{"id":35131,"date":"2015-03-23T07:19:12","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T11:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/?p=35131"},"modified":"2016-03-22T20:48:07","modified_gmt":"2016-03-23T00:48:07","slug":"podcast-80-foreknowledge-freedom-and-randomness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/podcast-80-foreknowledge-freedom-and-randomness\/","title":{"rendered":"podcast 80 &#8211; Foreknowledge, Freedom, and Randomness"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_807\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-35131-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/trinities\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-content\/podcast\/trinities080.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/trinities\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-content\/podcast\/trinities080.mp3\">http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/trinities\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-content\/podcast\/trinities080.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/trinities\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-content\/podcast\/trinities080.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/?powerpress_pinw=35131-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/trinities\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-content\/podcast\/trinities080.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"trinities080.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/7FuUF9DZM3zhtN41n6RJ6l\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_spotify\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe on Spotify\" rel=\"nofollow\">Spotify<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/subscribebyemail.com\/trinities.org\/blog\/feed\/podcast\/\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe by Email\" rel=\"nofollow\">Email<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/feed\/podcast\/\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-35133\" src=\"http:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Randomness-and-Foreknowledge.png\" alt=\"Randomness and Foreknowledge\" width=\"272\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Randomness-and-Foreknowledge.png 272w, https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Randomness-and-Foreknowledge-90x99.png 90w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 272px) 100vw, 272px\" \/><strong>If God foreknows all that you&#8217;ll do<\/strong>, doesn&#8217;t that imply that you have no control over how your life turns out? It just <em>is<\/em> going to happen as it&#8217;s already been known, right? And conversely, if you have <strong>any degree of control<\/strong> over how your life turns out, then how can God already know, with certainty, every last event that <em>will<\/em> compose your life? Two sorts of Christians have agreed that this idea of exhaustive and unchanging divine foreknowledge and (what philosophers call &#8220;libertarian&#8221;) human freedom are <strong>logically incompatible: Calvinists, and open theists.<\/strong> Calvinists simply deny that we have this sort of freedom, whereas open theists complicate their views about divine providence and foreknowledge to be logically compatible with it. Needless to say, there are serious scriptural disputes involved, but all I&#8217;ll say for now is that both sides think that they can make a strong case that their view fits with what the Bible teaches.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What&#8217;s open theism?<\/strong> Dr. Gregory Boyd does a good job explaining the basics of this theological and philosophical outlook here:<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gApXDGjyksw\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nI&#8217;ve long been convinced that open theism is the better option, biblically, theologically, and philosophically. In my 2007 paper <a title=\"Three Roads to Open Theism\" href=\"http:\/\/trinities.org\/dale\/threeroads.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>&#8220;Three Roads to Open Theism,&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> I explain my view that statements about future free actions are neither true nor false in advance, contrast it with some different open theist views, such as the view that all such statements are false.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The common accusation\u00a0<\/strong>against open theists is that we <strong>&#8220;deny God&#8217;s foreknowledge.&#8221;<\/strong> There have been open theists who&#8217;ve said that God willingly declines to know some future facts, but open theists like Boyd, Hasker, Rhoda, and I affirm that at any given time, God knows all that can possibly be known &#8211; what has been, what is, and what will be. But we think that he&#8217;s allowed &#8220;what will be&#8221; to be incomplete. &#8220;The future&#8221; is to a large extent a realm of possibilities and (in-between) probabilities. Of course, God know all those as well. But here&#8217;s the point: the <strong>contents of God&#8217;s perfect knowledge change<\/strong>, as the reality he created changes, as some possibilities are ruled out and others are ruled in (become actual).<\/p>\n<p>In this episode, you&#8217;ll hear <strong>my October, 2014 presentation<\/strong> at the <a title=\"Randomness and Foreknowledge conference 2014\" href=\"http:\/\/theopenview.org\/randomness-foreknowledge-conference\/\" target=\"_blank\">Randomness and Foreknowledge Conference<\/a> in Dallas, Texas. I had a great time at this conference getting to know (or to know better) various open-theists and anti-open-theists. In the presentation, I explain my view that <strong>arguments from truth<\/strong> are a greater threat to human freedom than are arguments from foreknowledge, and I argue against the all-false view about statements about future events that (as of now) may or may not occur. It&#8217;s a talk by a philosopher, for philosophers&#8230; sorry about that! You&#8217;ll want to view the Youtube version of this episode (below) if you can (and go full-screen), because it has all of my presentation slides, with some added information too. It is also available, of course, audio-only, in the usual places.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tuLDLhrjNgY?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Thanks is due to the sponsor<\/strong> of this conference, the <a title=\"Randomness and Divine Providence\" href=\"http:\/\/www.calvin.edu\/mathematics\/randomnessproject\/\" target=\"_blank\">Randomness and Divine Providence project<\/a> at Calvin College, and their sponsor, the <a title=\"John Templeton Foundation\" href=\"http:\/\/www.templeton.