The Doctrine of God

Introducing the Big Questions

John C. Peckham

• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780567677853
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Teologia e religione
• Subtopic: Teologia

John C. Peckham introduces and engages with major questions about God's nature and how God relates to the world. Does God change? Does God have emotions? Can God do anything? Does God know the future? Does God always attain what God desires? And is God entirely good? This textbook provides a clear and concise overview of the issues involved in these and other questions, exploring prominent contemporary approaches to the main issues relative to how to conceive of the God-world relationship within Christian theology. In so doing, Peckham surveys a range of live options regarding each of the primary questions, briefly considering where each falls within the spectrum of the Christian tradition and providing clear and readily understandable explanations of the technical issues involved. The result is a stimulating survey of the most prominent options in Christian theology relative to divine attributes and the God-world relationship, offered in an accessible format for students. Designed for classroom use this volume includes the following features:
- study questions for each chapter
- suggestions for further reading for each chapter
- glossary

1

Introducing the Doctrine of God

What is God like? How does God relate to the world? These questions are integrally related to all other theological questions. Theology refers to the study of God. Yet, theological study encompasses far more than the study of God alone. Theology extends to what theologians call the God–world relationship, which is the relationship between God and everything else.

This book introduces the big questions about God, including questions such as: Does God change? Does God have emotions? Can God do anything? Does God know the future? Does God always get what God wants? Is God entirely good? How can God be one and three? The answers to these questions hold massive implications for all other theological issues. As Thomas Aquinas put it, “A small mistake in the beginning is a great one in the end.”¹ At the beginning of theology is how one conceives of God, which affects everything else. The theological path you set out on depends a great deal on your concept of God and how God relates to his creation (the world).

In systematic theology, the study of God’s nature and attributes and how God relates to the world is known as the doctrine of God or theology proper. This book approaches the doctrine of God from the standpoint of Christian theism, defined as belief in the one, triune God who is the creator and sustainer of the world. Here, the “world” refers to everything other than God—the entire cosmos. As such, nothing exists beyond God and the world. Put differently, the God–world relationship encompasses everything that is. Accordingly, the doctrine of God holds implications for everything else.

This book aims to provide a clear and concise introduction to the doctrine of God, focusing on some big questions relative to divine attributes and the God–world relationship in recent Christian theology. Given the huge number of issues relative to the doctrine of God, this introduction is necessarily selective and is not meant to be taken as comprehensive. There are many nuanced views of the various issues, more than can be engaged in a short book like this. Accordingly, this introductory, issues-focused, textbook surveys some selected contemporary perspectives regarding each of the primary questions, briefly considering where each perspective locates itself relative to the classical Christian tradition, offering explanations of the technical issues involved, and including a brief survey of some relevant biblical data regarding each question. This chapter begins by introducing the crucial place of the doctrine of God and the framework for addressing the doctrine of God.

The nature of systematic theology

To understand the crucial place of the doctrine of God in systematic theology, it is important to have a basic understanding of the nature of theological systems. A system is a connected and organized group of working parts that contribute to and compliment the whole. For example, a properly functioning car requires a system of working parts that are properly organized and function harmoniously. If even one crucial component is missing, out of place, or disconnected, the vehicle will not work properly, if at all. Similarly, a coherent theological system requires that one has the right conceptual components and that those components be properly organized.

Articulating a coherent theological system is the task of systematic theology. Minimally defined, systematic theology is the study and articulation of an orderly and coherent account of theological beliefs. As such, Christian systematic theology might be defined as the study and articulation of an orderly and coherent account of Christian beliefs. Systematic theology has been practiced in various ways. Most systematic theologies are not only concerned with an orderly and coherent account of theistic beliefs, but they are also concerned with articulating such an account in a way that is shaped by and responsive to historical and contemporary philosophical issues. Further, the majority of Christians take Scripture to be normative regarding theological claims and many theologians hold that Christian theological claims should meet the standard of biblical warrant, which requires that one’s claims are adequately grounded in Scripture. As Katherin Rogers puts it, “The God whom most of us care about is the one we associate with biblical revelation. So it is important to take the Bible seriously.”² Accordingly, Christian systematic theology often overlaps with philosophical and biblical studies.

