Program / Course 8: God, Trinity, and Creation / Lesson 1.3
What you will learn
- Define classical theism and list its central claims about God.
- Describe the main alternatives: theistic personalism, process theology, open theism and pantheism.
- Explain why defenders of classical theism think its attributes belong together.
- State the strongest criticisms of classical theism and the replies to them.
The big idea
Classical theism is the view of God shared by most of the church’s major thinkers before the modern era, in East and West. It holds that God is the source of all that exists, wholly independent, unlimited in perfection, simple, unchanging and outside time. Several modern movements have proposed alternatives that make God more like a person who interacts with a changing world. The debate is about how best to read Scripture and reason together, and each side claims to take both seriously.
Key terms
- Theism
- Belief in one God who made the world and remains distinct from it.
- Classical theism
- The tradition that describes God as self-existent, simple, immutable, eternal and the cause of everything else.
- Aseity
- From a Latin phrase meaning from oneself. God depends on nothing for his existence.
- Perfect being theology
- A method of reasoning about God that starts from the idea of a being that has every perfection to the greatest degree.
- Theistic personalism
- A modern style of thought that describes God as a supremely powerful, knowing and good person, but one existing among other realities.
- Process theology
- A twentieth-century school, based on the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, in which God is in constant interaction with the world and changes with it.
- Open theism
- The view that God knows all that can be known but that the free choices of creatures are not yet fixed, so God does not know the future in detail.
- Pantheism
- The view that God and the universe are the same thing.
- Panentheism
- The view that the world exists within God, while God is also more than the world.
Background
The name classical theism is modern. It is used by scholars to describe a family of views that grew out of the Bible, the fathers of the church, the medieval schools and the Reformation confessions. Its most careful statements come from writers such as Augustine, John of Damascus, Anselm and Aquinas. It was assumed by most Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Reformed writers until recent centuries, though they disagreed about many other things.
Its central claim is that God is not one being alongside others but the source of all being. Everything else exists because God gives it existence at every moment. God does not need the world. From this, the tradition draws further conclusions. A being who depends on nothing cannot be made of parts that could come apart, cannot gain or lose perfection and cannot be limited by time. Later lessons take up each of these attributes. Here the aim is to see the whole picture and its rivals.
In the twentieth century many theologians and philosophers began to question this picture. Some said it was shaped more by Greek philosophy than by the Bible. Others said it made God distant and made petitionary prayer pointless. Defenders replied that the philosophy was used to protect biblical claims, and that the critics often misdescribed the view. The debate continues, and serious scholars stand on each side.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: The core claims
Classical theism usually includes these claims. God exists by his own nature and is not caused. God is the Creator of everything else and is the only reality that needs nothing outside itself. God is infinite, which means without limit in power, knowledge and goodness. God is simple, meaning not composed of parts or of a nature added to a being. God is immutable and eternal, meaning not subject to change or to the flow of time. God is also personal in the sense that God knows and loves. The word personal is used with care, since God is not a person in the way a creature is.
Scripture is cited for each claim. The Lord calls himself I AM (Exodus 3:14). Psalm 90:2 says that from everlasting to everlasting he is God. Malachi 3:6 has the Lord say that he does not change. Paul says that in him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Defenders argue that these texts, read together, point toward the full classical account.
Step 2: Why the attributes hang together
Defenders argue that the attributes are not a random list but follow from one idea. If God is the source of everything, God cannot depend on anything for existence. If God depends on nothing, God cannot be made of parts that need combining. If God is not made of parts and has no unrealized potential, God cannot change for the better or worse. If God does not change, God is not measured by time as creatures are. This reasoning is most fully worked out by Aquinas in the opening questions of the Summa Theologiae.
Critics notice that this is a chain, and that doubts about one link can disturb others. Some accept aseity and doubt timelessness. Others accept timelessness but doubt simplicity. For this reason the course treats the attributes one at a time before returning to the whole.
Step 3: The alternatives
Theistic personalism, associated in philosophy with writers such as Richard Swinburne, treats God as a very great person, with knowledge, power and goodness in the highest degree, who acts in time and responds to prayer. Many Christians hold a version of this view without calling it by that name. Its critics say it makes God a being among beings; its defenders say it fits the biblical picture of a God who speaks, relents and acts.
Process theology holds that God and the world are always becoming. God is affected by what happens and persuades but does not control. It was developed by Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne and has been influential in some Protestant circles. Most classical theists reject it because it denies creation from nothing and divine independence. Open theism, supported by some evangelical writers, keeps creation from nothing but holds that the future is partly open, even to God. Pantheism identifies God with the universe, and panentheism places the world within God. Classical theists reject the first as removing the distinction between Creator and creature. They criticize the second where it makes the world necessary to God.
Step 4: Objections and replies
The strongest objection is that classical theism seems to make God cold. A God who cannot change can seem unable to care. Defenders answer that unchanging does not mean unfeeling. God’s love is not a mood that rises and falls; it is a settled and complete willing of the good of others, more reliable than any human love. They point to texts like James 1:17, where there is no variableness in the Father of lights, as comfort.
A second objection is that the Bible shows God relenting, grieving and responding. Defenders reply that Scripture uses human language to describe God’s relation to creatures, as Calvin said, and that the changes are in creatures and in the relationship, not in God’s nature. Critics respond that this explains away the text. This is a real disagreement about interpretation, and a fair student can hold either side while understanding the other.
- Which attribute of God matters most to me in prayer, and does it belong to the classical list?
- Do I picture God as a person like me, or as the source of all persons?
