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Exploring God's Omniscience: Tense, Time, and Knowledge

This discourse examines the nature of divine omniscience through the lens of temporal and spatial properties. It discusses two types of temporal properties—tenses and dates—and their implications for God's knowledge. The discussion considers whether God can know the tense of events, contrasting the ideas of God as atemporal versus omnitemporal. Through examples, such as Elvis's death, it provocatively questions if knowing the past equates to true knowledge. Ultimately, the dialogue challenges the coherence of God's omniscience if He does not know the current time.

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Exploring God's Omniscience: Tense, Time, and Knowledge

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  1. God and Omniscience Dr Steve Makin Department of Philosophy University of Sheffield

  2. Two types of temporal property • [1] Tenses: those which change as time passes (eg now, soon, present, past) • [2] Dates: those which don’t change as time passes (eg being earlier than, happening in 1977)

  3. Two types of spatial property • Those which alter as you move around in space (eg being far away, being right here) • Those which don’t alter as you move around in space (eg being within the boundaries of Sydney)

  4. Three plausible thoughts? [O] What it is to be omniscient is to know everything that can be known [A] God cannot know the tense of any event [B] Particular human beings at particular times do know the tenses of lots of events

  5. Resist [A]? Contrast (i) God as atemporal (present at no time) (ii) God as omnitemporal (present at all times) So perhaps drop [A] for...? [~A] God can know the tense of an event (indeed God knows that every event has every tense)

  6. [B]: things I know now That Elvis’ death is past (inconsistent with [O] and [A]) That Elvis’ death is past, and neither future nor present (inconsistent with [O] and [~A]) Next move?

  7. Resist [B]? Perhaps what you know isn’t really that Elvis’ death is past? Contrast • I think Elvis’ death is past, but I’m wrong (b) What I really know is that Elvis’ death is earlier than 2013

  8. So? Then we could make progress with the idea that God’s omniscience consists in his knowing everything that can be known. But is knowing that Elvis’ death is past ‘really’ knowing that Elvis’ death is earlier than 2013?

  9. A closing example The best way foward? Another example (the ravine): • I know that help arrives at noon • I know that help arrives in 30 minutes • I know what time it is now

  10. Two engaging questions Either • Would an omniscient god (supreme being) know what time it is now? Or • Could a supreme being (god) be omniscient, even though they don’t know what time it is now?

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