The “relatively infinite” God of Latter Day Saint
(LDS) theology is incommensurate[i] with the infinite God of
classical theism (CT).
To illustrate the notion of incommensurability,
imagine that you have a topographical map of, say, Dubuque Iowa. It would be
possible to take a map of the streets of Dubuque and lay it over the topographical
map, and expect things to line up. You could further add a population density
map of the city, a map of the locations of the city parks, a map of the rivers
and lakes, and a map of all the Taco Bell restaurants. As you overlay each map
on top of the other, you would continue to expect each to line up. They line up
because, although they might be representing different aspects of Dubuque, each
of them still describes the same town.
If you were then to take a topographical map of Paris
France, and then overlay maps of streets, parks, Taco Bells, etc., of Paris Texas, would you expect them to similarly
line up? You would not—you might find a restaurant in the middle of a lake, or
a park on the runway of an airport. The reason is that, in this second case,
the topographical map and the street map are not describing different aspects
of the same city.
Paris France and Paris Texas are not the same thing.
Because they are not the same thing, if one were to try to overlay a map of one
over top of the other, there would be no correspondence. They are
incommensurate[ii].
They are “unlike and incompatible, sharing no common ground.”
In this essay, I intend to argue that the maps of the LDS God and the maps of CT God do not line up, as it
were, indicating that the classical conception of God and the God of LDS
theology are likewise incommensurate.