The goal of this blog post is to answer the question of whether open theism fits within the Arminian tradition. Since you will hear Open theists proclaim they are Arminians or Calvinist use it as a polemic against Arminianism. It's my opinion that open theism does not fit within Arminian orthodoxy and I will define what this orthodoxy is. Since there is a foundational difference in what God can know about between the Arminian and open theist. Since believing in free will doesn't make one an Arminian it's following the great tradition built by great theologians like Arminius and John Wesley that makes you Arminian.
The Orthodox Arminian view of God's foreknowledge
We need to first define what the orthodox Arminian view is when it comes to God's foreknowledge. The best way to do this is by looking at Jacob Arminius and John Wesley. The reason is that those two are the best representatives for Arminianism since they both help build this tradition. When it comes to God's foreknowledge Arminius says in His disputation on the understanding of God "The understanding of God is certain and infallible; so that he sees certainly and infallibly, even, things future and contingent, whether he sees them in their causes, or in themselves." Now let's look at John Wesley and his view of God's foreknowledge. A great place where we see his view is in his Commentary on 1 Peter 1:2. Here he says "Strictly speaking, there is no foreknowledge, no more than afterknowledge, with God: but all things are known to him as present from eternity to eternity." So we see again that Wesley and Arminius affirms that God knows all things even though Wesley is a little less precise than Arminius but he still affirms that God knows everything including human choices. So the orthodox Arminian view is that God knows all possibilities and all future contingents so God is never surprised.
Open theist view of God's foreknowledge
Now let's first define the open theist view as the internet encyclopedia of philosophy defines their view as "God knows all the possible ways the world might go at any point in time, but He does not know the one way the world will go, so long as some part of what will happen in the future is contingent." Greg Boyd also says in an article concerning misunderstandings about Open theism says that "Open theism holds that, because agents are free, the future includes possibilities (what agents may and may not choose to do). Since God’s knowledge is perfect, open theists hold that God knows the future partly as a realm of possibilities." Greg Boyd explains what the open theist reasoning for this view since God only knows possibilities by saying it's "about the content of the reality God perfectly knows." And it makes perfect sense for them since they will affirm that God has omniscience but define it in such a way that it only describes possibilities. Since they say knowing contingent truths is logical impossible so since it's logical impossible God can't know contingent truths.
Similarities and Differences
Are there any agreements between these two different views and I would say there are only two areas we Arminians agree with the open theist.That humans have a free will we would both agree that is the case since it's the easiest similarity between these two views. The second area were we would agree is that God knows all possibilities. But the Arminian would say God knows all contingent truths and this is where we find the foundational disagreement. The open theist will deny this view of God's foreknowledge until their last breath since they would say it's logical impossible for God to know contingent truths. So the Arminian and open theist foundational disagree on the contents of God's knowledge and this disagreement is what separates open theism from the Arminian tradition. The open theist limits God's knowledge to only knowing all possibilities while the Arminians affirm what the Christian tradition has always said that God knows everything even the choices of creature's infallible.
Conclusion
As I have shown in defining these two views that they are different on a foundational level and because of this it lands open theism in it's own tradition. We agree on free will and that God knows all possibilities of His free creatures but this is were the similarities end since the Arminian will affirm that God knows the choices of His creatures infallible as well. Since the open theists reject that statement they can't be within the Arminian tradition or say they are a valid development within the tradition. Since Arminius and Wesley would disagree with their view of God's foreknowledge.
Honestly open theism is a view that is in heavy error that limits God and Arminians should reject this view since it goes against one of the principles of Arminianism which is not to place man's free will over God. And open theism does this by limiting God to only knowing possibilities since of man's will and denying that God can know the choices of His creatures. I hope that you find the reasons why I say open theist aren't apart of the Arminian tradition as reasonable. All I ask from Arminians is don't team up with open theist so you can win some points against calvinist it's not worth it.
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