Salt, Tim (2022) God’s Foreknowledge – A philosophical investigation. Masters thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
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2224 Salt, Tim (2022) MRes God's Foreknowledge.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License CC-BY-NC-ND Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (774kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Traditionally, God is considered to have four primary characteristics: Omnipotence (all-powerful), Omnipresence (everywhere at once), Omnibenevolence (all-loving) and Omniscience (all-knowing). God’s foreknowledge is a subset of God’s Omniscience and refers to his knowledge of the future. Many authors have discussed this idea and the philosophical soundness of the concept. They include St. Augustine, John Calvin, David Hunt, Luis de Molina and Gregory Boyd. From these writings, four positions have emerged: the Augustinian-Calvinist position, Simple-Foreknowledge, Molinism (Middle-knowledge) and Open Theism. In my paper, I introduce these philosophical concepts; to evaluate and comment on their successes, failures and religious implications. These implications are essential for those who believe God does have Omniscience as they impact the fundamental beliefs held by Christians. I conclude that these beliefs are affected and can be contradicted by the beliefs of the faithful. For example, is God free to reject His knowledge like agents can, or must He abide it? Agents can discard the knowledge of, for example, experts, politicians and so forth to pursue what they deem desirable. If this is the case (that God can deny His knowledge to pursue what He wants), then when (or what) can God reject?
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) |
| Divisions: | Theses and Dissertations > Masters Dissertations |
| Depositing User: | Tim Salt |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Jan 2023 14:54 |
| Last Modified: | 10 Jan 2023 14:54 |
| URI: | https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/2224 |
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