| Summary: | This paper argues that a strong thesis of divine providence, whereby God is understood as in complete control of all things, entails pantheism, the thesis that the universe is not ontologically distinct from God. In normal discourse we distinguish a plan from, on the one hand, the state of affairs which realises that plan – its execution or expression – and, on the other hand, the person or group whose plan it is. However, with respect to an omnipotent God who displays complete providence neither of these two distinctions holds. We cannot separate person from plan, or plan from world, and in consequence neither can we separate person from world. Ergo pantheism. Accordingly, the argument of this paper comes in two parts maintaining, first the impossibility of distinguishing between God’s plan and its execution and, second, the impossibility of distinguishing God himself from his plan.
|
|---|