December 3, 2001
Theological society debates 'open theism' teaching
___By Eric Gorski
___Religion News Service
___COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (RNS)--Taking a stand in line with their conservative core, members of the Evangelical Theological Society have approved a resolution rejecting "open theism"--the belief that God does not fully know the future because people have been given the freedom to help shape it through their decisions.
___The society was far from united, however, on how to deal with the small number of scholars in their ranks who advocate open theism, which has been called heretical by some and enlightening by others. The issue dominated discussion at the society's 53rd annual meeting Nov. 14-16 in Colorado Springs.
___The resolution, approved by roughly 70 percent of the 360 society members who cast ballots Nov. 16, states, "We believe the Bible clearly teaches that God has complete, accurate and infallible knowledge of all events past, present and future including all future decisions and actions of free moral agents." About 18 percent of the voting members opposed the resolution, and another 11 percent abstained.
___Resolution supporters characterized it as a "snapshot" of the society's opinion that would be used to guide future decisions on a critical issue. Critics called it an attempt to run open theists out of the society and a precursor to a vote to exclude them.
___Still others complained the open-theism movement is far too new for members to take a stand on and that the resolution would stifle discussion on an evolving issue.
___Wayne Grudem, a member of the executive committee that drafted the resolution, called it a "gentle nudge" for open theists to either change their minds or "seriously consider leaving." Grudem, of Phoenix Theological Seminary, and others say open theism undermines the central evangelical belief of biblical inerrancy.
___Open theism, also called free-will theism, was introduced to the general public in 1994 with the publication of "The Openness of God" by five evangelical scholars.
___Dozens of books and articles--pro and con--have appeared since then.
___The issue caused a rift in the 900-church Baptist General Conference, which in 1999 narrowly rejected a motion challenging open theism.
___Open theism has found some popularity among Pentecostals, who are drawn to the idea of a spirited give-and-take with God.
___John Sanders, a leading proponent of open theism and professor at Huntington (Indiana) College, has written: "God does not control everything that happens. Rather, he is open to receiving input from his creatures. In loving dialogue, God invites us to participate with him to bring the future into being."
___Speaking at the annual meeting, Sanders defended open theism as part of a tradition of reform in church thought. He said evangelicals have demonized other evangelicals over issues such as mega-churches, women in clergy and dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church, and open theism is "today's enemy that must be destroyed." He called those trying to squelch open theism the "evangelical Taliban."
___Sanders said: "Open theism may not be more than a footnote in historical theology. We may be wrong." But he said more work needs to be done to explore its possibilities.
___Bruce Ware of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., countered that open theism undermines the deity of both God and Jesus. He argued that under the openness view, substitutionary atonement--the belief that Jesus by his death on the cross took the place of sinful humans and the punishment they deserve--wouldn't be possible because Jesus could not have known at the time of his death who would be conceived and live in the future.
___Ware, author of "God's Lesser Glory: The Diminished God of Open Theism," said the death and resurrection of Jesus as part of God's plan would be uncertain under open theism. He said lack of exhaustive knowledge of human affairs and future events renders God "strikingly similar to pretender deities."
___Ware called open theism "unacceptable as a viable, acceptable model within evangelicalism."
___In an address to the 1,800 people who attended the annual meeting, ETS President Darrell Bock compared the society to a public square or a village green. He urged members to "go slow" when considering the open theism question.
___The debate about the resolution ran past midnight on the eve of the vote. One society member called open theism a "cancer." Others quoted Scripture and talked about the importance of making a statement against what they called dangerous theology.
___Much of the discussion, however, focused on concerns about the timing, wording and motivations behind the resolution. One member, William Lane Craig of the Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, Calif., called the resolution "a transparent attempt to set the table to throw these folks out later"--something the executive committee denied.
___Ware pleaded for members to consider it a vote on theology and nothing more.
___"This will send a signal across the evangelical world," Ware said. "What will ruin it is if people vote against it because of political confusion."
___After the vote, three major open-theism scholars who presented papers at the meeting--Sanders, Gregory Boyd of Bethel (Minn.) College, and Clark Pinnock of McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario--said it won't cause them to leave the theological society or change their course of study.
___"This whole thing was political, not theological," Sanders said. "They want control over the evangelical mindset."
___Sanders said he thinks the executive committee will use the resolution to make it harder for open theists to gain faculty posts and be ordained.
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