This is a Q&A blog post by Talbot School of Theology’s Visiting Scholar in Philosophy, William Lane Craig.

Question

I agree with the definition of God as the greatest conceivable Being. However, in defense of Molinism, I’ve not read or heard you bring that up. What I mean is, most would accept that God has natural knowledge and free knowledge, but wouldn’t a God who also possesses middle knowledge be greater? This, the greatest conceivable Being, must possess not only free knowledge and natural knowledge, but middle knowledge as well? If He didn’t possess it, He wouldn’t be the greatest conceivable Being, would He?

William Lane Craig’s Response

Your question gives me the opportunity to correct an infelicity in my previous expression. I have frequently referred to God as the greatest conceivable being. But I have recently come to appreciate that Anselm’s concept of God is much more exalted than that. Anselm believed that God was even greater than anything that we can conceive. So it would be more accurate to speak of God as a maximally great being or a perfect being; he is even greater than the greatest being we can conceive. That’s why Alvin Plantinga formulated Anselm’s ontological argument in terms of maximal greatness.

Now I agree with you that if middle knowledge is a coherent notion, then a maximally great being should possess middle knowledge. For a maximally great being must be omniscient, and an omniscient being must know all true propositions, including counterfactual propositions about how people would freely choose under various circumstances. Moreover, a maximally great being must be omnipotent, and a being who is able to actualize states of affairs indirectly by placing free agents in certain circumstances, knowing how they would freely choose, is plausibly more powerful than a being who cannot providentially control free creatures without interfering with their freedom. Since I think that middle knowledge is a coherent notion, it does seem to me that a maximally great being, such as God is, must have middle knowledge.

This Q & A and other resources are available on William Lane Craig’s website.