A Lutheran pastor told me that she believes God is not omniscient (and that this was a Greek concept later applied to God), but rather that God is in a process of "learning" how to deal with humanity. She elaborated her belief by explaining the following:
- The way that God has dealt with humanity has changed over time. First a flood, then Mosaic Law, then Christ's sacrifice. She also sees a growing Christian acceptance of things that were historically classified as a sin (notably homosexuality) as a continued sign of God learning.
- God has changed his mind, which suggests that he received new information and thus does not know all (e.g. Exodus 32:14 NRSV "And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.")
- If humans were created in God's image, the fact that original sin entered through them suggests that God did not know that this would be a consequence (otherwise, he might have chosen either to not create them or to change the circumstances so that they would not have sinned).
She did however seem to think that God had some unchanging qualities, such as that he was benevolent. I suppose that an alternative way to interpret her view is that if these qualities are changeable, then God has not changed them and is not inclined to change them.
Answers as to the validity or orthodoxy of this doctrine are probably best served in other questions. For now, I'd like to know if there is a name for this view.