Editing Open theism (section)

===Comparison of open and Reformed theism===
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The following chart compares beliefs about key doctrines as stated by open theists and [[Calvinism|Calvinists]] after "the period of controversy" between adherents of the two theisms began in 1994.<ref>''WRS Journal'' 12:1 (Feb 2005), 5.</ref> During this period the "theology of open theism… rocked the evangelical world".<ref>''WRS Journal'' 12:1 (Feb 2005), Editor's notes, inside cover.</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
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! Doctrine !! Open Theism !! Calvinism
|-
| '''Scripture (the [[Bible]])'''. "In the Christian tradition, the Old and the New Testaments are considered Holy Scripture in that they are, or convey, the self-revelation of God."<ref>[[Donald K. McKim]], ''Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms'' (Westminster John Knox, 1996), 251.</ref> 
|| "Committed to affirming the infallibility of Scripture"<ref>[[Gregory A. Boyd]], ''God at War: the Bible and Spiritual Conflict'' (InterVarsity, 1997) 106.</ref> 
|| Scripture is "the infallible Word of God".<ref>[[John Piper (theologian)|John Piper]], "Why I Trust the Scriptures", http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/ConferenceMessages/ByDate/2008/2629_Why_I_Trust_the_Scriptures/ (accessed October 9, 2009).</ref>
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| '''God's Power'''. "God's power is limited only by God's own nature and not by any external force."<ref name="Donald K. McKim 1996">Donald K. McKim, ''Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms'' (Westminster John Knox, 1996), 117.</ref>
|| "God is all-powerful."<ref>Gregory A. Boyd, ''Is God to Blame? Moving Beyond Pat Answers to the Problem of Evil.'' (InterVarsity, 2003) 42.</ref> 
|| "God is all-powerful."<ref>Carl F. Ellis, Jr., "The Sovereignty of God and Ethnic-Based Suffering" in ''Suffering and the Sovereignty of God'', ed. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 124. (Crossway, 2006).</ref>
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| '''God's Sovereignty.''' "God's ultimate Lordship and rule over the universe".<ref name="Donald K. McKim 1996" /> || Portraying God as ordaining whatever happens reduces "humans to robots".<ref>Greg Boyd, "How do you respond to Isaiah 48:3-5?", http://reknew.org/2008/01/how-do-you-respond-to-isaiah-483-5/</ref> || "Nothing that exists or occurs falls outside God's ordaining will. ''Nothing'', including no evil person or thing or event or deed."<ref name="Talbot 2006">Talbot, "All the Good That Is Ours in Christ", in ''Suffering and the Sovereignty of God'', ed. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 43-44 (Crossway, 2006).</ref>
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| '''God's Perfection'''. "God as lacking nothing and free of all moral imperfection".<ref name="Donald K. McKim 1996" /> || Believes in "(because Scripture teaches) the absolute perfection of God."<ref>Greg Boyd, "A Brief Outline and Defense of the Open View", http://www.gregboyd.org/essays/essays-open-theism/response-to-critics/ (accessed October 11, 2009).</ref> || Believes that, because "Scripture says" it, God "will always do what is right".<ref>Mark R. Talbot, "All the Good That Is Ours in Christ", in ''Suffering and the Sovereignty of God'', ed. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 41 (Crossway, 2006).</ref>
|-
| '''God's Foreknowledge.''' "God's knowing things and events before they happen in history".<ref>Donald K. McKim, ''Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms'' (Westminster John Knox, 1996), 115.</ref> || "God is omniscient" about "settled" reality, but the future that God "leaves open" can be known only as open "possibility" without specific foreknowledge.<ref>Gregory A. Boyd, "The Open Theism View", in ''Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views'', ed. James K. Beilby, Paul R. Eddy, 14 (InterVarsity, 2001).</ref> || Classically [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustinian]]-[[Calvinism|Calvinist]] view: "God knows the future because he preordains it."<ref>James K. Beilby, Paul R. Eddy, eds., ''Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views'', 11 (InterVarsity, 2001).</ref>
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| '''The Fall'''. "The disobedience and sin of Adam and Eve that caused them to lose the state of innocence in which they had been created. This event plunged them and all mankind into a state of sin and corruption."<ref>Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, R. K. Harrison, eds., ''Nelson's Student Bible Dictionary: A Complete Guide to Understanding the World of the Bible'' (Thomas Nelson, 2005), s.v. "FALL, THE".</ref> || God "does not unilaterally and irrevocably decide what to do". God's decisions are influenced by "human attitudes and responses".<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Rice |article=Biblical support for a new perspective |title=The Openness of God: A biblical challenge to the traditional understanding of God |editor1-first=Clark H. |editor1-last=Pinnock |display-editors=etal <!-- ¿? 30 --> |publisher=InterVarsity |year=1994}}</ref> || "Ultimate reason" for the Fall was "God's ordaining will".<ref name="Talbot 2006" />
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| [[Free will in theology|'''Free Will''']]. "The term seeks to describe the free choice of the will which all persons possess. Theological debates have arisen over the ways and to the extent to which sin has affected the power to choose good over evil, and hence one's 'free will'."<ref>Donald K. McKim, ''Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms'' (Westminster John Knox, 1996), 109.</ref> || Promotes [[incompatibilism]], the doctrine that "the agent's power to do otherwise" is "a necessary condition for acting freely".<ref>Robert Kane, "The Contours of Contemporary Free Will Debates", in ''The Oxford Handbook of Free Will'', ed. Robert Kane, 10-11 (Oxford USA, 2005).</ref> || Promotes [[compatibilism]], the doctrine that freedom of the will requires only "the ''power'' or ''ability'' to do what one will (desire or choose) to do" without constraint or impediment, even if what one wills is determined.<ref>Robert Kane, "The Contours of Contemporary Free Will Debates", in ''The Oxford Handbook of Free Will'', ed. Robert Kane, 12, 13 (Oxford USA, 2005).</ref>
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| '''Free Will and God's Sovereignty'''. A "caustic debate" began about 1990 over "''God's'' sovereignty and human free will".<ref>Roger E. Olson, ''The Westminster Handbook to Evangelical Theology'' (Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 186-187.</ref> || Saying that God governs human choices reduces "angels or humans to robots in order to attain his objectives."<ref>Greg Boyd, "How do you respond to Isaiah 48:3-5?", http://reknew.org/2008/01/how-do-you-respond-to-isaiah-483-5/.</ref> || God governs "the choices of human beings", but without "cancelling [their] freedom and responsibility".<ref>Mark R. Talbot, "All the Good That Is Ours in Christ" in ''Suffering and the Sovereignty of God'', ed. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 69 (Crossway, 2006).</ref>
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| '''Theodicy issue'''. "The justification of a deity's justice and goodness in light of suffering and evil".<ref>Donald K. McKim, ''Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms'' (Westminster John Knox, 1996), 279.</ref>
 || To meet the "conditions of love", God exercises "general rather than specific sovereignty, which explains why God does not prevent all evil".<ref>John Sanders, ''The God Who Risks: A Theology of Providence'' (InterVarsity, 1998), 268.</ref> Also, God "does not completely control or in any sense will evil" because the world is "held hostage to a cosmic evil force".<ref>Gregory A. Boyd, ''God at War: the Bible and Spiritual Conflict'' (InterVarsity Press, 1997), 20, 291.</ref> || Because "Scripture says" it, God "will always do what is right".<ref>Mark R. Talbot, "All the Good That Is Ours in Christ", ''Suffering and the Sovereignty of God'', ed. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 41 (Crossway Books, 2006).</ref>
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