Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• mehdi abutalebiyazdi ¹
• rasoul rasoulipour ²
• Amirabbas Alizamani ³
• Ghorban Elmi, ⁴
• Mohsen Javadi ⁵

¹ PhD student; Philosophy of Religion and New Theological Issues, Science and Research Branch of Islamic Azad University of Tehran

² Department of Philosophy, Kharazmi University

³ Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy of Religion, University of Tehran

⁴ Associate Professor, Department of Religions, University of Tehran

⁵ Professor of Philosophy, Qom University

Abstract

Open theism as a new approach in the realm of theology and philosophy of religion, has put forward theories and views that have attracted the attention of many contemporary thinkers- both philosophically and theologically. The main claim of the supporters of this approach is that many of the common doctrines about the nature and attributes of God (in particular, the attributes such as divine foreknowledge, immutability, impassibility and timelessness) derived from the Greek philosophies, in particular neoplatonic tradition and they are affected by it , and for this reason, these attributes separated from their original path, which is the same path of the Bible. Therefore, in order to remove the false philosophical notions from the true attributes of God in the Bible, we must revisit them again. Since the founders and defenders of this school claim that their views are rooted in the tradition of theism and classical theism, with a historical look at this theological movement and examining the path of its development, we evaluate the validity of their claims. Some contemporary theologians and philosophers of religion consider the open theism as a traditional theism, Some others consider it as a deviation in the traditional theism and some also consider it as heretical school that does not have a place in the orthodoxy tradition. However, although not much time has passed since the beginning of this movement, it has been able to attract opinions -opponent or compliant; A large number of writings confirming or denying this school, have witnessed this claim. Therefore, we should also enter into new areas of theology and philosophy of religion by using our very rich sources in the theological - philosophical tradition of Islam and by fully understanding of this approach.

Keywords

• Open Theism
• Traditional Theism
• Neoplatonic Tradition
• Nature and Attributes of God
• Bible