“In this groundbreaking book, homebrewedchristianity.com contends, author Thomas Jay Oord “explains why omnipotence should be rejected.” Indeed, “Nobody makes a bolder, but more needed argument for why God is not all-powerful.” There’ll be those who’ll condemn this view—it degrades God!—but as blogger Bob Cornwall affirms, it does provide them with “a pathway to something different than an all-powerful God who seems indifferent to their plight.”
Oord’s alternative to omnipotence is, in a word of his own making, amipotence, which is, as homebrewedchristianity.com reports, “the power of uncontrolling love.” The Scholarly Publishing Collective finds this “view of divine power more appropriate to open and relational theologies, as well as to real-life experiences.” stainedglassrebel.com’s reviewer finds this “a very satisfying alternative…. If it seems ungodly to you, then I urge you to read the book.”
But here’s the thing, as Eric Sentell of Backyard Church observes: the “‘God Can’t’ theology of Tom Oord preserves a God of love amidst a world with pointless pain and senseless suffering.” But “God needs creaturely cooperation to bring about outcomes.” inspiritencourage.com agrees: “[L]ove is relational, and if there is no loving response, then God’s love doesn’t bring about the good desired.” We’re needed!
The Death of Omnipotence and the Birth of Amipotence
By Thomas Jay Oord
SacraSage Press, 2023