Omniscience and Divine Co-eternality

Abstract

The conflict between divine foreknowledge and human free will is a major controversy within theology and philosophy of religion. Needless to say, the proper notion of time and its relation to God is essential for coping with this conflict. Based on this notion, there are three solutions to the conflict including “indeterminacy of the future”, “unknowability of future free acts”, and “Timelessness of divine knowledge”. In this paper, I shall begin by evaluation of the first two theories and show how they cannot settle the conflict. I shall, then, assess the third theory and show that it is the most successful one. Besides, the theories of some Christian philosophers like Thomas Aquinas, Anselm and Boethius are explained in light of the thoughts of Islamic philosophers, especially Qazi Saeed al-Qumi.

Keywords

• omniscience
• human free will
• timelessness
• divine co-eternality