Sunday, October 01, 2006

Open Theism preliminaries

For part of my dissertation, I shall be looking at and refuting open theism. Although open theists may have no such intention, I find this view of historical Christianity and contention with the classically understood biblical God harmful for the individual Christian, dangerous for the contemporary church, and an offense to the name of our bountiful God. It is a view of God which causes tears, heart-ache, and desperate longing for God's truth to be known in His church. I pray that the Father can give me a real depth of humility, insight, and grace to expound the truth of his word in light of this view. - I'm definitely not their yet, my thoughts exist in a haze which needs to be structured and connected with much more clarity than I currently have. So this is (at the moment) just a list of books that I have found really helpful in re-assessing contemporary views of the 'open God.'

Note. I do also recommend looking at Pinnock, Sanders, Boyd, etc. to hear what they also have to say in their own tongue as modern advocators. - I am grateful to these authors (particularly Pinnock) for pointing out problems in the church in relation to the character of God. However I feel that the open theist response to these issues has created an unbiblical God. To find more helpful ways of addressing the issues of seeking emotive, beautiful ways of relating with an affection-full God, read Jonathan Edwards on the Religious Affections. A book besotted with the total love and joy of/ and in, God and the total sovereignty of God.
Anyway - the books:

J. Piper, J. Taylor, P. K. Helseth, (eds.) Beyond the Bounds
J. Frame, No Other God
D. Wilson (ed.) Bound only Once
B. A. Ware, God's lesser Glory

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Tim,

Since both of us are in a theological pursuit of different persuasions, I would like to let you know that your thoughts in this study of Open Theism (my persuasion) would be very productive not only to you and your own persuasion, but also to others like me. I would be looking forward to your study of this subject.

I know there will be questions you might be asking as you go along in this pursuit, feel free to let me know, and with my knowledge of Open Theism, I would heartily and humbly answer you questions for the beneift of both of us.

Go for it, brother.

Blessings,

EDGAR

P.S.: It's not "Boyle," it's Boyd - Gregory Boyd.

Anonymous said...

P.S. #2: Here is a fair presentation of the theology of Open Theism by a non-Open Theist, you might want to consider it:

http://erdman31.googlepages.com/Open_Theism.pdf

Cheers,

EDGAR

Timothy Gough said...

Thanx for the correction, I had been reading harry potter and had 'goyle' stuck in my head!

Great to know I have some extra help from a differing theological persuasion avaliable! Thanks much.

And I shall check out the link...thanx again.

Tim