by Clark Pinnock
The Openness of God
by Clark Pinnock & Others
Clark Pinnock stands at the center of the openness controversy/debate. He was raised in a liberal Baptist church, and underwent a personal conversion experience. He was then led into theological studies, and worked under F.F. Bruce to become a New Testament Scholar. In the early part of his career, he was seen as a very promising theologian, writing a very traditional evangelical book on inerrancy, which put him to the fore in the evangelical world as a possible torch-bearer for the movement. But, as his career progressed, he put out a call for theologians to take opposing viewpoints seriously. And this is precisely what he did. Characterizing himself as a �theological pilgrim,� Pinnock sought to be willing to make �course corrections� based on carefully listening to what Scripture actually says and teaches.
Pinnock began to embrace a more Wesleyan/Arminian understanding of human freedom, and this understanding began to permeate all of his work. The first major waves Pinnock made were with regard to his reunderstanding of Scripture, and his departure from his earlier work on inerrancy. Allowing genuine human freedom to influence the understanding of Scripture meant taking seriously the human contribution to the writing of Scripture. Thus, even as he asserted that the Bible was inspired, the frailty of the human authors could not be discounted. Pinnock also sought to advance an Arminian understanding of Grace and Free will. Yet, his theological musings didn�t stop there. He continued to follow Wesleyan and Arminian logic, allowing it to permeate all areas of theology, and this led him to the openness of God, which he sees as basically a full extension of what Wesleyans and Arminians have been saying, though they haven�t followed their logic far enough. Thus, we shall look at two books where the openness of God is advanced, The Openness of God and Most Moved Mover.
As we have noted above, Pinnock came to find Wesleyan and Arminain theological ideas as similar to his own, and thus it should be no surprise that the Wesleyan Quadrilateral sits at or just below the surface of both of these books. In Most Moved Mover, Pinnock has four chapters, the first on the Bible (revelation), the second on overcoming the pagan inheritance (tradition), the third on metaphysical considerations (reason), and the fourth on the existential fit (experience). The Openness volume is organized similarly, adding a chapter explicitly on systematic theological considerations to this array of topics.
Turning to the content of the openness movement, we begin where they seek to begin, with the Bible. Pinnock and his colleagues assert that the openness movement is taking theology back to the Bible, and is attempting to be a truly Biblical theology. Thus, they believe that some of their strongest arguments come from the Bible itself. They center their arguments on the Biblical portrayals of God as relenting, changing His mind, feeling, and allowing true freedom. Theologians such as Abraham Heschel and Terence Fretheim figure prominently in their readings. Essentially, Pinnock and the other openness theologians assert that traditionally most theologians have brought a Greek worldview to the Bible, and have dismissed any passages as anthropomorphism, or as �lisping,� that didin�t fit with a static and transcendent understanding of God. These theologians want to reclaim the Biblical picture of God as loving, responding, changing, relenting, and truly entering relationship in which both partners have freedom.
The second major locus is historical. John Sanders writes the historical chapter of The Openness of God, and he tries to carefully make the argument that Platonic, Aristotelian and Stoic understandings of God have been synthesized with theology throughout history, and have had a strong influence on how God is understood, and on how the Bible is read. Augustine and Aquinas figure prominently in his summary, for these two major Western theologians demonstrate for Sanders how neo-Platonic and Aristotelian influences respectively influenced their theology, and through them, much of Western thought. Pinnock quotes Aquinas to make this point, when Aquinas writes, �in God there is no real relations to creatures, but a relation only in idea, inasmuch as creatures are referred to him.� Thus, central to the argument for the open view is that theology has become too completely tied up with Hellenistic philosophical influences in its understandings of God.
