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Divine Truth and the Factor of Time: an Exploration of the Divine Attribute of Truth from the Perspective of W.L

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Divine Truth and the Factor of Time: an Exploration of the Divine Attribute of Truth from the Perspective of W.L DIVINE TRUTH AND THE FACTOR OF TIME: AN EXPLORATION OF THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTE OF TRUTH FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF W.L. CRAIG’S THEORY OF DIVINE ETERNITY by LAURA CHAVADY submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY in the subject PHILOSOPHY at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR M. CLOETE JULY 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 – PHILOSOPHY’S QUEST FOR THE NATURE OF TRUTH 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Truth in our daily life 2 1.3 Philosophers’ answers to the question of truth 5 1.3.1.1 The Greek tradition: Plato 5 1.3.1.2 The Greek tradition: Aristotle 9 1.3.1.3 The Greek tradition and our daily view of truth 12 1.3.2.1 The Christian philosophers: Augustine 15 1.3.2.2 The Christian philosophers: Aquinas 17 1.3.2.3 The Christian philosophers and our daily view of truth 19 1.3.3.1 The modern tradition: Descartes 21 1.3.3.2 The modern tradition: Kant 24 1.3.3.3 The modern tradition and our daily view of truth 26 1.3.4.1 Contemporary philosophical perspectives: Kierkegaard 28 1.3.4.2 Contemporary philosophical perspectives: Rorty 30 1.3.4.3 Contemporary philosophical perspectives and our daily view of truth 31 1.4 Conclusion 33 2 – THE CONCEPT OF TRUTH IN SCRIPTURE 2.1 Introduction 40 2.2 Truth in the Old Testament 40 2.3 Truth in the New Testament 43 2.4 Implications of the scriptural view of truth 47 2.5 Conclusion 52 3 - THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES AND THE NATURE OF TRUTH 3.1 Introduction 56 3.2 The divine attributes: historical background 56 3.3 The divine attributes and their relation to the concept of truth 60 3.3.1 Perfection and infinity 61 3.3.2 Aseity and necessity 63 3.3.3 Incorporeality and omnipresence 67 3.3.4 Immutability 68 3.3.5 Omnipotence 72 3.3.6 Omniscience 75 3.3.7 Perfect goodness 78 3.3.8 Eternity 81 3.4 Conclusion 86 4 – THE NATURE OF TIME 4.1 Introduction 94 4.2 Major debates in philosophy of time 95 4.3 Is time dynamic or static? 96 4.3.1 The case for dynamic time 98 4.3.2 The case for static time 103 4.4 Is time finite or infinite? 111 4.4.1 The case for infinite time 112 4.4.2 The case for finite time 114 4.5 The nature of time in the Bible 116 4.6 Conclusion 119 5 – THE NATURE OF DIVINE ETERNITY 5.1 Introduction 126 5.2 Divine eternity as atemporal timelessness 129 5.2.1 Can God be related to temporal beings if He is timeless? 130 5.2.2 Can God really be omniscient if He is timeless? 133 5.2.3 Can God be a person if He is timeless? 137 5.3 Divine eternity as temporal everlastingness 139 5.3.1 Can God be perfect if He is temporal? 140 5.3.2 Can God be a necessary being if He is temporal? 144 5.4 Solving the dilemma: William Craig’s theory of divine eternity 145 5.5 Conclusion 151 6 – CRAIG’S ETERNITY VIEW AND THE QUESTION OF DIVINE TRUTH 6.1 Introduction 157 6.2 Craig's eternity view and the time-related attributes 158 6.2.1 Implications for divine perfection and necessity 158 6.2.2 Implications for divine personhood 160 6.2.3 Implications for divine immutability 162 6.2.4 Implications for divine omniscience 166 6.3 What the attributes can now tell us about divine truth 172 6.3.1 Immutability and divine truth 172 6.3.2 Aseity and necessity, and divine truth 174 6.3.3 Omniscience and divine truth 176 6.3.4 Perfect goodness and divine truth 177 6.3.5 Personhood and divine truth 179 6.3.6 Omnipresence and divine truth 181 6.3.7 Perfection and incorporeality, and divine truth 182 6.3.8 Eternity and divine truth 182 6.4 What, then, is divine truth? 185 6.5 What our findings mean for truth in general 189 6.6 Conclusion 192 7 – CONCLUSION 7.1 The past as the future of the quest for truth 196 7.2 The way forward 204 BIBLIOGRAPHY 207 INTRODUCTION This study explores the meaning of the concept of ‘divine truth’, or truth as an attribute of the God of Christian theism, from a unique perspective, namely that of current interpretations of the divine attribute of eternity. It basically tries to establish if there is a connection between views of eternity and views of truth, both truth as a divine attribute and truth as a philosophical notion. Since it may not be clear why such a link would exist, it may be helpful to describe very briefly how this possible connection