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">John Templeton Foundation<\/a>, and also to the conference organizer <a title=\"Thomas Oord talks about the conference\" href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/112032708\" target=\"_blank\">Dr. Thomas Oord<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You can also <strong>listen t<\/strong><strong>o this episode on<\/strong>\u00a0<strong><a title=\"trinities podcast @ stitcher\" href=\"http:\/\/www.stitcher.com\/s?fid=54067&amp;refid=stpr\" target=\"_blank\">Stitcher<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0or <strong><a title=\"trinities @ itunes\" href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/id690304581?mt=2&amp;uo=4&amp;at=11l5XS\" target=\"_blank\">iTunes<\/a>\u00a0(please subscribe, rate, and review<\/strong>\u00a0us in either or both \u2013 <strong><a title=\"how to rate us at iTunes and Stitcher\" href=\"http:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/review\/\" target=\"_blank\">directions here<\/a><\/strong>). If you would like to\u00a0<strong>upload audio feedback<\/strong> for possible inclusion in a future episode of this podcast,\u00a0<a title=\"upload audio feedback for the trinities podcast here\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mediafire.com\/filedrop\/filedrop_hosted.php?drop=96df5ea43b9b7c6582cb95b8c5a7259d7cd8109e0cd009d4a5ecd099cc7e64fb\" target=\"_blank\">put the audio file here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Links for this episode<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Dr. Alan Rhoda homepage\" href=\"http:\/\/www.alanrhoda.net\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dr. Alan Rhoda<\/a> (<a title=\"Dr. Alan Rhoda's blog\" href=\"http:\/\/alanrhoda.net\/wordpress\/\" target=\"_blank\">blog<\/a>, <a title=\"papers by Alan Rhoda\" href=\"http:\/\/www.alanrhoda.net\/research.php\" target=\"_blank\">papers<\/a>) &#8211; in my view, Dr. Rhoda has done the most important recent work on open theism, especially on topics like time, truth, and providence.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. William Hasker&#8217;s book <a title=\"Hasker, God, Time, and Knowledge\" href=\"http:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/trinities-20\/detail\/0801485452\" target=\"_blank\"><em>God, Time, and Knowledge<\/em><\/a> gives penetrating critiques of traditional attempts to show how freedom and divine foreknowledge <em>are<\/em> compatible, and argues that they are not. Dr. Hasker has done more than anyone to show the importance of open theism to problems of evil, in his books\u00a0<em><a title=\"The Triumph of God\" href=\"http:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/trinities-20\/detail\/0830828044\" target=\"_blank\">The Triumph of God over Evil: Theodicy for a World of Suffering<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and<em>\u00a0<\/em><a title=\"Providence, Evil, and the Openness of God\" href=\"http:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/trinities-20\/detail\/0415651107\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Providence, Evil and the Openness of God<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Pinnock, et. al. <a title=\"The Openness of God\" href=\"http:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/trinities-20\/detail\/0830818529\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Openness of God<\/em><\/a> is<strong> the classic source<\/strong> on open theism &#8211; it addresses biblical, theological, and philosophical concerns.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Greg Boyd&#8217;s 2000 book\u00a0<em><a title=\"God of the Possible by Gregory Boyd\" href=\"http:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/trinities-20\/detail\/080106290X\" target=\"_blank\">God of the Possible<\/a> (<a title=\"God of the Possible\" href=\"http:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/trinities-20\/detail\/B0050PABTK\" target=\"_blank\">kindle<\/a>) <\/em>is an excellent biblical and theological introduction.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Jack <a title=\"A.N. Prior\" href=\"http:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/entries\/prior\/\" target=\"_blank\">Copeland on Dr. A.N. Prior<\/a> (1914-67) re-discoverer and inventor of temporal \/ tensed logics, at the <i>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.<\/i><\/li>\n<li>Dr. Scott Davison, <a title=\"Prophecy at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy\" href=\"http:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/entries\/prophecy\/\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Prophecy&#8221;<\/a> at the <em>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy<\/em> &#8211; see this on <strong>Ockhamism<\/strong>, and how the various views about foreknowledge deal with biblical prophecies.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Norman Swartz, <a title=\"Foreknowledge and Free Will\" href=\"http:\/\/www.iep.utm.edu\/foreknow\/\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Foreknowledge and Free Will&#8221;<\/a> at the <em>Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Dr. John Laing, <a title=\"Middle Knowledge explained\" href=\"http:\/\/www.iep.utm.edu\/middlekn\/\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Middle Knowledge&#8221;<\/a> (on the view called &#8220;<strong>Molinism<\/strong>&#8220;) at the <em>Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy<\/em><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Andrew Bailey's collection of papers by John Martin Fischer\" href=\"http:\/\/andrewmbailey.com\/jmf\/\" target=\"_blank\">Papers by Dr. John Martin Fischer<\/a> &#8211; see the Philosophy of Religion section for his work on Molinism<\/li>\n<li>A well-known <strong>proponent of Molinism<\/strong> in Dr. William Lane Craig, e.g. in his book <a title=\"The Only Wise God by William Lane Craig\" href=\"http:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/trinities-20\/detail\/1579103162\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Only Wise God<\/em><\/a>. Like some other American evangelicals, Dr. Craig has been harshly critical of open theism, and specifically of my and Rhoda&#8217;s work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I explain my view that arguments from truth are a greater threat to human freedom than are arguments from foreknowledge, and I argue against the all-false view about statements about future events that (as of now) may or may not occur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,10,47,9,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-logic","category-papers","category-philosophy","category-podcast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35131"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37375,"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35131\/revisions\/37375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinities.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}