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

T4 Determinism and free will

Issues for analysis and evaluation The extent to which an individual has free choice This issue is a very broad discussion about whether human beings have free will. Candidates should consider both religious free will arguments and libertarian arguments when answering this issue. An initial line of argument that could be used to illustrate that an individual has complete free choice is that holy texts illustrate this. Again, this point could be explored from several different religious traditions or a candidate could just concentrate on one tradition. Potential holy texts on predestination include (but there are many more): ■ Judeo-Christian Bible: In Joshua 24:15 it states: ‘But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve ….’ ■ Bible New Testament: In John 8:36 Jesus stated: ‘So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’ ■ Qur’an: In 90:10 it states: ‘And did We not show him the two highroads (of good and evil)?’ Therefore, some religious texts provide potentially convincing evidence that an individual has free choice. However, the above line of argument could be countered by a consideration of holy texts that suggests that individuals do not have free choice. This point could be explored from several different religious traditions or a candidate could just concentrate on one tradition. Potential holy texts on predestination include (but there are many more): ■ Judeo-Christian Bible: In Job 14:5 it states: ‘A person’s days are determined, you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.’ ■ Bible New Testament: In Romans 8:29–30 St Paul writes: ‘For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those justified, he also glorified.’ ■ Qur’an: In 76:30 it states: ‘And you do not will except that Allah wills ….’ Therefore, some religious texts do not provide convincing evidence that an individual has free choice. Another line of argument is that an individual has no free choice because theological arguments illustrate this. Candidates could exemplify this point by a consideration of the predestination theories they have studied, e.g. Augustine’s ‘Doctrine of Original Sin’ and Calvin’s ‘Doctrine of Election’. However, what is more important to say is why these two doctrines work to illustrate that individuals have no free choice. This could be done by considering the support each doctrine received, i.e. support from other theologians, historical acceptance of the two doctrines, etc. For example, one potential support for Augustine’s ‘Doctrine of Original Sin’ is to look at the outcome of one of the Councils of Carthage. The 418 Council of Carthage fully approved Augustine’s predestination ‘Doctrine of Original Sin’ and denounced the contrary view of Pelagius. Another example that could be used is to consider the Synod of Dort in 1619. The Synod of Dort was an international meeting, organised by the Dutch Reformed Church, to settle a divisive controversy between the predestination arguments of Calvinism and the free will arguments of Arminianism. The Synod concluded with a rejection of the Arminian view and the acceptance of all five of the Calvinist points, namely; total depravity,

This section covers AO2 content and skills

Specification content The extent to which an individual has free choice.

Qur’an 90:10

DRAFT

AO2 Activity As you read through this section try to do the following: 1. Pick out the different lines of argument that are presented in the text and identify any evidence given in support. 2. For each line of argument try to evaluate whether or not you think this is strong or weak. 3. Think of any questions you may wish to raise in response to the arguments. This Activity will help you to start thinking critically about what you read and help you to evaluate the effectiveness of different arguments and from this develop your own observations, opinions and points of view that will help with any conclusions that you make in your answers to the AO2 questions that arise.

133