Divine Will and Human Choice

Divine Will and Human Choice
Author: Richard A. Muller
Publisher: Baker Academic
Total Pages: 524
Release: 2017-05-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1493406701

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This fresh study from an internationally respected scholar of the Reformation and post-Reformation eras shows how the Reformers and their successors analyzed and reconciled the concepts of divine sovereignty and human freedom. Richard Muller argues that traditional Reformed theology supported a robust theory of an omnipotent divine will and human free choice and drew on a tradition of Western theological and philosophical discussion. The book provides historical perspective on a topic of current interest and debate and offers a corrective to recent discussions.

Grace and Freedom

Grace and Freedom
Author: Richard A. Muller
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2020-06-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 019751748X

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Grace and Freedom addresses the issue of divine grace in relation to the freedom of the will in Reformed or "Calvinist" theology in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. It focuses on the work of the English Reformed theologian William Perkins, especially his role as an apologist of the Church of England, defending its theology against the Roman Catholic polemic, and specifically against the charge that Reformed theology denies human free choice. Perkins and his Reformed contemporaries affirm that salvation occurs by grace alone and that God is the ultimate cause of all things, but they also insist on the freedom of the human will and specifically the freedom of choice in a way that does not conform to modern notions of "libertarian freedom" or "compatibilism." In developing this position, Perkins drew on the thought of Reformers such as Peter Martyr Vermigli and Zacharias Ursinus, on the nuanced positions of medieval scholastics, and several contemporary Roman Catholic representatives of the so-called "second scholasticism." His work was a major contribution to early modern Reformed thought both in England and on the continent. His influence in England extended both to the Reformed heritage of the Church of England and to English Puritanism. On the continent, his work contributed to the main lines of Reformed orthodoxy and to the piety of the Dutch Second Reformation.

Predestination & Free Will

Predestination & Free Will
Author: David Basinger
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2009-09-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780830876594

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If God is in control, are people really free? This question has bothered Christians for centuries. And answers have covered a wide spectrum. Today Christians still disagree. Those who emphasize human freedom view it as a reflection of God's self-limited power. Others look at human freedom in the order of God's overall control. David and Randall Basinger have put this age-old question to four scholars trained in theology and philosophy. John Feinberg of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Norman Geisler of Dallas Theological Seminary focus on God's specific sovereignty. Bruce Reichenbach of Augsburg College and Clark Pinnock of McMaster Divinity College insist that God must limit his control to ensure our freedom. Each writer argues for his perspective and applies his theory to two practical case studies. Then the other writers respond to each of the major essays, exposing what they see as fallacies and hidden assumptions. A lively and provocative volume.

Reformed Thought on Freedom

Reformed Thought on Freedom
Author: Willem J. van Asselt
Publisher: Baker Academic
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2010-01-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

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This volume examines the concept of human freedom in the work of six early modern Reformers.

Divine Omniscience and Human Free Will

Divine Omniscience and Human Free Will
Author: Ciro De Florio
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2019-11-14
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 303031300X

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This book deals with an old conundrum: if God knows what we will choose tomorrow, how can we be free to choose otherwise? If all our choices are already written, is our freedom simply an illusion? This book provides a precise analysis of this dilemma using the tools of modern metaphysics and logic of time. With a focus on three intertwined concepts - God’s nature, the formal structure of time, and the metaphysics time, including the relationship between temporal entities and a timeless God - the chapters analyse various solutions to the problem of foreknowledge and freedom, revealing the advantages and drawbacks of each. Building on this analysis, the authors advance constructive solutions, showing under what conditions an entity can be omniscient in the presence of free agents, and whether an eternal entity can know the tensed futures of the world. The metaphysics of time, its topology and the semantics of future tensed sentences are shown to be invaluable topics in dealing with this issue. Combining investigations into the metaphysics of time with the discipline of temporal logic this monograph brings about important advancements in the philosophical understanding of an ancient and fascinating problem. The answer, if any, is hidden in the folds of time, in the elusive nature of this feature of reality and in the infinite branching of our lives.

