Abstract

Hartshorne holds that #1 and #2, taken with a proper theory of such relations as knowing and loving, entail #3, so that by denying the latter, classical theism abandons the privilege of holding to the conjunction of #1 and #2 consistently. Its only alternatives are to turn Leibnizian or to be inconsistent. The former option is to deny the contingency of the world. God's creative decrees always have a sufficient reason, else how could we call him wise. This reason must always be the highest good, else how could we call him good. This world is really the best possible world precisely because it is the only possible world morally necessitated by the divine character.