Theologians navigate the interrelationship of philosophy, systematic theology, and biblical studies in diverse ways, but all Christian approaches that take Scripture seriously navigate these three areas in some manner. For those seeking biblical warrant for theological claims, there are at least three levels of theological conceptualization at work. The micro-level is the interpretation of individual texts and passages of Scripture. The macro-level consists of the overarching philosophical presuppositions relative to the nature of reality (ontology), knowledge (epistemology), God, and the world, which impinge upon how one views and interprets everything else. In between the micro-level and macro-level are one’s doctrinal commitments, which make up the meso-level.³ Each of these levels affects the others. One’s philosophical framework (macro) sets the overarching parameters within which theological doctrines (meso) are conceptualized and both one’s philosophical framework (macro) and theological doctrines (meso) impinge upon the reading of individual texts and passages of Scripture (micro).⁴ Conversely, insofar as one seeks to employ Scripture as normative regarding theological claims, the reading of Scripture should inform—and perhaps reform—one’s doctrines (meso) and overarching philosophical framework (macro).

For example, those who adopt a philosophical framework in which God cannot experience emotional changes tend to read the passages of Scripture that attribute emotional changes to God as metaphorical depictions of God as if he experienced emotional change. Conversely, some who believe God does experience emotional changes argue that such passages provide compelling evidence against the philosophical presupposition that God cannot experience emotional changes (this issue is discussed in Chapter 2). Regarding this and many other issues, much hinges upon how one navigates cases of tension between one’s philosophical framework, doctrinal commitments, and the apparent meaning of Scripture.

In this and other respects, one’s conception of God is bound up with one’s view of the nature of reality (ontology), which is part and parcel of one’s metaphysical framework. Put simply, one’s metaphysical framework consists of one’s views regarding the nature of ultimate reality, particularly relative to questions concerning existence, the nature of being, the nature and properties of beings, space and time, causality, and others. Each of us operates with a metaphysical framework whenever we think about any object. The way one views reality and the relationship between realities—one’s metaphysical framework—dramatically affects the way one conceives of God and the God–world relationship; indeed, the way one conceives of every facet of reality.

There are various theological proposals regarding how to best navigate the interrelationship between one’s metaphysical framework, doctrinal beliefs, and reading of Scripture. Since this is not a book on theological method, no attempt is made in this book to prescribe how the interrelationship of these areas should be navigated.⁵ Rather, this book introduces (in a primarily descriptive manner) prominent philosophical and theological commitments and some of the oft-referenced biblical material that bears on the doctrine of God. Before engaging the big questions in the following chapters, however, it is important to first become oriented to the broad landscape of contemporary theology relative to the doctrine of God.

Classical theism

The contemporary debate is often framed as a discussion regarding the so-called classical conception of God, or classical theism. Generally speaking, traditional classical theism holds that God, as the perfect being, is necessarily existent, self-sufficient, simple, eternal, immutable, impassible, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent.⁶ Each of these terms will be unpacked and explained throughout this book. For now, I will offer a brief explanation of these attributes and how they fit together in classical theism.

To say that God is the perfect being means more than to say God is without any faults or flaws. It typically conveys that God is the greatest being in every conceivable way and is thus uniquely worthy of worship. As Anselm (c. 1033–1109) put it, God is “whatever it is better to be than not to be.”⁷ This approach is often referred to as perfect being theology, which maintains that God is that which nothing greater can be conceived.⁸ On this view, the perfect being “must have all great-making properties and must have them to an unlimited extent.”⁹ That is, whatever property would make a being great is possessed by God to the maximum extent possible.

This way of thinking about God as possessing anything great in an eminent fashion is sometimes called the “way of eminence” (via eminentiae). This way of approaching theology predicates of God every good attribute or “perfection” in an eminent fashion. This way is mirrored by the way of negation (via negativa), which operates by negating that which is thought to be limiting or in any way less than proper for a perfect being (e.g., change is negated such that God is immutable).¹⁰ Many forms of theology operate on the assumption that God is a perfect being, including approaches that are directly opposed to traditional classical theism—such as Charles Hartshorne’s process theology (discussed further below). Vastly different conceptions of God as perfect being may be held because, Rogers notes, “in the past and today, the enumeration of great-making properties has proceeded largely on the basis of intuition.”¹¹ Accordingly, “That God is the best [possible being] seems taken for granted. What that means is the subject of debate.”¹²

Traditional Christian approaches typically suppose that the perfect or greatest being would possess the greatest possible power and the greatest possible knowledge. Accordingly, classical theists maintain that God is all-powerful (omnipotent) and all-knowing (omniscient). Divine perfection is also often thought to entail that God exists necessarily, on the supposition that a being who exists necessarily would be greater than a being who does not. If God is a necessary being, it is impossible that God not exist. Another way of saying this is that there is no possible world—i.e., no possible universe...