Why are we here? Norman Kretzmann and Necessitarianism
John Richardson posted a quote yesterday by Norman Kretzmann from a position called ‘Necessitarianism’, an argument I had never heard of:
Goodness does require something other than itself as a manifestation of itself. God therefore necessarily (though with the freedom associated with with counterfactual choice) wills the being of something other than himself. [...] God’s will is necessitated as regards whether to create, but fully free as regards what to create.
It would seem – if I have at all grasped this correctly – this position asserts love is compelled to create in order to share love – this is a somewhat crude rendering. Or as John coined it in his comments section:
….Thus God’s creativity is an expression of this diffusive goodness, which is inherent to God’s nature.
And
….Similarly, the necessitarian view, as I understand it, is that God created because creation flows from his nature.
This all struck a chord with me and I’m glad to say that John has pushed forward with these thoughts today, and I encourage you to hop over and take a look:
I feel John really hits the nub and nuance of this fascinating position very succinctly indeed.
November 4th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Interesting, but of course the sharing of love can be done between God and any creature, not just a human being.
This also raises the issue of the “only begotten son” who was pre existent and how that love shared with him was inadequate and requiring the creation of people.
Just some initial thoughts.
November 5th, 2010 at 8:40 am
@Gordon
Interesting, but of course the sharing of love can be done between God and any creature, not just a human being.
Yes absolutely, in fact with all of creation.
This also raises the issue of the “only begotten son” who was pre existent and how that love shared with him was inadequate and requiring the creation of people.
Again yes. I feel John has been careful to emphasise that God in Himself is – and always has been – perfect and complete.
November 5th, 2010 at 8:53 am
So where does evolution come into this? Under this theology God could share his love with a dinosaur. There would be no imperative to instantly create a being in his image. An evolutionary process would be an equally valid way to do it.
November 5th, 2010 at 8:55 am
I agree.
November 6th, 2010 at 8:49 am
I approached ths full of anticipation of some revelation, but after a second reading of John’s post I found myself disappointed. Perhaps I have completely missed the point, but to me this superficially interesting idea is really rather a glimpse of the blindingly obvious, if one believes in the God of the Bible.
Put another way, perhaps one could say: “God is almighty. Being almighty necessitates having the quality of goodness. Creating us was expresses this goodness. We are part of God’s eternal and timeless kingdom. Our temporal stay on Earth allows us to more fully understand this, before returning to Him.
No surprises there then?
November 6th, 2010 at 8:50 am
Oops. Take out the redundant “was” in the 2nd paragraph.