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Freedom Unlimited: Liberty, Autonomy, and Response-ability in the Open Theism of Clark Pinnock, by Jeffrey S. Hocking
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How are we to understand the freedom for which Christ has set us free (Gal 5:1)? Could it be that we have barely glimpsed what this might mean? Most theological accounts of freedom think of it either in terms of heteronomy (in which we submit to God or to our sinful inclinations) or autonomy (in which we are given the power of choice and are thus free to choose between good and evil). If Calvinists have championed the former, Arminians have advocated the latter. More recently, open theists, in significantly modifying the Arminian paradigm, have begun to recognize that neither tradition has provided an account of the fuller freedom that God intends for us. This book joins the debate at this point, not in order to take sides, but to suggest a theology that can get beyond (not between) the heteronomy and autonomy that seem to exhaust the present theological options. Clark Pinnock serves as the chief protagonist because of his role as a leading figure in the "Openness of God" movement. As his own development moves from Calvinism to Arminianism to open theism, this allows the present work to offer its sympathetic critique in the form of an invitation: that we continue to journey in the spirit of openness beyond both heteronomy and autonomy, towards a view of divine and human freedom that is covenantal, participatory, and unlimited.
- Sales Rank: #3322363 in Books
- Published on: 2010-10-18
- Released on: 2010-10-18
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x .32" w x 6.00" l, .45 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 140 pages
About the Author
Clark H. Pinnockwas professor of theology at McMaster Divinity College.
Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Jeffrey Hocking's Freedom: Love Beyond the Limits of Classical and Open Theology
By Dean
On first glance, one might be skeptical of a review of a book treating a leading thinker of what appears to be a dying theological movement, that of Open Theism. Though Open Theism indeed kicked up quite a bit of dust in its time, it seems as though that dust is settling. Nevertheless, what Jeffrey Hocking has done in "Freedom Unlimited" is nothing short of a legitimate innovation in theology. Resurrecting a stagnating conversation, Hocking does not offer a simple defibrillating shock to resurrect the movement back to its old form, but rather a new push, getting the ball rolling again, allowing it to use its old momentum while steering it in new and surprising directions (Open Theist pun intended). Two things make this book especially interesting. The first is Hocking’s excellent understanding of the main tenets and issues at stake in Open Theism. The second is his creative and fascinating critique of Clark Pinnock’s (a once-leading but sadly now deceased proponent of Open Theism) view of freedom, which opens the door once again for theologians to start conceiving of divine and human freedom in new and exciting ways that are faithful to the biblical witness. The first part of this review will focus on Hocking’s discussion of Pinnock’s critique of classical theology. The second will examine Hocking's attempt to move beyond both classical theology and Pinnock’s libertarian freedom.
Part I
Though many interested readers are probably aware of the conversations of Open Theism, Hocking does an excellent job laying them out in a clear and concise way, such that even novices would feel comfortable getting a handle on the issues yet without boring those more seasoned theologians. Hocking's presentation of Pinnock is both biographical and conceptual, thereby using Pinnock’s narrative as a guide for discussing his ideas. Pinnock made a journey from Calvinism to Arminianism, finally landing in a position called Open Theism. This journey, motivated by the problem of evil and God’s love in theology, made Pinnock the result of many caricatures and unfair reductions. Hocking cuts through these reductions with ease. He first discusses Pinnock’s fundamentalist beginnings, wherein issues like biblical inerrancy and attacks on liberalism were at the forefront. This fundamentalism, coupled with traditional five-point Calvinism, begins to falter under Pinnock’s consideration of two things: (1) intuitive and common human experience, in which humans naturally feel a sense of freedom, and (2) the biblical narrative which presents a dialogical picture of God and humans. As Hocking says, “Contrary to the claims of his detractors, Pinnock makes it clear that he did not begin to question Calvinism because he found it logically unsound, or because he became attracted to the principles of modern autonomy. Instead, he confesses that it was his commitment to Scripture that caused him to question Calvinist doctrines…” (9). This marks his beginning pilgrimage to Arminianism. Though Pinnock is attracted to the Arminian room for human response to God, he is ultimately left unsatisfied, as it still leaves intact the classical doctrines of God that fail to account for God’s role in the problem of evil. Pinnock seeks to solve this problem with a radical interpretation of God’s knowledge—that God does not and cannot know the future, thus he is surprised by evil himself.
