Glossary for How Much Does God Control
How Much Does God Control?
Differing Views on Man’s Freedom and God’s Control
Special Edition for the “How Much Does God Control?” Dialogue
antinomy — two facts or statements that appear to be both correct and reasonable, but do not agree, and therefore produce an illogical or contradictory conclusion. From the Greek, antinomia, literally “against law.”
aseity — self-existence. Only an uncreated being could posses this attribute.
autonomy — independence or freedom from all external constraints.
causation — the fact that something causes an effect. A cause-and-effect relationship is also known as causality.
chance — an undetermined event. Random or accidental occurrences that have no apparent cause.
compatibilism — the belief that human free will and God’s sovereign control are somehow compatible and not logically impossible.
Cosmological argument — an argument for the existence of God from the principle that all things (the cosmos) have an origin and therefore have an ultimate cause (the unmoved First Mover).
determinism — ”theological determinism” encompasses the belief that God has predetermined all things according to His sovereign plan.
impassable — divine impassability refers to the idea that God’s essence or being is unaffected and unchanged by anything that occurs in His creation. The nature of God is changeless, His creatures’ interaction with Him do not somehow mutate Him.
libertarian free will — the view of free will that understands humans to have the ability to choose consistently contrary to what their spiritual nature or circumstances would seem to point them. Also known as the power of contrary choice, it understands human choices to be outside of God’s direct or predetermined control.
metaphysics — speculation concerning philosophical and theological matters beyond our sense or what we physically experience.
paradox — something that appears self-contradictory or illogical but is or may be actually true. From Greek paradoxos, literally “contrary to opinion.”
problem of evil — the difficulty of affirming that an all powerful and good God brought into existence a “good” creation yet this creation has the reality of suffering and evil. The reality of evil raises question about the nature and character of God.
random will — an uninfluenced will that makes random decisions. Not influenced by nature (internal) or environment (external).
secondary causes — origins of effects that are not ultimate. In classical theism, God is understood to be the ultimate or First Cause because He is eternal and uncreated; man is said to cause genuine effects which are secondary to God’s ultimate cause.
self-determination — the ability of the individual to choose freely. Differing views of man’s freedom define this self-agency differently.
theism — belief that one God created all things and rules over them, and that this God is uncreated (without beginning or end) and supreme yet immanently related to His creation.
temporal — in philosophy, temporal relates to that which transpires in measured time. Atemporal is that which is outside of or unaffected by the passing of time.
theodicy — a defense of God’s justice, an explanation of the goodness of God despite the problem of evil. Any attempt at answering the question, “How could a good God allow evil?”
ultimate cause — the uncaused cause: God, the First Cause.
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