Date of Graduation

12-2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Philosophy

Advisor/Mentor

Thomas D. Senor

Committee Member

Ward, Barry M.

Second Committee Member

Funkhouser, Eric M.

Keywords

free will, incompatibilist freedom, foreknowledge

Abstract

In this dissertation I critically evaluate and develop a model of God I dub “theistic open futurism”—the view that an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent being exists but fails to know future contingent statements because such statements are not true. Contrary to what their free will critics have supposed, I argue that theistic open futurists do not subscribe to a metaphysical vision of the future that is logically or religiously incoherent. With respect to the latter, I suggest that while some open theists have overstated their case concerning the amount of providential control God could have given the reality of an open future, at least one rival model of divine providence that is often advertised as providing more control than the openness position may not have the clear advantage that some initially believed. In any case, I argue that if one holds to an incompatibilist account of free will and believes we occasionally act freely, then that person ought to think the future is open.

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