On Monday (the Lord willing) I will post something here about open theism and the evangelical debate about it. For now, let me just say that I am very glad to see some of my former colleagues from that Christian liberal arts college (where I taught for 15 years) joining the discussion here. I want to say for their benefit that during that most agonizing debate over open theism they, my colleagues, were always supportive. Even those who did not agree with open theism were supportive of those who were open theists and those who defended it (as I did) as not heresy. The reason I concluded it would not remain a safe place to be outspokenly Arminian had to do with powerful pastors whose arguments against open theism were recognizably also arguments against classical Arminianism (even though they were not explicitly framed that way). I saw that IF they won their case against open theism, for the reasons they were putting forth, Arminianism was next. But I never felt anything except support from my colleagues throughout the college and seminary. So, next week–something about open theism and the evangelical debate over it throughout the 1990s and into this century.
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