Our Idea of God An Introduction to Philosophical Theology Thomas V. Morris Our Idea of God "Morris's book displays all the signs of excellence we have come to expect from him-philosophical adroitness, fairness in stating opposing positions, and the sort offresh, almost breezy, prose sryle that makes him a friend to students." CORNELIUS PLANTINGA, JR. Calvin Theological Seminary What can we know about God? What is the range of God's power? How is God related to time? These are a few of the central issues that philosophical theology addresses. Introducing the discipiine by discussing the problem of method, Thomas V. Morris goes on to examine God's goodness, power and knowledge. After a careful look at God's relation to time, eternity and creation, Morris concludes with a discussion of the doctrines of the Incarnation and Trinity. Morris (Ph.D., Yale) is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and the general editor of The Library of Religious Philosophy. He is the author of The Logic of God Incarnate, Philosophy ofReligion and Philosophy and the Christian Faith. "Original and refreshing in bringing together in relatively brief format some of the best of contemporary philosophical theology." CHARLES TALIAFERRO St. Olaf College "An excellent introduction to the problems associated with our conception of the divine attributes .... Lucid and fair." WILLIAM J. WAINWRIGHT University of Wisconsin-Milwaulue ISBN 0-87784-346-5 9 Contours of Christian Philosophy c. STEPHEN EVANS Series Editor Our Idea of God An Introduction to Philosophical Theology Thomas V. Morris INfERVARSI1Y PREss DOWNERS GROVE, IlliNOIS 60515 e 1991 by Thomas V. Moms All rights reserved. No pan oftms book may be reproduad in any form without written pmnission from InterVarsity Press, P.o. Box 1400, Duwners Grove, Illinois 60515. InterVarsity Press is the book-publi.rhing division ofInterVarsity Christian Fellowship, a student movement actin on campus at hundreds ofuniPCrsities, CIIlleges and schools ofnursing in the United States ofAmerica, and a member mwement of the In_tional Felluwship of Evangelical Students. For information about IoaU and regional activities, write Public &/ations Dept., InterVarsity Christian Fe/Juwship, 6400 Schroeder RJt., P.o. Box 7895, Madison, WI 53707-7895. ISBN 0-87784-346-5 Printed in the United States ofAmerica § Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Moms, Thomas V. Our idea of God: an inlTOduction to philosophical theology/ Thomas V Moms. p. cm.-(Contours of Christian philosophy) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-87784-346-5 1. Philosophical theology. 2. God-Attributes. I. Title. II. Series. BT40.M694 1991 231:044-dc20 90-19145 CIP 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91 To Paul and Marcia Bennett, whose friendship) encouragement and generosity have enriched this lift in many ways, for me and for my family. Introduction 11 1. The Project of Philosophical Theology 15 The Possibility of Theology 16 Our Grounds for Proceeding 23 2. The Concept of God 27 The Problem of Method 28 Peifect Being Theology 35 Questions and Refinements: The Ultimate Method 40 3. God's Goodness 47 Perspectives on God's Goodness 48 The Necessity of God's Goodness 51 The Problems of Praiseworthiness and Moral Freedom 56 4. The Power of God 65 The Magnitude ofDivine Power 66 Problems for Divine Power 73 5. God's Knowledge 83 The Nature of God's Knowledge 83 God's Knowledge and the Future: The Problem 86 Reactions to the Problem 92 Certainty and Uncertainty about God's Knowledge 102 6. The Being of God 105 Necessity: The Exalted Modality 106 Divine Simplicity 113 7. God's Eternity 119 The Atemporally Eternal and the Temporally Everlasting 120 Atemporalist Ar.guments 121 Temporalist Ar.guments 130 8. The Creation 139 The Nature of Creation 141 Creaturely Dependence 154 9. God Incarnate and Triune 159 The Doctrine of the Incarnation 159 Two Pictures of God Incarnate 166 The Doctrine of the Trinity 174 Notes 185 Books for Further Reading 191 General Preface The Contours of Christian Philosophy series will consist of short introductory­ level textbooks in the various fields of philosophy. These books will introduce readers to major problems and alternative ways ofdealing with those problems_ These books, however, will differ from most in that they will evaluate alternative viewpoints not only with regard to their general strength, but also with regard to their value in the construction of a Christian world and life view_ Thus, the books will explore the implications of the various views for Christian theology as well as the implications that Christian convictions might have for the philosophical issues discussed. It is crucial that Christians attain a greater degree of philosophical awareness in order to improve the quality of general scholarship and evangelical theology. My