Book Review: God of the Possible

God of the Possible: A Biblical Introduction to the Open View of God by Gregory A. Boyd (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000. 176 pp

The founder and senior pastor of Woodland Hills Church, Greg Boyd received his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary, his M.Div. from Yale Divinity School, and his B.A. from the University of Minnesota. In addition to teaching at Bethel University, Boyd founded Christus Victor Ministries, a nonprofit organization that promotes Boyd’s writing and speaking. He is a recognized theologian and author of numerous books including best-seller, Letters from a Skeptic. Married to his wife Shelley for 28 years, Gregory resides in St. Paul, Minnesota.

When Bible Study Becomes Scary

When I was young, my parents hosted a couples’ Bible study on Sunday nights. While my parents studied in the community of believers, I listened to music and played video games in the office.

One Sunday evening, I remember my mother visibly shaken after a study. During the Bible study, one member shared with the group his personal study on the actions God cannot perform. The very thought, to my mother, seemed heretical. God is God right? God can do anything!

But the personal study held certain amounts of truth. God promised that he would never destroy the earth by flood again; the Bible tells us that God cannot lie. In both instances, God intentionally limits himself.

Despite general agreement amongst the Evangelical church about God’s limits, many Christians believe that the all-powerful God knows the future comprehensively. But does Scripture point to this theological belief?

In God of the Possible, theologian and pastor Gregory Boyd argues for the open view of God: a perspective that suggests God does not conclusively know the future.

The Classical View of Foreknowledge

Classically, Christianity echoes platonic sentiments which espouse a philosophy of an unchanging and limitless God. From these principles, Christians argue that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-present. But Boyd questions,

“If the future is indeed exhaustively settled in God’s mind, as the classical view holds, why does the Bible repeatedly describe God changing his mind? Why does the Bible say that God frequently alters his plans, cancels prophecies in the light of changing circumstances, and speaks about the future as a ‘maybe,’ a ‘perhaps,’ or a ‘possibility’? Why does it describe God as expressing uncertainty about the future, being disappointed in the way things turn out, and even occasionally regretting the outcome of his own decisions? If the Bible is always true—and I, for one, assume that it is—how can we reconcile this way of talking about God with the notion that the future is exhaustively settled in his mind” (11)?

The Open View of God

Given these questions, Boyd proposes the open view of God: the idea that God, as illustrated in Scripture, is capable of changing his mind regarding future events. Instead of a God so set in determined actions as a micromanager, Boyd argues that God is personable, capable of being swayed, and a kind ruler. Yet despite a belief in an open future, Boyd points toward a God who remains all-powerful. He argues,

“Open theists, rather, maintain that God can and does predetermine and foreknow whatever he wants to about the future. Indeed, God is so confident in his sovereignty, we hold, he does not need to micromanage everything. He could if he wanted to, but this would demean his sovereignty. So he chooses to leave some of the future open to possibilities, allowing them to be resolved by the decisions of free agents. It takes a greater God to steer a world populated with free agents than it does to steer a world of pre-programmed automatons” (31).

In other words, Boyd maintains that God manages a world of choices within parameters that God has set in his infinite power. As an analogy, if I plan to travel to New York City, I must make choices regarding my travel plans in order to ensure successful transportation. Yet, my decisions only make sense given the assumption that New York City exists.

At its core, God of the Possible contends that Christians must rethink the way they interpret the Bible. Currently, the seemingly contradictory passages about free will and determinism are often interpreted in such a way that one set is read literally and the other figuratively. Boyd believes, however, that an open theism allows for a literal reading of both free will and deterministic passages.

A Mischaracterization of the Classical View

Although Boyd offers compelling arguments, I believe he misunderstands the central reasons for belief in an all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present God. While many critics believe that such a God limits free will and arbitrarily chooses those who are saved and those who are condemned, Christians who believe in determinism possess such ideas because they do not feel like humanity is capable of understanding spiritual truths by their own power.

Put differently, deterministic Christians ask, “Who are we to choose salvation? If we have the power to make this decision, are we not more powerful than God?” God must reveal himself to a Christian before a response. Wouldn’t this God know those who choose him and those who do not?

Foreknowledge: Having Your Cake and Eating It Too

Additionally, I think God of the Possible rejects determinism in order to side with free will. Despite the attempt to accept both conflicting ideas, Boyd leans toward free will. I suggest, however, that both free will and determinism can exist with an all-powerful God.

Imagine you must make a choice between two options. Supposing God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present, God would know the causal chain behind either of the choices you could make. Thus, God not only knows how the future will unfold given the choice you make, he also know the course of events from the choice you didn’t make. Expanding this principle to every choice from every person, and you have a God who knows everything that everyone will ever do while we at the same time maintain free will.

