The Latter-day Saint tradition maintains a finite conception of God that challenges key tenets of classical Christian theism. God is understood to have a literal body of flesh and bone (D&C 130:22) and to relate to human beings in exceptionally passable and interactive ways (Jacob 5:7 & Moses 7:29). God is said to have created human beings in the divine likeness such that it is possible for humanity to become divine (Moses 1:39). God’s design for humanity is to create the conditions for spiritual growth and to labor with them toward the glorification of both (Jacob 5:72). This conference will explore divine finitude in the Latter-day Saint tradition and seeks to examine and build on the theological writings of thinkers such as B. H. Roberts, David Paulsen, Truman Madsen, Eugene England, Lowell Bennion, Sterling McMurrin, Margaret Toscano, and Fiona & Terryl Givens, among others.
The concept of divine finitude is especially relevant given the challenges confronting humanity in the contemporary world. How might Latter-day Saint theology respond meaningfully to the lived experience of chaos and hopelessness due to pervasive loss and suffering? How might its conception of God inform its approach to scriptural interpretation, ethics, and social activism? The conference will orient around four topics: scripture, revelation, the problem of evil, and liberation theology & social justice.
Thomas Jay Oord will give a plenary address entitled, "A Finite God: Internal or External Limitations.”
Dr. Oord is Professor of Open and Relational Theology and Director of the Center for Open and Relational Theology, Northwind Theological Seminary.V