A third LDS author who has sympathetically commented on and discussed Open Theism has been David L. Paulsen, who has had a distinguished career as a professor of philosophy at BYU. He had a number of exchanges with Clark H. Pinnock (now deceased) who was one of the chief architects and proponents of Open Theism in his time, and wrote several books in defense of the subject, the two most famous of which are Most Moved Mover: A Theology of God’s Openness, and The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God. Paulsen invited Pinnock to lecture at BYU, and also published two articles on Open Theism in BYU Studies, one of which is titled, “Open and Relational Theology: An Evangelical in Dialogue with a Latter-day Saint,” and consists of a lengthy discussion with Pinnock on Open Theism; and the second is titled, “A New Evangelical Vision of God: Openness and Mormon Thought,” and is his review of Pinnock’s book, Most Moved Mover. The title of the latter book is a pun on the phrase “unmoved mover,” which was first coined by Aristotle to mean a “prime mover” of all “movements” in the universe (not quite the same thing as a “first cause”)—a concept which was later adapted by St. Thomas Aquinas as one of his five “proofs” for the existence of God. Thomas’s idea of an “Unmoved Mover,” however, is not quite the same as Aristotle’s. For a good discussion of that subject see here. Paulsen’s review of this book (PDF download here) is fairly long, and it is not my intention to give it a detailed reply. I will only highlight and comment on some significant passages. He begins his review as follows:
“Most Moved Mover is the compilation of these lectures in which Pinnock offers a compelling portrait of God that challenges the so-called classical or traditional account of God formulated by early Christian theologians who were heavily influenced by Greek philosophy. Pinnock passionately denounces the idea that God is impassible, immutable, simple, and timeless. He vehemently rejects conventional ideas that God is primarily a ‘punitive authority,’ a ‘metaphysical immobility,’ or an ‘all-controlling power’ (p. 1). Instead, he offers an ‘open’ view of God that emphasizes his profound passibility and his genuine interpersonal relationships with other moral agents. The ‘open’ God enters into authentic give and take relationships with human beings and leaves the future partly undetermined, allowing human beings to have an active role as agents within the unfolding of his purposes.”
“Compelling” to Paulsen (and Fisher) obviously; but not to me! This statement alone contains or takes for granted so many false premises, assumptions, or deductions that it would require several blog posts to address each one. But briefly note the following:
- The accusation of “Greek influence” (with the negative connotation) is assumed and not proved. The fact that both Aristotle and Aquinas (for example) may have agreed on, or recognized an important concept or principle does not in and of itself constitute a negative, or something to be avoided in a theological discussion, until it is examined and judged independently on its own merits.
- Dismissing the theological concepts of the “Impassibility, immutability, and timelessness” in one breath is easy. Rationally justifying it is not. When properly understood, they turn out to be true theological principles that are affirmed by LDS scripture as much as (if not more so than) the Bible.
- God being “primarily a punitive authority” or a “metaphysical immobility” are slanderous accusations that no respectable theologian of the traditional school would recognize.
- God being an “all-controlling power” is certainly how God is portrayed in the Bible as well as in LDS scripture. If he has an issue with that, his issue is not with the “theologians,” but with scripture.
- The claim that Kinnock in his book “offers an ‘open’ view of God that emphasizes his profound passibility and his genuine interpersonal relationships with other moral agents” implies the supposition that (a) “impassibility” is necessarily a false concept, and (b) it denies or makes impossible God’s “genuine interpersonal relationships with other moral agents,” both of which are assumed and not proved (and are false).
- The idea that “the ‘open God’ enters into authentic give and take relationships with human beings …” carries the unproven (and false) assumption that classic or traditional concept of the Deity doesn’t.
- The idea that “the ‘open God’ … leaves the future partly undetermined, allowing human beings to have an active role as agents within the unfolding of his purposes” carries the unproven (and false) assumption that without an “open God,” “allowing human beings to have an active role as agents within the unfolding of his purposes” would not be possible.
The entire passage consists of unsubstantiated innuendos and not much else. Addressing them in any amount of detail would necessitate writing a separate blog post for each, which hopefully, in the light of the following comments will not be necessary. The following additional quotes from the article provide additional insights into the general thinking behind Open Theism (and of those who advocate or sympathize with it) that, for LDS at least, renders a detailed comment unnecessary (page numbers are as they appear on the PDF; emphasis added):
“‘Far from a totally unchanging and all-determining absolute Being,’ Pinnock writes, ‘the Bible presents God as a personal agent who creates and acts, wills and plans, loves and values in relation to covenant partners.’” (p. 420)
“Pinnock argues in this chapter that traditional conceptions of God’s attributes such as absolute immutability, timelessness, and impassibility—now firmly rooted in Christian tradition—are, in fact, pagan by-products of the Hellenistic intellectual milieu in which the conventional Christian view of God was shaped.” (p. 427)
“Pinnock writes, … ‘A package of divine attributes has been constructed which leans in the direction of immobility and hyper-transcendence, particularly because of the influence of the Hellenistic category of unchangeableness’” (p. 430).