Divine Causality and Human Free Choice

Divine Causality and Human Free Choice
Author: Robert Joseph Matava
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2016-01-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004310312

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In Divine Causality and Human Free Choice, R.J. Matava explains the idea of physical premotion defended by Domingo Báñez, whose position in the Controversy de Auxiliis has been typically ignored in contemporary discussions of providence and freewill. Through a close engagement with untranslated primary texts, Matava shows Báñez’s relevance to recent debates about middle knowledge. Finding the mutual critiques of Báñez and Molina convincing, Matava argues that common presuppositions led both parties into an insoluble dilemma. However, Matava also challenges the informal consensus that Lonergan definitively resolved the controversy. Developing a position independently advanced by several recent scholars, Matava explains how the doctrine of creation entails a position that is more satisfactory both philosophically and as a reading of Aquinas.

Kierkegaard on God’s Will and Human Freedom

Kierkegaard on God’s Will and Human Freedom
Author: Lee C. Barrett
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2023-12-11
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1666914932

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Søren Kierkegaard’s authorship exhibits two different trajectories concerning the relation of responsible human agency to sovereign divine agency: one trajectory stresses free human striving, while the other trajectory emphasizes the dominance of divine agency. The first theme led to the view of Kierkegaard as the champion of autonomous existential “leaps,” while the second led to the construal of Kierkegaard as a devout Lutheran who trusted absolutely in God’s gracious governance. Lee C. Barrett argues that Kierkegaard, influenced by Kant’s critique of metaphysics, did not attempt to integrate human and divine agencies in any speculative theory. Instead, Kierkegaard deploys them to encourage different passions and dispositions that can be integrated in a coherent human life, making use of literary strategies to foster the different passions and dispositions that are associated with the themes of human responsibility and divine governance. Kierkegaard on God’s Will and Human Freedom: An Upbuilding Antinomy offers an incisive account of what makes Kierkegaard’s conception of theology as a matter of edification rather than speculation so distinctive and enduringly worthwhile.

What Love Is This?

What Love Is This?
Author: Dave Hunt
Publisher:
Total Pages: 590
Release: 2007-04-22
Genre: Calvinism
ISBN: 9781928660125

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Many sincere, Bible-believing Christians are Calvinists only by default. Thinking that the only choice is between Calvinism (with its presumed doctrine of eternal security) and Arminianism (with its teaching that salvation can be lost), and confident of Christ's promise to keep eternally those who believe in Him, they therefore consider themselves to be Calvinists. It takes only a few simple questions to discover that most Christians are largely unaware of what John Calvin and his early followers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries actually believed and practiced. Nor do they fully understand what most of today's leading Calvinists believe. Although there are disputed variations of the Calvinist doctrine, among its chief proponents (whom we quote extensively in context) there is general agreement on certain core beliefs. Many evangelicals who think they are Calvinists will be surprised to learn of Calvin's belief in salvation through infant baptism and of his grossly un-Christian behavior, at times, as the "Protestant Pope" of Geneva, Switzerland. Most shocking of all, however, is Calvinism's misrepresentation of God, who "is love." It is our prayer that this volume will enable readers to examine more carefully the vital issues involved and to follow God's holy Word­--not man's teachings. "The first edition of this book was greeted by fervent opposition and criticism from Calvinists. In this enlarged and revised edition I have endeavored to respond to the critics." --Dave Hunt

Christ and the Decree

Christ and the Decree
Author: Richard A. Muller
Publisher: Baker Books
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2008-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1441239073

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In Christ and the Decree, one of the foremost scholars of Calvinism today expounds the doctrines of Christ and predestination as they were developed by Calvin, Bullinger, Musculus, Vermigli, Beza, Ursinus, Zanchi, Polanus, and Perkins. Muller analyzes the relationship of these two doctrines to each other and to the soteriological structure of the system. Back by demand, this seminal work on the relationship between Calvin and the Calvinists is once again available with a new contextualizing preface by the author. It offers a succinct introduction to the early development of Calvinism/Reformation thought.

Freedom of the Will

Freedom of the Will
Author: Jonathan Edwards
Publisher:
Total Pages: 326
Release: 1860
Genre: Free will and determinism
ISBN:

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