A Bigger God and the Pre-Creation Situation: Some Remarks Inspired by William Hasker

Jacek Wojtysiak

doi:10.18290/rf2201.8

Jacek Wojtysiak John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4276-8483

Keywords: God, creation, divine dilemmas, impassibility, open theism, William Hasker

Abstract

In the present essay, while entering into discussion with William Hasker, I addressed two divine dilemmas in “the pre-creation situation.” My considerations focused on the reasons for creating a world—the love (grace) reason and the manifestation reason—which in some way prevailed over the reasons against creating a world (the no need reason and the imperfection reason) and whose concurrence prompted the image of an (rather relatively) optimal creatable world. It turns out that the latter resembles both our world and the world suggested by Hasker’s theism. In that world, God has brought to existence both what is unworthy (thus showing his grace in a special way) and what displays high degrees of excellence (thus manifesting his glory). On this view, the eschatological conclusion of the world would be the full actualization of divine grace and of the manifestation of God. In the final part of the essay, I attempted to show that my view does not entail the rejection of the idea of divine impassibility.

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