Denver Seminary Response to Open Theism

  • Craig Williford, Former President
  • Aug 10, 2006
  • Series: Dialogue on Contemporary Issues

Many people have inquired concerning Denver Seminary's position on Open Theism. In this short treatise, I will give a brief and hopefully clear answer within the following framework: two of our deeply held values at Denver Seminary are the "freedom to think within the limits laid down in Scripture" and "commitment to approaching all topics respectfully while modeling an integration of grace and truth." Our desire is to demonstrate the spirit of Christ our Lord in the way in which we handle this or any debate.

At various times over the two thousand year history of Christianity, the church has found itself in need of clarifying its position on certain theological viewpoints. This occurrence is not new or unusual. Additionally, almost all contemporary theological debates are continuing conversations that trace their origins to theological debates that commenced hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago. While new personalities and new twists to old arguments emerge regularly, there really is "nothing new under the sun" when it comes to theological discourse.

Open Theism is an example of a theological debate that traces to the times of Augustine, Pelagius, Calvin and many other early church fathers, and is now expressing itself with new twists and new personalities. Open Theism is defined as a cluster of views that follow from the key premise that the free, future choices of human beings cannot by definition be known, by any being including God, until they happen. Thus while God can and does determine with certainty that some future events will occur, open theists believe God's omniscience does not mean that God can know all future events ahead of time-especially those that God had chosen to allow humans to determine.

So, what is Denver Seminary's position? We do not endorse or support Open Theism in any manner. No member of our faculty is an Open Theist, and we will not hire any new professor who espouses Open Theism. We do commit ourselves to teaching our students what this position posits and to fairly represent the view while explaining the reasons we cannot support Open Theism.
At the last two Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) meetings, a debate on the place of Open Theism within evangelical theology has been examined intensely. The Society continues to make slow and careful progress in clarifying whether Open Theism is consistent with the other tenets of evangelical theology; however, to date, no real conclusions have been reached by the Society members. I personally expect that, given more time, the Society will continue to give us guidance and clarify some of the issues resulting from this current expression of an extreme Arminianism.

If you would like to study this matter further, we have provided a link to Dr. Bruce Demarest's paper on Open Theism. We will not discuss all the conversations and happenings at the recent ETS meetings; for that information, we encourage you to go to the ETS website.

We have a choice. While defining and upholding the authority of Scripture, we can demonstrate to the world that fellow Christians can disagree with love and truth, or we can re-enforce the world's stereotypes of Christians as people who can't get along with each other. We choose love and truth.

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