Omnipotence

• Who believed God can do anything, even the impossible?

  Descartes
• What did Descartes argue?


  God could make a square circle, as he is supreme perfection

  The laws of maths exist because of God, so he can override them

  Anyone who puts limits on God is questioning his greatness
• What is a counter argument to Descartes?

  Logical contradictions are not things, it is not a lack of power that prevents God from making a square circle, it is the fact it is nonsense

  Descartes turns God into a an unpredictable tyrant who could do anything
• Who believed God can do everything within his nature that is logically possible?

  Aquinas
• What did Aquinas argue?

  God can do anything that doesn’t involve a contradiction, and that is consistent with his nature

  He is incorporeal (has no body) so cannot swim or die

  God is perfectly good so cannot do evil
• What does Swinburne argue?


  God can do and create all things, but self-contradictory definitions are not things

  This doesn’t challenge his omnipotence as God is still capable of doing and creating everything
• Who argues God deliberately limits his own power?

  Peter Vardy

  John McQuarrie
• What is kenosis?


  Self-emptying. God deliberately emptied himself of some of his divine power before coming to earth as Jesus
• What did Vardy say about self-imposed limitations?


  Gods omnipotence is necessarily limited, if he acted in a different way everything wouldn’t be able to exist in the way it does
• What does McQuarrie say about self-imposed limitations?


  God is not constrained by logic or the physical world. He has constrained his omnipotence out of love for us
• Who argues problems with omnipotence are due to religious language?

  McQuarrie
• Why would problems with omnipotence be due to issues with religious language?

  Gods power is different from our own. We will never be able to understand his power
• Who believes we shouldn’t say God is omnipotent, but should be ‘unsurpassably great’?

  A N Whitehead
• What does Hartshorne argue?


  Total power isn’t that impressive, as it means total control over everything. It is more impressive to him if we have free will and put up resistance to God, that he can overcome this