The third locus is philosophical. Pinnock asserts that the open view of God contributes to a coherent picture of God and the world, and aids in understanding God and God�s relationship to the world. One particular theme which gets strongly emphasized is love. For Pinnock, love requires freedom, for God could not coherently be understood to truly love an automaton, and neither could creatures who were not truly free love God in return. Thus, an open view where God genuinely gives creatures freedom (and does not foreknow their choices) is philosophically coherent where a more traditional view is not at the very central point of God�s love for creatures, and God�s call for creatures to return that love. A second, related point Pinnock makes is that for this genuine freedom to exist, God must only know the future contingently, so that humans can truly contribute to the becoming of the world. Thus, he asserts that the future is partly settled, and partly unsettled, for God can know some elements of the future for sure, and has a pretty good idea about others because of His omniscience concerning all that has been and is, but there is genuine openness in the future. Grenz notes that at this point, Pinnock is agreeing with Calvinists, that foreknowledge means foreordination, while at the same time agreeing with Arminians that there is genuine freedom, thus coming to the conclusion that God doesn�t foreknow the results of our choices, which are genuine. This point, God�s imperfect foreknowledge, is one that has occasioned much scorn and debate among evangelical scholars, for many perceive it as a diminishment of God, or of God�s glory (Bruce Ware). Yet, Pinnock holds to it firmly, seeing it as integral and necessary to a coherent picture of God and the world.
The final locus Pinnock and his colleagues deal with is the �existential fit� of the openness view for Christians. Pinnock asserts, �it is difficult to live on any other basis.� One of the strongest arguments that Pinnock and his colleagues see for the openness model is that it fits with common Christian piety. For we pray as if we can effect the future, we live as if our choices matter, and we evangelize as if the world needs to hear from us that Jesus is Lord. David Basinger, in the chapter on �practical implications� in The Openness of God, also asserts that the openness leads toward a more coherent understanding of human suffering. He writes, �For those who believe in specific sovereignty�who deny that human decision-making can ever thwart or hinder in any way God�s perfect plan�all evil must be considered nongratuitous� and �as a necessary means to a greater good�.� The openness view allows Christians to acknowledge the presence of genuine evil in the world, and the genuine effects of sin, without attributing everything that happens to God�s will. Thus, Christians do not need to worship God as loving while attributing all evil to Him as well.
Pinnock and his colleagues make a very coherent presentation of the open view of God in these two books. They attempt to explicitly base their theology on the Bible, and appeal to the way Christians already live, with a call to bring our theology in line with our everyday understanding and living. I personally find Pinnock�s challenge to conventional theism to be a very important and fruitful critique of strongly held traditional beliefs. At the very least, this model has occasioned much constructive dialogue, and has called for all theologians to seek to formulate a more coherent theology. I find myself siding with Pinnock in many areas, such as in his critique of impassibility and immutability (certainly under the strong influence of Dr. Fretheim as well). Yet, I also struggle with a synergistic understanding of salvation, wondering if sin has fallen to the wayside. But this struggle is one that is ongoing, and Pinnock�s constructive contributions certainly move toward formulating a viable and coherent model of God and God�s relationship to the world, one which resonates at many points with my own work. The open model of God warrants careful consideration, and I hope it will continue to occasion respectful and constructive discourse in the future.
The work of Clark Pinnock and his colleagues is certainly worth reading. It provides an important challenge to beliefs that many people take for granted. If readers can come to these books willing to at least consider the insights and ideas, they can help to deepen and inform our faith. But if they are approached defensively, one will find much to object to. Having said this, these openness ideas shouldn't simply be accepted out of hand. They have not provided a theological paradigm to replace classical theism. What they have done, though, is to demonstrate the peril of Arminianism. Pinnock, rightly I believe, claims that these views are not essentially anything new, but instead are simply working out more fully the Arminian paradigm. I think this is largely true, but instead of commending the open view, this further imperils the Arminian view. But they have equally called into questions some Calvinist assumptions and assertions as well. In the end, I believe that Pinnock and the openness movement have given us some valuable biblical insights, and some astute philosophical musings, which can serve as a corrective to some evangelical dogmas, and can challenge us to revisit the Bible as we continue to work out or faith and continue to seek deeper understanding.
Boyd, Greg and Paul Eddy Across the Spectrum
Grenz, Stanley Renewing the Center
Kierkegaard, Soren For Self-Examination
Kierkegaard, Soren Practice in Christianity
McGrath, Alister Scientific Theology, vol. 1, Nature
McGrath, Alister Scientific Theology, vol. 2, Reality
Pinnock, Clark Most Moved Mover & The Openness of God
Vanhoozer, Kevin First Theology
Science & Theology
Soren Kierkegaard