- Is there a biblical text I read as showing God changing, and how else could it be read?
- What would be lost if God depended on the world for something?
- What would be lost if God could not respond to prayer?
- Which of the rival views do I find hardest to describe fairly?
Examples
A classical answer to prayer
A believer asks why God answers prayer if God does not change. A classical theist might answer that God, from eternity, wills both the prayer and the answer, so that prayer is one of the ways God’s care works in the world. Aquinas gives this kind of answer in the Summa Theologiae (II-II, Question 83).
A personalist answer
A personalist might answer instead that God really responds in time, as a father responds to a child’s request. The change is in God’s actions, not in God’s character. The two answers differ on how deep the response goes.
A process answer
A process theologian would say that God is affected by the world and that prayer is a real cause in God’s experience. This is an answer within a different framework. Classical theists would reply that it makes God dependent on creatures.
Different perspectives
Catholic
Catholic teaching has long used the classical language. The First Vatican Council taught that God is eternal, immense, almighty and infinite in intellect, will and every perfection, and that God is a unique, simple and unchangeable spiritual substance. Catholic theologians still debate how to state these claims in modern terms.
Orthodox
Orthodox theologians also hold the classical attributes, but often through the Eastern lens of God’s unknowable essence and knowable energies. David Bentley Hart, an Orthodox writer, has defended the classical picture in modern language and criticized personalist views as making God a larger version of the creature.
Protestant
Lutheran and Reformed confessions, such as the Westminster Confession, state the classical attributes plainly. Some modern Protestants, including open theists and others influenced by liberal and process thought, have asked for revision. Others, such as many evangelical and Reformed scholars, defend the older view as biblical.
Jewish and Muslim
Medieval Jewish and Muslim philosophers such as Maimonides and Avicenna also held versions of the classical picture, and Aquinas drew on them. This is one reason scholars speak of classical theism as shared among the three monotheistic religions rather than as uniquely Christian.
Secular and scholarly
Some philosophers think the attributes are incoherent when combined. Others consider the classical view a coherent and powerful position even if they do not accept it. Historians add that the picture of an invasion of Greek philosophy into Christianity is too simple, since the fathers criticized as well as borrowed.
Why it matters
Whether God is the source of all things or a very great being within the world affects how a person prays, how they read the Old Testament, and how they respond to suffering. Many disagreements in modern theology come from a hidden disagreement here. Knowing the options by name makes it easier to see what a given writer assumes, and to read the older creeds as their authors meant them.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Classical theism is just Greek philosophy added to the Bible.
Correction: Some historians argue this. Others point out that the fathers often rejected Greek ideas, for example that matter is eternal, and that texts like Exodus 3:14 and Malachi 3:6 supported their claims. The relation is complex, and both sides have evidence.
Misunderstanding: A God who does not change cannot love or respond.
Correction: Classical theists deny this. They hold that God’s love is perfect and steady and that God acts toward creatures in response to what they do, without any change in God’s own nature.
Misunderstanding: All Christians held classical theism until modern times.
Correction: Most major thinkers did, but the matter was not always argued in the same terms and some details were disputed. The Nicene Creed does not mention simplicity or timelessness, and Christians have differed about them.
Misunderstanding: Open theism and process theology are the same thing.
Correction: They differ. Open theism accepts creation from nothing and aims to stay within the Bible, while process theology rejects creation from nothing and rests on a philosophy of becoming.
Knowledge check
What is meant by aseity?
Aseity means that God exists from himself and depends on nothing else for his existence. Everything else exists because God gives it existence, while God needs nothing from outside. It is the starting point of the classical account because the other attributes are argued to follow from it.
Describe one way the classical attributes are said to follow from each other.
If God is the source of all being, God depends on nothing. A being that depends on nothing is not made of parts that need to be joined. A being without parts or unrealized potential cannot change for better or worse. A being that does not change is not measured by the passing of time.
How do open theism and process theology differ?
Open theism holds to creation from nothing and aims to stay close to the Bible, but says the future free choices of creatures are not yet settled, so God does not know them in detail. Process theology denies creation from nothing and says God and the world are always becoming together.
State one objection to classical theism and one reply.
Objection: a God who does not change seems unable to care about the world. Reply: classical theists say God’s love is not a passing feeling but a perfect and constant willing of the good of others, and the language of change in Scripture describes God’s relationship with creatures, not a change in God’s nature.
Think it through
- Which rival to classical theism do you find most attractive, and what does it get right?
- Which classical attribute would you be most reluctant to give up, and why?
- How might your picture of God change how you read a text such as Genesis 6:6?
- Why might a believer find the classical view comforting in time of grief, and why might another find it distant?
Independent assignment
Two portraits of God
In your own notebook, write about 500 words. Describe God as a classical theist would, using at least four of the central claims. Then describe God as a personalist or process theologian would. Use language that a supporter of each view would accept. End by writing which two points you most want to study further. Do not send this to anyone.
Further study
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae Read Part I, Questions 2 to 4, on God’s existence, simplicity and perfection.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Divine Simplicity A clear statement of one core claim and its objections.
- David Bentley Hart, The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss A modern defense of the classical account.
- Richard Swinburne, The Existence of God Read for a personalist style of argument, to compare with the classical view.
- Westminster Assembly, The Westminster Confession of Faith Read chapter 2, Of God and of the Holy Trinity.
- Malachi 3:6 The Lord does not change.
- Genesis 6:6 The Lord is said to repent, a text often cited in this debate.
- Acts 17:28 In him we live and move and have our being.