ABSTRACT
All temporal events would be inevitable since their occurrence would be predetermined from eternity by the immutable will of God. In such a universe no events could have the two-way contingency necessary in order to be objects of impetratory petition. An alternative way of defining ‘change’ and ‘changelessness’ is suggested by Peter Geach, and called by him the Cambridge criterion ‘since it keeps on occurring in Cambridge philosophers of the great days, like Bertrand Russell and McTaggert.’ T. P. Smith has suggested a criterion that seems at least to account for Geach’s examples. In the light of the analysis, Geach suggests that no real change is possible in God’s knowledge, power or will. One of the most popular attempts in the Christian tradition to deal with the problem was that suggested by Boethius himself. Prayer presupposes a God who can have a temporal relation with human persons and with the world.