If Pinnock’s interest in human response leaves Calvinists on edge, his suggestion that God does not know the future will surely make a break with classical Arminians. This does not suggest that God is not omniscient; God knows all that can be known. The question, however, is whether or not the future is knowable. For Pinnock, the future is decidedly unknowable, by definition, for both humans and God. Therefore, foreordination and foreknowledge are disposed of (paramount tenets for classical theology, both Calvinist and Arminian), thus completing Pinnock’s move to Open Theism. In this theology, freedom and the problem of evil take center stage. Pinnock makes the argument that one cannot truly love if one is not given the option to rebel or deny love, thus true freedom can only come if God does not foreordain events (which would eliminate freedom and therefore love) or foreknow choices (which would render God ultimately responsible for evil, as the lack of action is still grounds for culpability). God’s lack of complete ordination allows for human freedom, while God’s lack of knowledge about the future gets God off the hook, as it were, in the problem of evil, thereby allowing Pinnock’s theology to center around freedom and love. Though Hocking is sympathetic to much of Pinnock’s critique of classical theology, the book really gets going when he begins to critique Pinnock’s understanding of “libertarian freedom” and the necessary conditions for the love of God. Of course, if your head is spinning from the idea that the future might be unknowable, or if you happen to be ready to call Pinnock’s heretical bluff, you would do well to allow Hocking to guide you gently through the vast and winding tributaries of this innovative thinker before stumbling into Hocking's own creative path forward.
Part II
In Part I of my review, I highlighted Hocking’s presentation of Pinnock’s thought in relation to classical (particularly Calvinist and Arminian) theology. In Part II, I hope to elucidate the particularly interesting critiques of Pinnock and new directions for theology that Hocking offers. The primary target of Hocking’s critique is what Pinnock calls “libertarian freedom,” and he does an excellent job tracing the genealogy of this concept through the history of philosophy. This kind of freedom is defined negatively, that is, as a freedom *from* something. “For Pinnock, true human freedom is found (in part) in the ability to say “No” even (and perhaps especially) to God” (25). Though freedom is central to Hocking’s project, he begins to draw out some significantly nuanced differences from Pinnock’s idea of freedom. Following Barth, Hocking questions the claim that actual freedom requires negativity. Barth claims that human freedom is more accurately considered a freedom *to* obey God. If we consider the narrative of the Fall, we can see how this plays out. In Pinnock’s view, God is not responsible for the Fall but the necessary possibility of the Fall, without which there is no freedom. For Barth, on the other hand, the Fall is considered almost playfully as an impossibility—the choice against obedience to God is actually a choice against freedom itself, a placement outside of freedom and into slavery. In this way, Barth’s freedom is a positive one, a freedom to and for, rather than from, something. Though both thinkers see human response as undetermined by God, the nature of this response is situated differently, and it makes all the difference.
