Dividing the Question: A Critique of Clark Pinnock`s Theology Proper
Adam Harwood, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Evangelical Theological Society Annual Meeting
Valley Forge, PA, November 16, 2005
INTRODUCTION
In the last two decades, Clark H. Pinnock (or, some might say, Clark Pinnock 3.0), a
representative of Open Theism, has offered a revised doctrine of God. He views it as a
corrective response to what he considers to be the influence of Greek thought on conventional
theology. In this paper, I will briefly identify, present, and critique the six attributes of the
doctrine of God which Pinnock seeks to revise in light of the supposed influence of Greek
thought. Further, I will suggest that of the six revisions that Pinnock offers, three can and should
be accepted by Evangelicals as ontological/functional distinctions (and are, in fact, not original
to Pinnock). The other three revisions, however, must be rejected as out of sync with Orthodox
Christianity.
In the last ten years, much ink has been spilt on the movement knows as Openness
Theism, Openness Theology, the Openness Movement, or the Open View. The birth of this idea
in its modern form is recognized as the publication of the collaborative, 1994 volume entitled,
The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God.
1
This
book presents a case for Open Theism based on the Bible, history, systematic theology,
1
The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God,
ed. Clark H. Pinnock, Richard Rice, John Sanders, William Hasker, and David Basinger
(Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1994). The idea that the recent discussion of Open Theism began
with the release of this book is shared by those on both sides of the theological fence. Pinnock,
Most Moved Mover: A Theology of God's Openness (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001), ix, is a
proponent who points to this book as the beginning of the discussion; opponents of this
movement who cite this book as the beginning of the recent discussion include Tony Gray, God
Does Not Play Dice, Themelios 24 (1999): 21, and Corin Mihaila, The Ignorant God of Open
Theism, Faith and Mission 19 (2002): 27.