Nature or attributes of God Flashcards
Eternal timeless
Boethius
Eternal everlasting
Swinburne
Biblical passage Isaiah for eternity
‘who inhabits eternity whose name is holy’
Wolterstorff on timeless
‘for humans the gnawing of time bites all’
Boethius timeless
‘eternal present’ God does not exist in time and does not experience past present or future as humans do. we have a linear expression of time whereas God can see it simultaneously
Divine foreknowledge
knowledge of the future
Boethius’ dilemma
How can God have divine foreknowledge of the future and humans still remain free
Aquinas strength of eternity
In the human world change and time are linked, if God were to exist in time he would be susceptible to change (immutable)
Swinburne criticises Boethius
God cannot know what it is like to be in 1995 unless he was in fact in 1995, God must then be in time
Swinburne everlasting
God exists within time. Once the universe had been created then time began to unfold both for creation and for God. God can see the future but only the logically possible choices we could make, not which choice we will actually make
Schleiermacher omniscience
Analogy of the knowledge one has of a close friend’s behaviours this is comparable with God’s knowledge of our actions but this does not force or effect what we choose
Self imposed limitation Peter Vardy
God is all powerful as only God can limit his own power, limits his power as universe is created to suit free rational creatures
Self imposed limitation John Macquarie
God chooses to limit his power out of love for humanity
Descartes omnipotence
God’s ability to do anything even the logically impossible, can suspend logic
J.L Mackie criticises Descartes
‘fails to describe any state of affairs’
Turns God into an unpredictable God
Aquinas omnipotence
God has the power to do whatever it is logically possible to do, can not do anything that goes against his nature. Swinburne supports
Swinburne AO3
support a present and active God, bible shows God has awareness of time
Anselm’s 4 dimensionalist approach
God is not limited by time, controls it,can see the free choices we made in the past and what we wil do
Anselm argues that although God is not in time, God still has some relationship to time. All time is in God
Philosophical problems with timeless view
How can a timeless God respond to prayer, (Aquinas believes prayers should not be requests) Love is a two way process (shown through creation)
Strengths with timeless view
omniscient, omnipotent has the power to remain separate from time
Philosophical problems with divine foreknowledge
how can humans still be held responsible for their actions
Everlasting
has a beginning but no end as opposed to eternal that has no beginning and end
