Latter-Day Saint Voices on Openness

J. Hathaway

January 17, 2019 - 6 minutes read - 1105 words

I have found two enlightening thinkers in LDS theology. From what I have read and the places that they publish, their work is well respected among LDS religious scholars. They are also recognized in the broader community of theological scholars. David L. Paulsen has been on my radar for years. I have enjoyed all his material on philosophy and theology. Additionally, I have read a couple of articles by Blake T. Ostler and anticipate reading his work on LDS theology during 2019.

Sketches

David L. Paulsen

David Lamont Paulsen is a professor emeritus of philosophy at Brigham Young University (BYU). From 1994 to 1998 he held the Richard L. Evans Chair of Religious Understanding at BYU. He was an active faculty member at BYU from 1972-2011.

Here are a few biographical sketches

Blake T. Ostler

Blake Thomas Ostler is an American philosopher, theologian, and lawyer. He has written numerous articles on the topics of Mormon theology, philosophy, and thought.

Here are a few biographical sketches

Theological Statements on the Openness of God

David L. Paulsen

David Paulsen edited an interfaith dialogue called, Mormonism in Dialogue with Contemporary Christian Theologies. The book is pretty dense. However, the section on how LDS theology relates to openness theology is a great read. Much of the material from that section can be found in a BYU Studies article At page 530 the following quotes can be found.

Critics of the openness model are quick to contend that any qualification of the notion of God’s complete knowledge of the future diminishes his power and worshipability. To the contrary, openness theologians argue, this only makes God more praiseworthy for his wisdom and resourcefulness in responding to emerging contingencies. I would agree with Pinnock’s assessment that in the area of divine foreknowledge the LDS and open “communities are in just about the same place” (Pinnock, 505).

Despite differing views within the LDS tradition, there is accord on three fundamental points: (1) Man is an agent with power to choose other than what he, in fact, chooses; (2) Whatever the extent and nature of God’s foreknowledge, it is not inconsistent with man’s freedom-God’s knowledge does not causally determine human choices; and (3) God’s knowledge, like God’s power, is maximally efficacious. No event occurs that he has not anticipated at least qua possibility or has not taken into account in his planning.

In this talk at a FairMormon conference David Paulsen provided a direct answer to the question, “Does the LDS doctrine of God allow for a similar view of God’s growing and changing according to time and circumstance?” I recommend a full read or watch of his message. I have included a few lines below.

Thus, we agree with openness thinkers that God is the most moved mover.

…

But does he grow in knowledge? On this point, the Church has no official position and faithful Latter-day Saints often disagree. Some very influential LDS thinkers, including two men who served as Church President, Brigham Young and Wilford Woodruff, have affirmed that God is eternally self-surpassing in both knowledge and power. President Young taught that “the God I serve is progressing eternally [in knowledge and power], and so are his children; they will increase to all eternity, if they are faithful,” and, in agreement with President Young, President Woodruff explained, “If there was a point where man in his progression could not proceed any further, the very idea would throw a gloom over every intelligent and reflecting mind. God himself is increasing and progressing in knowledge, power, and dominion, and will do so, worlds without end.”

…

Other Church leaders have taken a position more in line with that of conventional Christian theology. President Joseph Fielding Smith asserted, “Do we believe that God has all “wisdom”? If so, in that, he is absolute. If there is something he does not know, then he is not absolute in “wisdom,” and to think such a thing is absurd …” Apostle Bruce R. McConkie expressed a similar sentiment, “There are those who say that God is progressing in knowledge .. This is false-utterly, totally, and completely. There is not one sliver of truth in it .. God progresses in the sense that his kingdoms increase and his dominions multiply .. God is not a student .. He has indeed graduated to the state of exaltation that consists of knowing all things.”

,,,

(You’ll probably find this an understatement:) In sum, faithful Latter-day Saints differ somewhat on the question of whether God continues to grow in knowledge, but they speak with one voice in affirming human freedom and God’s profound and tender passibility.

Blake T. Ostler

Blake Ostler made these statements in a book review published in FARMS in 1996. This book review was specifically clarifying or defending the LDS theology that non-LDS theologians were criticizing.

Even though [God] does not know exactly which moves free persons will make, [God] knows all possible moves that can be made and that he can meet any such moves and eventually win the game. God may lose some pieces during the games, just as some persons may freely choose to reject God and thwart his plans so far as they are concerned individually, but God can guarantee ultimate victory. Those who reject infallible foreknowledge affirm these propositions about God’s knowledge of all possibilities:

God is omniscient in the sense that he knows all that can be known, but it is logically impossible to know future acts that are free.

God knows all possibilities, including the present probability of any future event.

God knows now what his purposes are and that he will achieve them.

God does not know now, in every case, precisely which contingent possibility will be chosen or become actual.

God knows now how he will respond to whichever contingent possibility occurs to ensure the realization of his purposes.

Thus God can ensure ultimate victory and the realization of all of his purposes not because of his omniscience, but because of his almighty power. These features of God’s knowledge ensure that God knows all possibilities and future events which are now certain given causal implications (propositions 1 and 2). This view also allows for free choices among genuinely open alternatives (propositions 2 and 4). These provisions suggest that God knows all possible avenues of choices (propositions 2 and 5) and, coupled with God’s maximal power, entail that God’s plans and declarations of future events will be realized (propositions 3 and 5). Thus a complete picture of God’s providence is possible even though God does not have infallible and complete foreknowledge.