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- In memory of J. I. Packer: A personal tribute
- Relating to people who identify as LGBT+, with grace and truth
- Free Will, Foreknowledge, and Necessity: Assessing an Incompatibilist Understanding
- Luke 23:34 and the salvation of the unevangelized
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Tag Archives: Molinism
Free Will, Foreknowledge, and Necessity: Assessing an Incompatibilist Understanding
I have been interacting with Robert Picirilli’s book, Free Will Revisited, which he wrote as a “respectful response to Luther, Calvin, and Edwards.” Those three representatives of a compatibilist perspective were selected because each of them wrote a book to argue for their position, against a prominent incompatibilist of their time. Martin Luther’s book, On the Bondage of the Will (1525), was his response to Desiderius Erasmus’s Diatribe on Free Will (1524). John Calvin wrote … Continue reading
Introducing Calvinism and Middle Knowledge: A Conversation
I am happy to report that a new book is hot off the press, Calvinism and Middle Knowledge: A Conversation, to which I contributed two chapters and half of a third one, which was co-authored with Paul Helm. I’ll give a brief introduction to the book, and then I will trace the history of my own theological journey in relationship to middle knowledge, and finally I’ll briefly sum up my current beliefs about God’s knowledge … Continue reading
Who wrote/writes the script for the drama, ”The History of the World”?
Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of reading and thinking about the nature of the freedom God gave to moral creatures, both angelic and human, and how this correlates with the degree of control which God has reserved to himself, within the history of the world. I thought it might be helpful to think of that history as a script, and to describe some of the key models of God’s providence in terms of different … Continue reading
Posted in Providence, Theology Proper
Tagged Arminianism, Calvinism, compatibilism, hypothetical knowledge, incompatibilism, Molinism, monergism, open theism, synergism
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Why is God’s knowledge of counterfactuals valuable to a compatibilist doctrine of providence?
Yesterday, I was asked: “how important is it to your theology to add the hypothetical knowledge into the mix, since, in omniscience, isn’t knowledge of all possible things presupposed? That is an excellent question, so I want to post my response here as well. For me, God’s knowledge of counterfactuals, that is, of what free creatures would have done in hypothetical situations (and hence, in possible worlds) is extremely important to compatibilism (i.e., the compatibility … Continue reading
Posted in Divine Knowledge, Providence, Theology Proper
Tagged human freedom, hypothetical knowledge, Molinism
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How would Molinism work without the affirmation of the Principle of Alternative Possibilities?
Source incompatibilism A few years ago, I became aware that William Lane Craig no longer affirmed the principle of alternative possibilities (PAP), although he continued to work within the framework of Molinism. That prompted me to write a blog post asking: “W. L. Craig’s understanding of freedom: Molinism or monergism?” A few people contributed helpful comments on that post and it is obvious that some others share my interest in this area of theology. Since … Continue reading
Posted in Divine Knowledge, Providence
Tagged human freedom, incompatibilism, libertarian freedom, Molinism, William Lane Craig
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My compatibilist model: a response to some questions
John Johnson wrote a lengthy comment on my post responding to Jerry Walls and my compatibilist proposal. He raises some substantive questions and I think it better to deal with them in another post rather than to reply in a lengthy comment or a number of smaller comments. Because John’s questions are of a sort often raised to positions like mine, I think they deserve careful consideration. 1. If God is meticulously in control, why … Continue reading
Posted in Divine Knowledge, Providence, Theology Proper
Tagged Arminianism, Calvinism, compatibilism, hypothetical knowledge, John Johnson, Molinism, open theism, theodicy
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How can models of salvation be compared on a scale of graciousness?: a response to Jerry Walls
Daniel Sinclair has shared what he learned at the 2015 Rethinking Hell Conference. Since I was not there myself, I read his comments with interest, but I was surprised when my name showed up in his second point. I think that the ideas cited from Walls definitely merit some consideration, and I offer this as a contribution to the discussion of this very important matter. Jerry Walls’s perspective on my model … Continue reading
Calvinist perspectives on Molinism
The Logos Reformed Blog, moderated by Jesse Myers, ran a series of 5 posts by Nathanael P. Taylor regarding Molinism. I was invited to write a response to that series and I did so, in two posts. I chose not to respond to each of Taylor’s posts separately, and I did not critique Taylor’s understanding of Molinism (the philosophical theology originated by Luis de Molina), since I am not an expert in it myself. Rather, … Continue reading
My part of the conversation with Paul Helm regarding the validity of a Calvinist version of middle knowledge
In the Westminster Theological Journal, in the Fall of 2009 (437-54), Paul Helm and I published a conversation which was prompted by my previous article in WTJ (Fall 2007:345-66) in which I had argued that Calvinists should affirm middle knowledge even though they reject Molinism. My conversation with Paul Helm is not available to the public on line, and it would not be right for me to publish Paul Helm’s work, but I want to … Continue reading
God “weakly actualizes” evil
I have been reading a fine paper that Greg Welty presented at the annual ETS meeting in 2013, entitled “Molinist Gun Control: A Flawed Proposal?” In that paper, Welty expands on his earlier (ETS 2010) contention that the Molinist model of divine causation “inherits all of the alleged liabilities” attributed to Calvinism, “with respect to divine authorship of sin, responsibility and blame.” (Interestingly, Welty’s argument may be seen as supporting Roger Olson’s proposal that Molinism … Continue reading
Posted in Providence, Theology Proper
Tagged Arminianism, Calvinism, Greg Welty, hypothetical knowledge, Molinism, Roger Olson, theodicy
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