came to my attention in the first place. The question of 'truth' can arguably be called the very core of philosophical investigation and it certainly has been the main reason for me personally to engage in the study of philosophy. From its early years in ancient Greece, Western philosophy has wanted to know what truth is and how we humans are seemingly able to acquire it in a world that is constantly changing. Plato, for instance, felt that truth can only be truth if it is anchored in an unchangeable reality, and he postulated the realm of the Forms mainly to provide such a foundation. Centuries later, however, Christian theism presented what I believe to be a more profound answer: all truth is anchored not in an impersonal realm but in a person, the Creator God of the Bible. If this is so, then an understanding of truth in all its philosophical implications may have to begin with an exploration of who this God is, and two sources seemed especially promising to me for gaining such knowledge. The first source was of course the Bible and what it says about who God is, the second was the set of divine attributes as formulated by classical theism. Even though the term ‘truth’ has not played a major role in the traditional list of divine attributes, many of the other attributes could potentially shed light on the 'truth' side of God's nature, and this avenue seemed definitely worth exploring. While studying the divine attributes, however, I soon realized that most of the complex debates in this area of philosophy seem to have a common element, namely the question of eternity. In fact, it seemed that those attributes that showed the most promise for shedding light on the issue of truth, were also somehow bound up with the question of how to interpret eternity. I realized that if I wanted to use the divine attributes to get a clearer view of truth, I would have to explore the issue of eternity first. Moreover, the question of eternity in its turn could not be solved without a deeper study of the current debates in the philosophy of time. And this is how the idea came about that there might be an essential link between views of time and views of truth. While engaged in this exploration of the different views of time and eternity, I encountered one theory that seemed to me highly plausible, namely the view of eternity of philosopher William Lane Craig. His view seemed to me not only very well argued, but also consistent with biblical information on the topic, and it showed great promise for solving some of those thorny debates that plague the study of the divine attributes. Now, if it could solve some of those conundrums, it would most probably also shed light on my original question, the question of truth. And this is how the topic of this thesis came about: How does Craig's solution to the question of time and eternity clarify issues with the other divine attributes, and more specifically, what are its implications for understanding the notion of divine 'truth' and truth in general? In addressing this question we will follow the following format. The first three chapters will lay a conceptual foundation by highlighting the notion of truth from two different angles, Chapter One and Two exploring how truth and divine truth have been understood in philosophy and in scripture, while Chapter Three approaches our topic from the vantage point of the divine attributes. With this foundation in place, in Chapter Four we investigate the nature of time, both philosophically and from a biblical perspective, exploring for instance whether time is static or dynamic, finite or infinite. Our conclusions regarding time will then allow us to select the most plausible interpretation of divine eternity in Chapter Five. With this proposed new view of eternity in hand, in Chapter Six we first revisit those attributes that were found to be conceptually connected with eternity, and revise them accordingly. Finally, we apply the new insights gained and construct a plausible view of what is the main topic of this study—the nature of truth. As is the case with any such project, our investigation will be working with certain assumptions and limitations. When we speak of the God of Christian Theism, we refer to the text of the Bible, both Old and New Testament, and also to those doctrines that are traditionally regarded as directly implied by these scriptures, such as the triune nature of God. Moreover, the specific theological tradition we will be limiting ourselves to is the Latin one, and we will thus leave the Jewish and Greek traditions aside.
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