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Can God Be Free?: Rowe's dilemma for theology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2005

WILLIAM HASKER
Affiliation:
Huntington College, Huntington, IN 46750
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Abstract

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In his book, Can God Be Free?, William Rowe has argued that if God is unsurpassably good He cannot be free; if He is free, He cannot be unsurpassably good. After following the discussion of this topic through a number of historical figures, Rowe focuses on the recent and contemporary debate. A key claim of Rowe's is that, if there exists an endless series of better and better creatable worlds, then the existence of a morally perfect creator is impossible. I show that this argument is unsound, since a key premise can be proved false from propositions Rowe himself accepts.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press