“Pinnock offers some examples: ‘Suppose that God, as Thomas Aquinas taught, is unchangeable as a stone pillar and cannot entertain real relationships in his essential nature. Suppose that in God there are no real relations to creatures—that they may move in relation to God but God cannot move in relation to them. Since the Christian life is at the heart a personal relationship with God, it would be best to live as if this view of immutability were not the case, as I am sure Aquinas himself must have done in his life.’” (p. 438)
I have quoted and grouped together these passages from different parts of the article in order to illustrate a point. Pinnock attacks pretty much all the traditional attributes of God, such as omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, impassibility and immutability. But there is one attribute that he attacks more than the rest, and that is God’s immutability (unchangeableness). But LDS have a good answer to that. What does Joseph Smith has to say about it? Quite a lot apparently!
In his Lectures on Faith, Joseph Smith upholds all the major attributes of God, such as omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence; but there is one attribute that he emphasizes more than any other; and that is God’s unchangeableness! He talks about and emphasizes that more than any other attribute of God. It is the one attribute that he applies to all the other attributes. None of the other attributes would be meaningful, nor would they be a source of faith in God if they were not immutable and unchangeable. See Lecture III 6, 9–15, 21–22, 26, cat. 12, 19, 24; Lecture IV 5, 11, 19, cat. 10; Lecture VII 9, 20. (References are to my published edition of the Lectures on Faith).
Immutability and unchangeableness of God is not a “pagan by-product of the Hellenistic intellectual milieu,” as he would have us believe; nor does it “lean in the direction of immobility and hyper-transcendence”. It does not turn God into “a stone pillar [that] cannot entertain real relationships in his essential nature,” nor does it prevent God from acting “as a personal agent who creates and acts, wills and plans, loves and values in relation to covenant partners”. That is Pinnock’s way of undermining the essential attributes of God; but that is not what they mean. When God made a covenant with Abraham he said to him, “My name is Jehovah, and I know the end from the beginning; therefore my hand shall be over thee.” (Abraham 2:8). God’s fantastic attributes did not prevent him from entering into a covenant relationship with Abraham. On the contrary, they facilitated it. Unchangeableness is one of the most important (if not the most important) attribute of the Deity without which it would be impossible for rational beings to exercise faith in him so as to obtain eternal life. Likewise Pinnock’s rejection of all the major classic attributes of God can be discredited by the scriptures in the same way. The one book of LDS scripture that helps to discredit them more than any other is the Lectures on Faith. The following are some additional quotes from the article to close these remarks with. On page 433 of the PDF it says:
“Pinnock seems convinced that close biblical analysis and rational engagement will result in ‘openness thinking.’ We believe that modern revelation points in the same direction.”
The truth of course is exactly the opposite. Modern revelation does nothing of the kind. Modern revelation negates, cancels out, and destroys Open Theism on a grand scale. Here is one more quote from page 437:
“According to Pinnock, the open view affirms human freedom, makes prayer relevant, and encourages steps on the way to sanctification. If the future is determined or foreknown, why should we even bother to do the right thing?”
The future is “foreknown” but not “determined”. Those are two different things. The future is foreknown because it is known to God what choices people will freely make. The assumption that the future being foreknown means that our choices would have to be determined, or not freely made, is not a valid logical deduction.
There is one curious observation left to be made, however. David L. Paulsen has written an article for the Encyclopedia of Mormonism titled: “Omnipotent God; Omnipresence of God; Omniscience of God” in which he makes the following comment:
“Despite these differing views, there is accord [in Mormonism] on two fundamental issues: (1) God’s foreknowledge does not causally determine human choices, and (2) this knowledge, like God’s power, is maximally efficacious. No event occurs that he has not anticipated or has not taken into account in his planning.”
Both of these assertions contradict the basic tenets of Open Theism. You can’t be sympathetic to Open Theism and adhere to those two statements at the same time. So what has happened since then? Has he changed his mind since he wrote those words, or did he never believe in it in the first place? 😀
Revised March 7, 2018.
Revised March 7, 2018.
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