God, Eternity and Freewill: Flashcards
Immanent:
Within this world.
Transcendent:
Beyond this world.
Temporal:
Within time and space.
Incorporeality:
God has no body, or is non-physical.
Simplicity:
God must be incorporeal.
Unity:
Monotheism maintains that there is no God.
Eternity:
God exists not inside time, but outside it. God is atemporal.
Immutability:
God cannot change.
Eternal:
Outside and space.
Freedom:
The ability to choose one’s own action without compulsion from an external source- thus, accountability for one’s action.
Necessity:
That it is impossible for something to not be the case.
Everlasting:
On-going within the universe.
St Augustine and freewill:
Freewill was questioned since the time of St Augustine. It is clear that this discussion was significant to Augustine as he used it as a strong part in his theodicy.
Contextual links with Freewill:
- In 1524, Erasmus, the great humanist thinker, wrote a defence for freewill.
- In 1525, Martin Luther, the great religious Reformer responded by writing “The Bondage of the will.”
Question regarding freewill and predestination:
Can God be sovereign (fully control of the universe) whilst his creation have freewill?
Time:
Time doesn’t change things, it’s the things that exist within time which change. It is understandable as to why people may believe that God lives outside of the constrains of time.
Timelessness and the relationship with humans:
We feel that we have freedom to make choices, but is this an illusion? As how can a timelessness being relate to creatures who exist only within time?
Boethius:
Argued that Got is eternal, there is no tenses for God as everything is now for him. Argued that God has “the complete possession at once of illimitable life.”
Anselm, Augustine and Aquinas on Boethius view:
They believed that Boethius view on Gods eternity solved the argument for omniscience and human freewill.
Chad Mesiter:
Supports Boethius argument. He adds that timelessness is based in relative theory. Time and space are conjoined. One doesn’t exist without the other.
Critiques against Boethius:
- A timelessness God would mean that God could only have knowledge of timeless truth such as mathematical knowledge. Logical knowledge.
- His view contradicts with the Christianity teaching. In both the old and new testament, God is described as acting in specific times and places i.e. God created the world in six days.
