WJEC/Eduqas RS for A2/Yr2: Religion and Ethics (DRAFT)

T4 Determinism and free will

Religious concept of free will: Arminius free will theory – denial of predestination Jacob Arminius was born in 1559 in Oudewater, Utrecht, only five years before the death of John Calvin. His father and mother died whilst Jacob was still a child, leaving a priest, Theodorus Aemilius, to adopt Jacob. After completing his education at Leiden, Arminius travelled to study at Calvin’s academy in Geneva. Theodore Beza, a successor to Calvin was the Chair of theology at the university, and he and Arminius became close friends. Later, Arminius challenged Beza’s ‘high Calvinism’ and argued for conditional election and hence a different understanding of predestination. Arminius died in 1609. Jacobus Arminius (1559–1609) was taught by Theodore Beza, the son-in-law and successor of predestination proponent John Calvin. In his early life Arminius identified as a Calvinist and was a supporter of Beza who continued to promote Calvin’s teachings of predestination. Arminius became dissatisfied with Calvinism and rejected Calvin’s predestination for a version of predestination that he developed himself. Arminius’ predestination was grounded in the theological concept of God’s providence and was compatible with the notion of free will. Key quote It is important to note that Arminius does not abandon predestination. He is careful, however, to define it with specific reference to Scripture. (Studebaker) Arminius did not reject or deny predestination. In his very own words: ‘The Dogma of predestination and its opposite, reprobation, is taught and emphasised in the Scriptures, for which reason it is also necessary. But it must be seen which and what kind of predestination it is that is treated in the Scriptures as necessary, and which is called the foundation of our salvation.’ In the same way, Arminius was not a teacher of the priority of free will. He instead wrestled directly with the problem that we stated initially at the start, that is, the delicate relationship between human free will and the sovereignty of God. In doing so, Arminius came up with a revised form of conditional predestination or middle knowledge predestination. Conditional predestination is foreknowledge without determinism. This type of predestination is linked closely with the idea of providence . Providence is the idea that God is closely involved in monitoring and guiding the created world. Arminius writes in his seminal work Declaration of Sentiments : ‘Providence is a solicitous, continued, and universally present supervision of God over the whole world in general, and all creatures in particular, without any exception, in order to preserve and to direct them in their own essence, qualities, actions and passions, such as befits him and is suitable to them, to the praise of his name and the salvation of believers.’ The notion of providence for Arminius involves both preservation of the world but crucially governance of it. God sustains the universe by being involved in it. Without God’s preservation the world would cease to be; without God’s governance there would be chaos within it. Rustin Brian observes that ‘Arminius agrees that predestination should not be founded upon anything other than God’s pure goodness’.

Specification content Religious concepts of free will,

with reference to the teachings of: Arminius. Denial of predestination, the effect of original sin on free will, God’s ‘prevenient’ grace (the Holy Spirit) in allowing humans to exercise free will, the Elect and the possibility of rejecting God’s grace, the election of believers being conditional on faith.

4.19 How was Arminius associated with Calvinism?

DRAFT

Jacob Arminius

Key terms Conditional predestination: the complex theological notion based upon the idea that free will and predestination are compatible (see later) Middle knowledge: a theory developed by Luis de Molina, a Spanish Jesuit priest, that argues God is aware of every computation of possible choices (see below) Providence: the theological idea that God is closely involved in monitoring and guiding the created world

115