Omnipotence

With omnipotence, omnipotence, or omnipotence (Latin omnis, " all ", "everything" and potentia, potestas, " power" ) is the ability refers to each event - possibly even beyond scientific explicability - to set in motion or influence.

The omnipotence of God

Ancient religious beliefs without an almighty God

The gods of Greek mythology were not omnipotent. Uranus was castrated by Kronos because he devised the first wrong, it declared the latter, the mother Gaia. Zeus - the most powerful among the gods - these deposed again and took themselves again the help of Hekatonchires in order to survive in the struggle against the Titans can. In Virgil he is, however, often with which called metric offering Jupiter Omnipotens, and the Fata to identify unclear either a its parent fate or his own Willensentschlüssen, are infallible and immutable, but are characterized also by the fact that they leave open the scope inserted within limits. " Omnipotens " stands as epithet ornans in analogy to expressions like ignipotens ( the Feuerbeherrscher: Vulcanus ) or armipotens ( the Mighty Weapons: Mars ).

Different conceptions of the notion of omnipotence

Omnipotence as an attribute of God marks the monotheistic religions.

The concept of omnipotence has been used in different meanings. We can distinguish three basic meanings:

Omnipotence and omniscience

In many cases, omniscience is considered a logical consequence of omnipotence. So writes Prof. Dr. Gerhard Streminger: "The property of omniscience should be included in the concept of omnipotence, as a being who lacks knowledge, even to power is lacking. Is a being, however powerful, so it is all-knowing. "

On the other hand there is the view that omnipotence and omniscience of God mutually exclusive - at least if one understands omniscience so that it includes complete knowledge of the future. Richard Dawkins argues that it was " the attention of logicians noticed that omniscience and omnipotence are incompatible. If God is omniscient, he must know how he will intervene with his omnipotence and change the course of history already. However, this means that he can change his mind it with the engagement no longer, and therefore he is not omnipotent. "

Criticism of the concept of omnipotence

The omnipotence term supply is particularly related to the theodicy problem in the criticism. The combination of omnipotence, infinite goodness, omniscience, and of course in a deity is problematic in view of the suffering in the world and it seems as if a drop point. After a expressed by Hans Jonas theory that would be the omnipotence, because this is logically untenable. Power is obviously only power if they meet with resistance, but infinite power have no more resistance, so here would be the omnipotence of an empty power.

The omnipotence paradox: An all-powerful God should be able to create a stone that he himself can not lift. Either he can, then he is not omnipotent, or he could lift it. Or he can not, well then he is not omnipotent.

One can argue, however, that the rules of logic for an almighty God - give rise to the paradox - do not apply, so that even at an absolute omnipotence understanding ( see above) would create a paradox not. According to this interpretation, God could act fully, that is, it could also be a unhebbaren stone, despite further existing omnipotence create. This result, however, that such a God can not be more ( differentiated) recognized and understood, and ultimately exhausted in an empty notion about no other reasonable statements can be made. From a so -understood term follow not only arbitrary ways ( an impossibility would no longer exist ); the statement that nothing is impossible, would be useless, since this herself is a logical conclusion ( and just for the invalidity of the logic is indeed in this sense the absolute omnipotence ). Such an interpretation of the concept of omnipotence is, however, only very rarely to be found, as such a God can not be more part of a coherent doctrine and it is pointless for people to speculate about something that you can not by definition with traceable means ( logic) can detect or interpret. Therefore, it is represented by the vast majority of philosophers and theologians a more moderate omnipotence term which does not lead to the above paradox.

According to the realism believes that a resolution of the paradox lies in the fact that even and especially should not be required to be contradictory of God. God is thus not only logical, but the source of all logic, even the logos to call itself a lack of perfection or issue a restriction for an ability is inconclusive in itself ( and perhaps because of God). It therefore remains to the perfection of God, to which his omniscience, omnipotence and infinite goodness belong, according to these teachings untouched; see also the Natural Theology.

However, this resolution attempts are associated with limitations of the concept of omnipotence or can be invalidated by reformulation of the paradox.

Religious ideas without Almighty God

Some monotheists reject the idea that God is all-powerful, completely off. In Unitarian Universalism, in large parts of the Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism, and in some currents of Protestantism, the process theology and open theism it is, God works in the world, not by force, but by persuasion. God manifests itself in the world through inspiration and through the creation of opportunities, not by miracles and by violations of the laws of nature.

The Protestant theologian Dorothee Sölle developed a critical attitude to the doctrine of the omnipotence of God. It took the view: " God has no other hands than ours. "

The Orthodox theology teaches instead of omnipotence that God's power is unlimited ( Negative Theology).

The omnipotence of the state

Occasionally, the term is also used in the context of government action, especially in forms of government in protecting this action insufficient control.

The omnipotence of man ( omnipotence fantasies )

Almighty is thus that being the masters all kinds of situations, the laws of growth and decay is not subject and has fantastic skills - such as alone to effect by means of the will, which the rest of the world is denied. Also worth mentioning are fantasies of omnipotence, in which man encounters as a reaction formation of deep mortification, at least his own origins can not influence.

50286
de