Abstract

Open Theism – theological ‘figment’ or sensible proposition? Open theism is a theological position, which shook the evangelical Protestantism, provoking a theological debate on the doctrine of God and on the relation between Creator and creation in its womb. The article undertakes exposing this way of thinking, indicating that this is one of the types of so-called free will theism. God of the open theism is a sovereign and omnipotent entity, who decided to create a man in His own image and likeness, which involves giving him freedom. By making the act of creation, God self-limited His omnipotence and omniscience related to man. However, these ideas have met with strong criticism, especially from evangelical Calvinists, affirming the deterministic vision of providence. After familiarizing the reader with the concept of the open theism, the author showed its contemporary dialogue with science, particularly with natural sciences. Open theists, like all theists, primarily do not accept the metaphysical naturalism. In their opinion, it limits the range of possible solutions in the search for the causes of different phenomena, including the answer to the question of the universe’s origins. The leading representatives of this theology accept evolutionist cosmology and contemporary physical theories concerning time and the special theory of relativity, trying to accommodate their own views. All of this shows that, though the open theism is controversial and untraditional, certainly we cannot deprive it of reasonableness determined by such terms like rationality, criticism and methodology.