God's Nature/Attributes: Omniscience Flashcards
Why is God’s omniscience an issue?
Raises questions about whether humans have free will
What does Schleiermacher argue?
God can know us as close friends do, so he knows what we will do without forcing us.
How can Schleiermacher be critiqued?
God’s knowledge is not like knowledge friends have because God never makes mistakes
Who argues that God is eternal in a timeless way?
Augustine, Anselm and Aquinas
Who argues that God is everlasting in a way that moves along the same timeline as we do?
Swinburne - this gives us genuine free will as the future has not happened for God too
Who questioned whether an omniscient God could justifiably reward and punish?
Boethius
What did Boethius conclude?
God can see time ‘as from a lofty peak’ and can observe us making choices while he is outside of time himself, seeing everything simultaneously
Who took a four-dimensionalist approach to God’s relationship with time?
Anselm
What did Anselm argue about God and time?
The past, present and future all exist - God can be in all times at once, and all times are ‘in God’, as he has no restrictions
Criticism: God knows everything for all time, so our __ is restricted
freedom
Criticism: God cannot __ with the universe in a meaningful way at a particular time
interact
Criticism: If God is outside of time, he mustn’t know what __ it is
day
Who is Boethius?
A former Roman senator