While complicated, I suggest that such an idea better describes the seemingly contradictory statements as seen in the Bible. Are there things God can’t do? Perhaps. Scripture certainly hints at ways in which God limits himself. Nevertheless, self-limitation does not mean that God is not all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present. With God of the Possible, Gregory Boyd asks some interesting questions. Yet, I find his arguments inconclusive. God of the Possible is worth a read, but do so with a critical eye.

Verdict: 3 out of 5

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Posted by: Donovan Richards

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Book Review: The Wordy Shipmates

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell (New York: Riverhead Books, 2008. 272 pp)                                                                                                                        Born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Sarah Vowell is an author, journalist, and social commentator. She earned her B.A. from Montana State University and an M.A. in Art History from the School of Art Institute Chicago. Having written six nonfiction books, Vowell brings a witty voice to her historical topics. She has also been published in The Village Voice, Esquire, GQ, Spin, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and SF Weekly. She serves as the president of the board of 826NYC, a nonprofit tutoring and writing center for young students.

The Next Sedaris?

I have read in multiple places that Sarah Vowell is a female David Sedaris. Considering my borderline obsession for Mr. Sedaris, I bookmarked Vowell’s work for further consideration. Well, The Wordy Shipmates became my passageway into this highly touted author.

First off, Vowell and Sedaris are about as similar as a crocodile and a salamander; they exist within a generalized group in the animal kingdom but act in completely different ways. David Sedaris takes a memoir-based approach to humor, citing events in his life to comedic perfection. Vowell, on the other hand, utilizes sarcasm to share history.

The Wordy Shipmates reads like a humorous term paper.

A Puritan Nation

In this tome, Vowell waxes poetically on the Puritans who found political asylum in newly settled America. Reacting to the basic cliché that modern America is a Puritan nation, she explores the lives of the Puritans hoping to truly understand what such a phrase means.

Puritanism means a break with an England that previously broke with Rome:

“So an English subject of Henry VIII who already had a soft spot for the innovations of Luther rejoiced at the king’s break with Rome (while trying not to picture Henry and Anne Boleyn doing it in every room of every castle). That is, until the Protestant sympathizer went to church and noticed that the Church of England was just the same old Catholic Church with a king in pope’s clothing. Same old hierarchy of archbishop on down. Same old Latin-speaking middlemen standing between parishioners and the Bible, between parishioners and God. Same old ornamental gewgaws. Organ music! Vestments! (It is difficult to understate the Puritan abhorrence of something as seemingly trivial as a vicar’s scarf.) Same old easily achieved, come-as-you-are salvation. Here’s what one had to do to join the Church of England: be English. But we want getting into heaven to be hard! Said the Puritans. And not for everybody” (7)!

The Puritanism that Vowell uncovers looks little like the hyper-conservative Christian right. Referencing John Winthrop, a leading figure in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Vowell writes,

“Because of the ‘city upon a hill’ sound bite, ‘A Model of Christian Charity’ is one of the formative documents outlining the idea of America. But dig deep into its communitarian ethos and it reads more like an America might have been, an America fervently devoted to the quaint goals of working together and getting along. Of course, this America does exist. It’s called Canada” (38).

To Save or Kill

Sadly, the Canadian ideal espoused during the gestational period of the puritan colony fizzled. The native population – once a focus of targeted proselytizing – became an enemy.

Speaking of the conflict between the colonists and the Pequot Native Americans, Vowell states,

“Winthrop’s journal records with delight that the men ‘came all safe to Boston, which was a marvelous providence of God, that not a hair feel from the head of any of them.’ Not only that, but on their way home, they were accompanied by a Narragansett interpreter who killed a Pequot in a swamp along the way and ‘flayed off the skin of his head,’ i.e., scalped him. So: bonus” (184).

Predestination: What Foreknowledge

Despite her humorous take on history, I found The Wordy Shipmates far too one-dimensional. First, Vowell describes Calvinist theology behind the Puritan ethic in simple terms. She contends that the strict and joyless adherence to rules and regulations in Puritanism is a result of the Reformed view of predestination (the belief that God knows who is and isn’t saved before time began). For Vowell, the Puritans were strict because they didn’t know if God had saved them.

The point behind the doctrine of predestination is assurance. Reformed theology offers predestination as an explanation of a consistent God; it allows humans to know that their beliefs have saved them, not by works.

Sadly, Vowell’s mischaracterization of Calvinist theology casts a shadow over the rest of the book. Moreover, the book is dissertation-length when the subject matter feels thesis-length. Although Vowell writes strongly about the establishment of a Puritan colony, the last portion of the book reads like an unwanted endnote about other historical occurrences that have nothing to do with the rest of the novel.

On the whole, Vowell writes well and her humor gives vibrant life to some very stale topics. Nevertheless, her mischaracterization of Calvinist theology and the disorganized back half of the book makes it difficult for me to recommend The Wordy Shipmates.  For those less theologically inclined, it still might be a good read, as the humor is nevertheless entertaining.

Verdict: 2 of 5

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