Classical theism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Classical theism refers to traditional ideas of the monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Classical theism holds that God is an absolute, eternal, all-knowing (omniscient), all-powerful (omnipotent), and perfect being. God is related to the world as its cause, but is unaffected by the world (immutable) . He is transcendent over the world which exists relative to him as a temporal effect.
The doctrine of classical theism is based on the writings of Holy Scripture such as the Tanakh, the Bible, or the Qu'ran. Some theologians would also acknowledge a debt to Platonic and neo-Platonic philosophy. Depending on their understanding of scripture as revelation, they may disagree with modern scientific theories such as the big bang and evolution. However, Christian apologists such as Dr. Norman Geisler, Dr. William Lane Craig, and Dr. Hugh Ross, an astrophysicist, argue that the big bang model, which is premised on a beginning of the universe (time, space, matter, and energy), supports the first words in Genesis, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth." This argument aligns itself closely with the cosmological argument, which claims:
- Everything that exists has a cause;
- Nothing can cause itself;
- The universe exists;
- Therefore, the universe has a cause.
Thus, classical theists hold this uncaused cause to be God.
