-
-
Recent Posts
- A self-determinist reading of key Old Testament passages
- Who wrote/writes the script for the drama, ”The History of the World”?
- A divine determinist’s reflections on a self-determinist’s reading of Scripture: the original sin
- Considering a self-determinist’s analysis of the error of all forms of determinism
- Revisiting free will, in conversation with Robert Picirilli (1)
Recent Comments
- John Cornelius on Locating N. T. Wright’s eschatology on the spectrum of views concerning hell
- Edward Palamar on Who wrote/writes the script for the drama, ”The History of the World”?
- Billy Goats on Christianity and Confucianism: a rising issue in contextualization
- Baptist Joshua on YouTube on “Four-point” and “five-point” Calvinism defined
- Brad Rininger on “Four-point” and “five-point” Calvinism defined
- D. Andrew White on Is the theory of evolution compatible with theism?
- Richie on The distinction between Reformed Arminians and Wesleyan Arminians
- D. Randall on William Lane Craig now affirms universal revelation accessibilism
Categories
Archives
Tag Cloud
accessibilism annihilationism Arminianism atonement autobiography baptism Calvinism coherence compatibilism conversion Daniel Strange death divine freedom election evangelicalism gospel exclusivism grace Gregory Boyd hell human freedom hypothetical knowledge incarnation incompatibilism Islam John Laing Michael Horton missions Molinism monergism N. T. Wright open theism original sin Paul Helseth prayer providence Roger Olson Ron Highfield salvation salvation of the unevangelized synergism theodicy traditionalism unevangelized union with Christ William Lane CraigPages
Tag Archives: middle knowledge
Calvinist perspectives on Molinism
The Logos Reformed Blog, moderated by Jesse Myers, ran a series of 5 posts by Nathanael P. Taylor regarding Molinism. I was invited to write a response to that series and I did so, in two posts. I chose not to respond to each of Taylor’s posts separately, and I did not critique Taylor’s understanding of Molinism (the philosophical theology originated by Luis de Molina), since I am not an expert in it myself. Rather, … Continue reading
My previous case for “middle knowledge Calvinism” (WTJ, 2007)
A draft of “Why Calvinists Should Believe in Divine Middle Knowledge, Although They Reject Molinism” (eventually published in WTJ 69 [2007]: 349-66) can now be read online at my web site. Since I now believe that God knows counterfactuals naturally or necessarily (cf. my later conversation with Paul Helm), it might seem counterproductive for me to be publishing this earlier material now. But I still affirm a great deal that I said in this article, … Continue reading
Posted in Divine Knowledge, Providence, Theology Proper
Tagged Calvinism, middle knowledge, Westminster Theological Journal
3 Comments
My part of the conversation with Paul Helm regarding the validity of a Calvinist version of middle knowledge
In the Westminster Theological Journal, in the Fall of 2009 (437-54), Paul Helm and I published a conversation which was prompted by my previous article in WTJ (Fall 2007:345-66) in which I had argued that Calvinists should affirm middle knowledge even though they reject Molinism. My conversation with Paul Helm is not available to the public on line, and it would not be right for me to publish Paul Helm’s work, but I want to … Continue reading
Is “hypothetical knowledge Calvinism” vulnerable to the same grounding objection which makes Molinism problematic?
At the ETS meeting in Baltimore in November/13, John Laing read a paper entitled “Middle knowledge and the Assumption of Libertarian Freedom: A Response to Ware.” Though Bruce Ware and I have never collaborated, we reached similar conclusions about the usefulness of God’s knowledge of counterfactuals in his deciding what world he would create, and I appreciate the work he has done. In Providence and Prayer, I had called my model of providence “middle knowledge … Continue reading
W. L. Craig’s understanding of freedom: Molinism or monergism?
In December, I wrapped up my review of Four Views on Divine Providence, dealing with responses to Greg Boyd’s Open Theist proposal. In that post, I expressed my surprise concerning William Lane Craig’s redefinition of libertarian freedom, in which he denied that it entails the Principle of Alternative Possibilities (PAP), often described as the “power of contrary choice.” Craig proposed instead that a libertarian account of freedom requires only “the absence of causal constraints outside … Continue reading
Posted in Theology Proper
Tagged compatibilism, human freedom, hypothetical knowledge, middle knowledge, Molinism, William Lane Craig
17 Comments