Theological determinism is a form ofpredeterminism which states that all events that happen are pre-ordained, and/orpredestined to happen, by one or more divine beings, or that they are destined to occur given the divine beings'omniscience. Theological determinism exists in a number of religions, includingJainism,Judaism,Christianity, andIslam. It is also supported by proponents ofClassical pantheism such asthe Stoics and by philosophers such asBaruch Spinoza.
Two forms of theological determinism exist, here referenced as strong and weak theological determinism.[1]
There exist slight variations on the above categorization. Some claim that theological determinism requirespredestination of all events and outcomes by the divinity (i.e. they do not classify the weaker version as 'theological determinism' unless libertarian free will is assumed to be denied as a consequence), or that the weaker version does not constitute 'theological determinism' at all.[5] Theological determinism can also be seen as a form ofcausal determinism, in which the antecedent conditions are the nature and will of God.[6] With respect to free will and the classification of theological compatibilism/incompatibilism below, "theological determinism is the thesis that God exists and has infallible knowledge of all true propositions including propositions about our future actions", more minimal criteria designed to encapsulate all forms of theological determinism.[7]
There are various implications formetaphysical libertarianfree will as consequent of theological determinism and its philosophical interpretation.
A rejection of theological determinism (ordivine foreknowledge) is classified as theological incompatibilism also (see figure, bottom), and is relevant to a more general discussion of free will.[8]
The basic argument for theological fatalism in the case of weak theological determinism is as follows;
This argument is often accepted as a basis for theological incompatibilism: denying either libertarian free will or divine foreknowledge (omniscience) and therefore theological determinism. On the other hand, theological compatibilism must attempt to find problems with it. The formal version of the argument rests on a number of premises, many of which have received some degree of contention. Theological compatibilist responses have included;
Many Christians have opposed the view that humans do not have free will.Saint Thomas Aquinas, the medievalRoman Catholic theologian, believed strongly that humanity had free will. (However, though he desired to defend a doctrine of free will, he ultimately ended up espousing what today would be known as compatibilism, or "soft determinism.")[13] TheJesuits were among the leading opponents of this view, because they held that divinegrace was actual, in the sense that grace is among other things participative, and that humans could freely benefit from grace by a mediation between their own imperfect wills and the infinite mercy of God.
The concept of theological determinism has its origins within theBible as well as withinChristianity. A major theological dispute at the time of the sixteenth century would help to force a distinct division in ideas – with an argument between two eminent thinkers of the time,Desiderius Erasmus andMartin Luther, a leadingProtestant Reformer. Erasmus inDiscourses On the Freedom of the Will believed that God created human beings with free will. He maintained that despite the fall ofAdam and Eve freedom still existed. As a result of this humans had the ability to do good or evil. Luther, conversely, attacked this idea inOn the Bondage of the Will. He recognised that the issue of autonomy lay at the heart of religious dissension. He depicted an image of humanity manipulated through sin. Humans, for Luther, know what is morally right but are unable to attain it. He claimed that humans thus must give up aspiring to do good in their fallen state and by their own power, as only by this couldsalvation be formed. This is reflected in the reformation doctrine ofSola Fide, that asserts that salvation is by faith alone and not achieved by meritorious good works. Luther also believed that the fall of Adam and Eve as written in the Bible supported this notion.
theological determinism, or the doctrine of predestination: the view that everything which happens has been predestined to happen by an omniscient, omnipotent divinity. A weaker version holds that, though not predestined to happen, everything that happens has been eternally known by virtue of the divine foreknowledge of an omniscient divinity. If this divinity is also omnipotent, as in the case of the Judeo-Christian religions, this weaker version is hard to distinguish from the previous one because, though able to prevent what happens and knowing that it is going to happen, God lets it happen. To this, advocates of free will reply that God permits it to happen in order to make room for the free will of humans.
Theological determinism constitutes a fifth kind of determinism. There are two types of theological determinism, both compatible with scientific and metaphysical determinism. In the first, God determines everything that happens, either in one all-determining single act at the initial creation of the universe or through continuous divine interactions with the world. Either way, the consequence is that everything that happens becomes God's action, and determinism is closely linked to divine action and God's omnipotence. According to the second type of theological determinism, God has perfect knowledge of everything in the universe because God is omniscient. And, as some say, because God is outside of time, God has the capacity of knowing past, present, and future in one instance. This means that God knows what will happen in the future. And because God's omniscience is perfect, what God knows about the future will inevitably happen, which means, consequently, that the future is already fixed.
Theological determinism, on the other hand, claims that all events are determined by God. On this view, God decrees that everything will go thus-and-so and ensures that everything goes that way, so that ultimately God is the cause of everything that happens and everything that happens is part of God's plan. We might think of God here as the all-powerful movie director who writes the script and causes everything to go in accord with it. We should note, as an aside, that there is some debate over what would be sufficient for theological determinism to be true. Some people claim that God's merelyknowing what will happendetermines that it will, while others believe that God must not only know but must also cause those events to occur in order for their occurrence to be determined.
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