Rethinking God’s openness

Abstract

A key premise in Schellenberg’s Hiddenness Argument draws on his principle Not Open. Schellenberg argues that this premise, which states that “If for any capable finite person S and time t, God is at t open to being in a personal relationship with S at t, then for any capable finite person S and time t, it is not the case that S is at t nonresistantly in a state of nonbelief in relation to the proposition that God exists,” “seems clearly to be a necessary truth” (Schellenberg 2016). This paper argues against this claim by raising considerations against Not Open: against the synchronic condition, the attitudinal condition, and the methodological approach taken to support and apply this principle.