Open Theism & Quantum Theology

Does God know everything that will happen in the future?  Our immediate inclination is to say, well, of course she does.  How could he not?  Apparently, there has been a theological debate raging in conservative evangelical circles for two or more decades over “Open Theism,” the belief that God does not know what will happen in the future because the future does not yet exist.  God, according to “open theists,” knows all of the possible futures that exist at any one time, but God does not know which particular future will come about because of our human free-will choices.  Thus, when the Bible says that God changes God’s mind, according to open theism God does just that.  God reacts to our actions.  Open theists contend that the Bible, the findings of science, and common sense all support their views.

Open Theism (from Mudpreacher.org)

Does it make sense to talk about God this way?  Open theists assume that God must act in ways that are reasonable to us.  They think it unreasonable to believe that God knows the future because then, they argue, the future is closed to God’s action.  God cannot undo what God already knows God has done.  God cannot logically answer prayers because no matter what is prayed the future is already determined.  Everything is already set in stone if God knows the future.

That’s all well and good, but as we saw in yesterday's posting in the quantum world a particle can be in two places at the same time or appear somewhere before it appears there.  So, then, why cannot the Creator of the quantum world have foreknowledge of all that will happen and still “change his mind” by answering our prayers?  Open theologians write about God in ways that may make sense to fallible, culture-bound human reason, but one doubts that their logic has much to do with God who is Beyond All That Is.


Truth be told, open theism is not really about God at all.  Its underlying agenda is to defend the biblical view of God, which is that God answers prayers, reacts to human actions, and otherwise changes the divine mind at the drop of a hat.  The open theologians believe that the Bible must be interpreted literally, which raises for modern minds the problem of God's knowledge of the future and the notion that God changes her mind.  Open theism is one attempt to deal with these questions and others like them.