Divine Will and Human Choice : Freedom, Contingency, and Necessity in Early Modern Reformed Thought

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. 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, offering a corrective to recent discussions. Title Page 2 Copyright Page 4 Dedication 5 Contents 6 Preface 10 Part I Freedom and Necessity in Reformed Thought: The Contemporary Debate 16 1. Introduction: The Present State of the Question 17 1.1 Reformed Thought on Freedom, Contingency, and Necessity: Setting the Stage for Debate 17 1.2 Freedom, Necessity, and Protestant Scholasticism: A Multi-Layered Problem 26 1.3 Synchronic Contingency: Historiographical Issues of Medieval and Early Modern Debate, Conversation, and Reception 34 2. Reformed Thought and Synchronic Contingency 39 2.1 The Argument for Synchronic Contingency 39 2.2 The Logical Issue: Does Synchronic Contingency Resolve the Question of Divine Will and Human Freedom? 47 2.3 Historical and Historiographical Issues 57 A. Variant Understandings of the History from Aristotle through the Middle Ages 57 B. The Issue of Scotism and Early Modern Reformed Thought 63 Part II Philosophical and Theological Backgrounds: Aristotle, Aquinas, and Duns Scotus 73 3. Aristotle and Aquinas on Necessity and Contingency 74 3.1 Aristotle, Aquinas, and the Debate over Synchronic Contingency 74 A. Introduction: The Historical Issues—Transmission and Reception 74 B. Aristotle and Aquinas in Current Discussion 75 3.2 The Question of Contingency and the Implication of Possibility in Aristotle 77 3.3 The Medieval Backgrounds: Aristotle, Augustine, Boethius, and the Problem of Plenitude 92 A. Augustine and the Ciceronian Dilemma 92 B. Boethius and the Medieval Reception of Aristotle 94 3.4 Aquinas and the Medieval Reading of Aristotle 99 3.5 Thomas Aquinas on Divine Power, Necessity, Possibility, Contingency, and Freedom 107 A. Aquinas on the Power of God: Absolute, Ordained, and Utterly Free 107 B. Necessity, Possibility, Contingency, and Freedom 114 4. Duns Scotus and Late Medieval Perspectives on Freedom 125 4.1 The Assessment of Duns Scotus in Recent Studies 125 4.2 The Potentia Absoluta–Potentia Ordinata Distinction and the Issue of Contingency 130 4.3 Synchronic Contingency, Simultaneous Potency, and Free Choice 132 4.4 The Scotist Alternative in Its Metaphysical and Ontological Framework 147 4.5 Penultimate Reflections 156 Part III Early Modern Reformed Perspectives: Contingency, Necessity, and Freedom in the Real Order of Being 165 5. Necessity, Contingency, and Freedom: Reformed Understandings 166 5.1 Freedom, Necessity, and Divine Knowing in the Thought of Calvin and the Early Reformed Tradition 166 A. The Present Debate 166 B. Calvin on Necessity, Contingency, and Freedom 170 C. Freedom and Necessity in the Thought of Vermigli 177 D. Zanchi and Ursinus on Contingency and Freedom 181 5.2 Eternal God and the Contingent Temporal Order: Reformed Orthodox Approaches to the Problem 187 A. Early Modern Reformed Views: The Basic Formulation 187 B. Development of Reformed Conceptions of Eternity 190 6. Scholastic Approaches to Necessity, Contingency, and Freedom: Early Modern Reformed Perspectives 194 6.1 Preliminary Issues 194 6.2 Junius, Gomarus, and Early Orthodox Scholastic Refinement 197 A. Junius’ disputations on free choice 197 B. Gomarus on freedom and necessity 202 6.3 William Twisse: Contingency, Freedom, and the Reception of the Scholastic Tradition 206 6.4 John Owen on Contingency and Freedom 217 6.5 Voetius on Free Will, Choice, and Necessity 222 6.6 Francis Turretin on Necessity, Contingency, and Human Freedom 228 7. Divine Power, Possibility, and Actuality 239 7.1 The Foundation of Possibility: Reformed Understandings 239 A. Meanings of “Possible” and “Possibility” 239 B. The Foundation of Possibility 244 7.2 Absolute and Ordained Power in Early Modern Reformed Thought 254 A. The Historiographical Problem 254 B. Calvin and the Potentia Absoluta 256 C. Reformed Orthodoxy and the Two Powers of God 260 8. Divine Concurrence and Contingency 263 8.1 Approaches to Concurrence: Early Modern Issues and Modern Scholarly Debate 263 A. The Modern Debate 263 B. The Early Modern Issues 264 8.2 Divine Concurrence in Early Modern Reformed Thought 267 8.3 Concurrence, Synchronicity, and Free Choice: Non-Temporal and Temporal Considerations 270 8.4 Synchronic Contingency and Providence: The Ontological Issues 280 9. Conclusions 293 9.1 Contingency, Synchronic and Diachronic, and the Issue of Human Freedom 293 9.2 The Historical Narrative—and the Question of Reformed “Scotism” 300 9.3 Reformed Orthodoxy, Determinism, Compatibilism, and Libertarianism 306 Notes 309 Index 376 Back Cover 384 Free will and determinism—Religious aspects—Christianity—History of doctrines,Reformed Church—Doctrines,REL067000,REL067080,REL093000