hope is that this series will contribute to that end. Although the books are intended as examples of Christian scholarship, it is hoped that they will be of value to others as well; these issues should concern all thoughtful persons. The assumption which underlies this hope is that complete neutrality in philosophy is neither possible nor desirable. Philosophi­ cal work always reflects a person's deepest commitments. Such commitments, however, do not preclude a genuine striving for critical honesty. C. Stephen Evans Series Editor Introduction Many people, even within the ranks of devout religious believers, have only the haziest conception of God. When this is brought to their attention, a significant number of such people admit that this vagueness about God bothers them deeply, but they often add that they don't have a clue as to how to go about getting clearer on this most important idea. It is one aim of the present book to assist in dealing with this problem. I attempt to provide an example of how some simple, straightforward philosophical methods of thinking can shed light on theological matters which might otherwise remain obscure. It is my hope that this little book will help to stimulate its readers to think more deeply about matters of religious conviction. This book is also meant to serve as an elementary introduction to philosophical theology. The philosophical issues which can arise concerning so exalted a subject matter as the concept of God can become very complex, and recent treatments of these issues by philosophers have been as technical and demanding as pioneering work in any other field of serious human intellectual inquiry. I have sought to keep my discussions of these issues as streamlined, and as accessible to non-philosophers, as possible. The topic is too important to be reserved for specialists only. In every chapter, I have tried to focus on the most basic issues and to keep complications to a minimum. There are many more technical treatises available for those readers who want to pursue these topics further. My aim is to provide a place to begin. 12 OUR IDEA OF GOD In these pages, I attempt to focus on some purely conceptual issues. My center of attention is how we think about, or conceive of, God. Hence, the book's title. In another book, I shall be concentrating on questions concerning the rationality of religious belief, the nature of faith, and the cogency of arguments for the existence of God. Those topics are not at the center of my attention here, but the issues which are treated in the present book will be found to hook up with those other topics in numerous and interesting ways. Clarifying our idea of God will put us into a position to make more progress on at least some of these other philosophically important questions. I want to thank all these friends and colleagues who suggested, and even sometimes insisted over a period of years, that I write such a book. I hope that they are at least to some degree satisfied with the result. I also want to thank all my colleagues who urged that, before beginning the project, I should upgrade my word·processing capability. Everything I have written earlier has been put to paper with a cheap ball-point pen. I decided to take this good advice, and I am happy to acknowledge that the writing of this manuscript was a much more pleasant experience because of my new Pelikan 800 fountain pen, which I enjoyed using throughout. Sherry Reichold, Nancy Kegler, and Cheryl. Reed did an excellent job of putting it into a real word processor. Their efforts and results are appreciated I also thank everyone who read an earlier version of this book and provided helpful comments. Some parts of the book were scrutinized in the weekly discussion group sponsored by Notre Dame's Center for the Philosophy of Religion. I thank my colleagues in that group for their many pieces of helpful advice. I also want to acknowledge the stimulus provided by written comments sent to me by Stephen Evans, Charles Taliaferro, Jonathan Kvanvig, Jerry Walls and James Sadowski. Portions of chapter nine are drawn from "The Metaphysics of God Incarnate," which has appeared in the book Trinity, Incarnation and Atonement, edited by Ronald J. Feenstra and Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1989). I thank the editors and Notre Dame Press for the permission to make further use of some of this material. So many facets of our idea of God need to be re-thought again and again because of the inexhaustible resources of this ultimate concept. INTRODUCTION 13 Finally, I would like to thank the George A and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation for their generous award of a Howard Foundation Fellowship, administered by Brown University, to cover the academic year 1989·90, during which time this project was completed and many others were begun.