This new collection of philosophically rigorous essays critiques the interpretation of divine omniscience known as open theism, focusing primarily on philosophically motivated open theism and positing arguments that reject divine knowledge of future contingents in the face of the dilemma of freedom and foreknowledge. The sixteen new essays in this collection, written by some of the most renowned philosophers on the topic of divine providence, represent a philosophical attempt to seriously consider open theism. They cover a wide variety of issues, including: the ontology of time, systematic metaphysics, perfect being theology, the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, the problem of evil, and the nature of divine knowledge in general. Philosophical Essays Against Open Theism advances the discussion by wrestling against the assertions of open theism, and will be of interest to both proponents and opponents of this controversial issue.
Introduction
Benjamin H. Arbour
Part I: Open Theism and the Metaphysics of Time
1. The Openness of God: Eternity and Free Will
Eleonore Stump
2. God’s Knowledge of an Unreal Future
Sandra Visser
3. A Few Worries About the Systematic Metaphysics of Open Future Open Theism
Benjamin H. Arbour
Part II: Open Theism and Other Philosophical Issues
4. Open Theism and Origins Essentialism: A New Argument Against Open Theism
David Alexander
5. The ‘Openness’ in Compatibilism
Paul Helm
6. Foreknowledge, Freedom, and Vicious Circles: Anselm vs. Open Theism
Katherin Rogers
7. On Open Theism, Either God Has False Beliefs, or I Can Know Something That God Cannot Know
Robert B. Stewart
Part III: Open Theism and Other Issues in Philosophical Theology
8. "May it Have Happened Lord!": Open Theism and Past Directed Prayers
James Anderson
9. Open Theism, Risk-Taking, and the Problem of Evil
Greg Welty
10. Open Theism and the Soteriological Problem of Evil
Kenneth Perszyk
11. Jesus Didn’t Die for Your Sins: Open Theism, Atonement, and the Pastoral Problem of Evil
Keith Wyma
Biography
Benjamin H. Arbour is Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Weatherford College, USA
"This new collection of philosophically rigorous essays critiques the interpretation of devine omniscience kow as open theism, focusing primarily on philosophically motivated open theism and positing arguments that reject devine knowledge of future contingments in the face of the dilemma of freedom and foreknowledge."
WordTrade.com, February 2019
"Philosophical Essays Against Open Theism is a careful and detailed summa of the numerous philosophical and theological problems raised by OT. More than just that, the volume is also a constructive contribution inasmuch as it not only further explains old problems raised by OT, but also it brings to the reader’s attention new issues caused by the approach. Arbour has chosen a variegated group of scholars of different persuasions, a fact that helped to shed light from different perspectives on the problematic nature of OT."
Marco Barone, January 2020
