International Journal ]or Philosophy of Religion 16:225-236 (1984). 9 984 Martinus Ni]hoff Publishers, Dordrecht. Printed in the Netherlands. OMNISCIENCE AND DELIBERATION BRUCE R. REICHENBACH Augsburg College The theological doctrine of divine omniscience has occasioned a number of prob- lems. Recent literature has focused on both the relation between omniscience and human freedom 1 and the relation between omniscience and immutability) There is another issue respecting omniscience, suggested by Richard Taylor, which I would like to address in this paper, that is, the relation between God's omniscience and deliberation, both divine and human. Two problems arise: can a God who is omniscient foreknow any future actions or events which result from deliberation, and can a God who is omniscient act intentionally in the world? God and intentional acts Before we develop the problems, let us first say something about God and inten- tional acts. Theists generally hold that God performs intentional actions. He acts purposively, in a goal-directed manner, to bring about what he desires. Many examples from biblical writings can be cited: he created the universe, he brought plagues on the Egyptians to get them to free the children of Israel, he responds to prayers, he reveals himself to particular persons. God can also act non-intentionally, i.e. know what will happen, act in such a way that it happens, but not intend that it happen. This is the case where the bringing about of certain evils (pain and suffering) is a result of the performance of a good action. Though God intends and acts to bring about the good, the action is such that evil also results. The evil is foreseen but not intended) For example, God performed the good act of creating human persons. One can also say that God created human persons who do evil. But though God intended to create human persons and foresaw that they would use that freedom to do evil, he did not in- tend to create human persons who do evil. That is, though his creation of persons was intentional, his creation of persons who do evil was non-intentional. A further question concerns whether God can act unintentionally, Le. act in such a way that something happens but neither know that it will happen nor in- tend that it happen. Examples of this sort of action include actions done acci- 225