewing God as timeless? .
- It shows that God is not limited y time, as instead it is something created by God rather than something to which He is subject to.
- If he were subject to time, he would not know what the outcomes of his actions might be; there might be times where God’s plans were disrupted because of unforeseen circumstances.
- If God is timeless it is easier to affirm the traditional belief in the immutability of God, which some have argued is a necessary attribute of God.
- If God is in time, the he may be subject to change.
What is meant by God has simplicity?
He does not consist of parts, he is unchanging or immutable.
What is the problem of viewing God as timeless in view of scripture?
The idea of time not applying to God seems to contradict the plain reading of scripture. The Bible speaks for God promising and remembering. However, supporters of the view God is timeless argue that we ought to understand these texts metaphorically or analogically.
What is the problem of viewing God as timeless in relation to religious language?
If God is outside time, he is beyond our understanding. We can only talk about God using analogy, myth, symbols or the via negativa. Even then, perhaps we can have no actual understanding of what it is we are talking about.
What is the problem of viewing God as timeless in relation to religious experience?
THe idea of God being personal and active within the world is harder to fit with a timeless God- God would seem to far logically removed. How could we then account for the answering of prayers, and miracles or religious experiences? Moreover, the doctrin of incarnation provides a strong objection to divine timelessness.
What does it mean if we say that God is omniscient?
Most people understand it to mean that God knows everything; there is nothing that he cannot know. Moreover, God has no false beliefs and cannot be mistaken. God’s knowledge would therefore include things which are unavailable to the human mind.
What are the questions raised with saying that God is omniscient?
- If God knows everything does this include events in the future as well as those in the past?
- Does God know in advance all moral decisions that people will make in their life?
- If God knows all future events are they in fact predetermined?
- If God is omniscient did humans actually have free will?
What possible solution did Friedrich Schleiermacher give to the problem of whether God’s omniscience restricts our freedom?
He drew the analogy of the knowledge that close friends have of each other’s behaviour, to conclude that God could be omniscient while still allowing people toa ct freely: “In the same way, we estimate the intimacy between two persons by the foreknowledge one has of the actions of the other, without supposing that in either case, the one or the other’s freedom is thereby endangered. So even the divine foreknowledge cannot endanger freedom.” He claims that God’s knowledge of our actions is rather like the knowledge very close friends have of each other’s future behaviour.
What is the problem with Friedrich Schleiermacher’s solution to the problem of whether God’s omniscience restricts our freedom?
The knowledge friends have of each other is a reliable guess, whilst God knowledge is said to be infallible. So God cannot be wrong, whereas friends can. So, does that make our actions inevitable? Is freedom to choose only apparent?
What does Kant claim cannot happen without freedom?
He argued that without freedom, there can be no moral choices.
How might God’s omniscience affect our sense of moral responsibility?
If freedom to act morally were only apparent, we would not be able to be held morally responsible for our actions when we could not have behaved in any other way. So, if God’s omniscience determines our choices, then God cannot justifiably punish us when we do wrong, nor reward us when we are good.
How could God’s omniscience potentially make God responsible for evil?
If God not only knows the future with certainty, but knew when he made us exactly what we would choose at every point of our lives, perhaps God can be held responsible for all kinds of evil, including so-called moral evil. Moreover, God might know in advance each person’s religious choices; perhaps God knows, before we are born whether we will end up in heaven or hell, so that there is nothing we can do about it. However, if he did not know what we would do, it would suggest that God can be surprised, or make choices which turn out to be unwise, and that his capabilities are limited.
How would God being timeless affect his omniscience?
If God is timeless, and can see the whole picture, then his omniscience is eternal. He knows the present, past and the future because he is not confined by these temporal limits.
How would God being everlasting affect his omniscience?
If God is everlasting, and moves on the same timeline that we do, then he knows the past and present, but cannot know the future, except that he understands us so perfectly and knows our conditioning so well, and knows all that contributory factors to our decision making, so that he will know what we will choose to do so far as is logically possible, but our choice remains free.
Why was Boethius worried about the problem of God’s omniscience?
Because it seemed on the surface that if God knows the future, then he is wrong to reward us or punish us for our behaviour; and yet the Bible does teach about divine reward and punishment very clearly.
