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What is "Open theology"? Is it just a way of looking at scripture that conceeds that maybe everything that there is to know about scripture hasn't yet been uncovered and that we ought to keep an open mind? If so, then count me in.

Seems like every time it has been mentioned on FR it has been derided as heresy. Of course, there are those who think that if Calvin didn't think it, then its not worthy of thought.

The basic book that I read by Boyd involves another answer to some problematic scriptures. The "Hezekiah you're going to die" scripture is one of the primary. In it (the Xzins paraphrase), God says, "You're going to die soon." In response, Hekeziah humbles himself in prayer. God sends Isaiah back to say, "I've been moved by your prayer, so I'm adding 15 years to your life."

The problem, of course, is that this doesn't EASILY fit with:

1. A God who has everything planned. 2. A God who knows everything.

If God had planned all along that he would add 15 years to Hezekiah's life, why tell Hezekiah "you will surely die?" It would be a lie, wouldn't it, if a person had said the same, having planned the same?

Even if God had known all along that he would add 15 years to Hezekiah's life, then the same conclusion. If a person had said the same, wouldn't we call it a lie/misrepresentation, given their prior knowledge?

Open theology says that God is open to real contingency, and that therefore, he knows perfectly all knowledge that actually exists, but he knows contingent knowledge perfectly only in knowing perfectly all the contingencies (and permutations, thereof.) But this doesn't violate God's omniscience, they say, because what doesn't exist with a true contingency is the decision on the other side.

In other words, God is "open" to the new contingency.

Now, these folks are trying to deal honestly with some puzzling scripture. Many want to tell them simply to shut up.

For me, I like the timeless God answer better than the open God answer, but I had to read the book and think about it. I don't mind that others do that, too.

Another choice of course is the asbestos underwear and green wood.

Neener³

I'm actually in a private mail exchange with a guy on another forum centered around whether I am an Open Theist because I believe that God is within time.

A definition of Open Theism can be found here. I'm in X's boat, insofar as I prefer the orthodox position to the openness one, but differ in that I'm more in Watson's camp than the overwhelming modern majority that says that God is not bound by time (I think time is simply our interaction with the succession of events in the divine mind).

And I agree, X, it is rather nice not having people calling for your proverbial (or actual) head every time you posit a theory or idea that they don't agree with.