In brief, Pinnock is characterized as construing freedom as the ability to say “No” to God, while Barth’s obedience allows freedom to be a “Yes” to God. Obedience, however, is not the final landing place. Hocking suggests “faithfulness” as a superior alternative, and this is where his creativity really shines through. Faithfulness, he argues, better represents a multiplicity of appropriate responses to God’s call on humanity to be free. In other words, there are many ways to embody the kind of freedom God calls us to embody, and faithfulness implies a dynamism that obedience does not supply. Obedience is a static term, suggesting a particularly limited and restricted response. The faithful yes is not a relativism, however—it must answer to Life and Love, to God. To revisit the Genesis narrative again, Hocking agrees with Barth that freedom is found in a positive Yes to God but situates this Yes in a diversity of faithful “Yeses.” Coupling this with an open view of the future, he creates a beautiful interpretation of the creation story. He writes: “To speak only of choice for does not necessarily limit possibilities. I am thinking particularly of the first task given to Adam (other than to respond by breathing): to name the creatures God has created. It is written that God brought the creatures before Adam ‘to see what he would call them’ (Gen 2:19). God did not bring the creatures before Adam to see whether or not he would name them (as a libertarian understanding of freedom might suggest), but to see (and be surprised by) how he would name them. Adam’s freedom is found in the act of naming, not in the choice whether or not to name” (56). For Hocking, therefore, the openness to the future developed by Pinnock remains highly valuable. Freedom and love, however, are better situated in a relationship rather than a theoretical schema that requires a rupture in order to be realized. Hocking cites a human example of this that I find helpful. In the Fall, the prohibition given to not eat from the tree is not necessary for freedom. Instead, it is given as a result of immaturity. Hocking cites how many parents give children warnings not to deal with dangerous things like touching a hot curling iron. This prohibition does not expect disobedience, and, indeed, the parent is surprised when such disobedience occurs (52-53)! Indeed, the freedom to say “Yes” to God means also being free to engage in particular “noes” in order to remain faithful, as in saying “No” to opportunities that work against Life and Love. This is worked out extensively and responsibly throughout Hocking’s third chapter, and it contains many consequences for social, political, and religious life that regrettably cannot be worked out here. It is perhaps these pragmatic concerns that make the book not only interesting but necessary in our own time.
Situating freedom in this way, Hocking is free to develop a more dialogical picture of the relationship between God and humanity. This freedom opens the door to conceive of both parties as co-creators and partners. In the fourth chapter, Hocking introduces a notion of power that necessarily couples with freedom. Adeptly navigating Open Theism and introducing the conversations of process theology, Hocking is able to critique classical conceptions of power while effectively and truly moving beyond both popular alternatives (and he is clear that his use of these schools does not identify him with them wholeheartedly). Deploying a creative eye and a significant Christology, he suggests power has been unfortunately bound to competition. As such, God’s power and human power are a “zero-sum economy.” “Either God or creation can have the power; they can ‘share’ it 50/50 or 60/40, but there can be no mutual participation” (76). Instead, Hocking suggests power as a cooperative force. Hocking finishes the chapter suggesting a mutual participation in exercising power with God. Similar to his view of freedom, true power is only found when one is involved in being faithful to God. This conception of power, like freedom, has helpful consequences for the rest of human life and allows believers to be truly empowered by and in God. “In the creation story, God’s power does not seem to conflict with creation, but instead flows into it and empowers it. Divine power might well conflict with false powers, but it is difficult to get a sense from the creation story or any biblical narrative that God’s power conflicts with creation’s authentic power. This continues to the apex of the Christian story when Jesus embodies transformative power on the cross” (98).
To conclude, what Hocking has done is nothing short of providing a legitimately new conception of human and freedom in theological conversation. I would have liked to included much more in this review; Hocking’s use of philosophical categories like compatibilism and incompatibilism, his creative readings of biblical texts, and his heart for the pragmatic consequences of our views of freedom (i.e. ecology, economics, political matters, etc.) are all of great importance and aid. Nonetheless, I hope that what I have done justifiably represents Hocking’s trajectories in such a way that readers will see in this young thinker a creative and helpful mind. Readers familiar with Open Theism will surely be interested in Hocking’s relation to classical theological issues and the philosophical ideas present in the work, and they will be positively challenged by his non-polemical and constructive style. At the very least, "Freedom Unlimited" will spark an imaginative and inspiring posture toward the issues of classical and Open Theology, hermeneutics, and, most importantly, our relationship to the God of Love, Life, and true freedom. God calls; it is up to us to respond faithfully and with a resounding “Yes!”
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