An Evangelical Discourse on God’s Foreknowledge in Relation to Moral Evil

• Published in: Pharos Journal of Theology Vol. 100
• Main Author: Professor Godfrey Harold
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Africajournals 01-01-2019
• Subjects: Evangelicalism; Foreknowledge; Open Theism; Theodicy
• ISSN: 2414-3324

Within the long tradition of Christian reflection on the problem of evil, different approaches to justify God are developed. More specifically, this article focuses on the school of thought within evangelical theology known as “Open Theism” of which Gregory Boyd is one of the main exponents. Open theism is concerned with how God experiences the world. It asks and attempts to answer questions such as, “What does God know?” and “When does God know it?” The questions that open theists raise are not so much about how God knows the future, but if God knows it at all. To absolve God from the responsibility of suffering induced by human beings, Open Theist portrays God as taking risks by allowing human freedom since God cannot know the future actions of free moral agents. This article will examine the position adopted by Gregory Boyd2 on the theodicy problem as it relates to God’s foreknowledge. In this article, I shall ask whether Boyd’s approach may be regarded as a fruitful extrapolation of an understanding of divine foreknowledge within the evangelical tradition in relation to human suffering.