What different possibilities to the problem of God’s omniscience does Boethius consider in The Consolation of Philosophy?
How can God foreknow that these things will happen, if they are uncertain? If God knows something will happen, when in fact it is uncertain, then God’s knowledge is mistaken, and that cannot possibly be. However, if God knows that something might happen, and that it might not, then it can hardly be called ‘knowledge’ at all, and it puts God in the position of being no wiser than we are. But if God firmly knows things, then they become inevitable. So reward and punishment become unfair.
What does Boethius say about reward and punishment in relation to God’s omniscience? (quote)
“That which is now judged most equitable, the punishment of the wicked and the reward of the good, will be seen to be the most unjust of all; for men are driven to good or evil not by their own free will but by the fixed necessity of what is to be.”
What conclusion does Boethius reach about the problem of God’s omniscience?
He reaches the conclusion that he had made a mistake- he is forgetting that God can see things in a different way from the way in which we see them. Humans exist within time. They have pasts which are fixed once they have happened, they have a present which is gone in an instant, and future which are uncertain. Because the future is uncertain, humans have genuine free will. However, God does not have the same constraints. He does not have a past, present and future; all events occur simultaneously for GOd, in his eternal present. So he has perfect knowledge of what we will freely choose. He does not know our moral choices in advance, because there is no such thing as ‘ in advance’ for God.
What does Beothius say about God’s omniscience? (quote)
“His knowledge, too, transcends all temporal change and abides in the immediacy of his presence.” God can look down on us, moving along our timeless “as though from a lofty peak above them.”
How does Beothius conclusion about God’s omniscience help to resolve the problem of evil?
As God does not know things in advance of them happening, it makes no sense to talk of what God should have known in the past or what God will know in the future. God does not know what we will do in the future, because there is no future for God, so we have genuine free choice and can therefore be rewarded or punished justly.
What does Pannenberg say about human knowledge compared to God’s knowledge? (quote)
“Our experience of awareness and knowledge…can give us only a feeble hint of what is meant when we speak of God’s knowledge.”
What is a serious problem with ascribing omniscience to God in relation to human knowledge?
From the necessary difference of kind and degree between ‘knowledge’ as ascribed to God and human knowledge. TO speak of knowledge of everything is totally beyond analogy with human experience. Moreover, another problem arises from whether ‘knowledge’ necessarily affects the agent or one who knows.
What does Boethius say about the possibility of God having foreknowledge? (quote)
If God has foreknowledge, which can’t possibly be wrong, then “there is no freedom…the divine mind, foreseeing without error, binds..to actual occurrence.” Lady philosophy replies “foreknowledge is not the cause of any necessity for future events.”
What does Boethius say foreknowledge might better be called?
Providence
What does Thomas Aquinas say about God’s knowledge? (quote)
“God has knowledge” and has it “in the perfect way”
Why does Aquinas argue that there is free will alongside an omniscient God?
Aquinas also argues that what God knows in eternity is known not in temporal terms as past, or future, but in terms of the wholeness of eternity.
What does Swinburne say about omnipotence? (quote)
Omnipotence denotes “not…the ability to do anything, but (roughly)…the ability to do anything logically possible.”
What does Swinburne say about omnisceince? (quote)
He notes omniscience “not as knowledge of everything true but (very roughly) as knowledge of everything true which it is logically possible to know”
What does Swinburne argue about God’s omniscience in relation to free will?
He sees omniscience as knowledge of everything true which it is logically possible to know, which in practice, includes all those future events that are predictable by exact physical or causal necessity or by divine decree or promise, but not those events concerning which God chooses to permit created agents to make free choices of will. Swinburne argues, that God may will to preserve room to make free choices of God’s own, which will lie outside the limits of divine omniscience. God chooses to leave room for God’s own changes of plan. Moreover, he often makes conditional promises, which there would be no need for if God already knew how men would act.
What does Keith ward say about omniscience? (quote)
“An omniscient being, if it is temporal, can know for certain whatever in the future it determines…but not absolutely everything. If this is a limit on omniscience, it is logically unavailable for any temporal being.”
