Freedom and Responsibility Theories
The problem of 'free will' and the responsibility for exercising 'free will' have been among the central issues of philosophical and religious thought since ancient times. In Christian theology, St. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Soren Kierkegaard among others have deliberated at length on the issue of free will. Augustine, for example, concedes the existence of free will and its relation to man's salvation, but at the same time emphasizes the need for divine grace. Luther and Calvin, on the other hand, taught that such a thing as "free choice in man" does not exist and such power belongs to no one but God alone, "for God alone is free to do what He desires to be done." Kierkegaard view on man's free will is that only an infinite power can so relate to man as to constitute and maintain man's freedom. I believe that most of these religious scholars have struggled to explain the concept of free will in a clear manner due to their need to acknowledge the omnipotent and omniscient nature of God while recognizing the seemingly contradictory existence of rational thought and freedom of choice. In this paper I shall give a brief review of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Kierkegaard's theories on "free will and responsibility"
Augustine's Theory of Free Will: St. John Calvin's theory of free will and pre-destination invites the same criticism as that of Luther: if salvation for a "select" group of people has already been determined than what is the incentive for people to do good deeds in their lives?Soren Kierkegaard Kierkegaard, the 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian is famous as the first existentialist philosopher. ConclusionAfter examining the theories of several Christian theologians about free will and the responsibility for exercising such free will, I have come to the conclusion that all of them have struggled to explain the seeming contradiction between the all-knowing powers of an omniscient God, and the ability of human beings to exercise their free will. " (Quoted by Cheah) Luther is of the view that such free choice can only belong to God alone, for He alone "is free to do what He desires to be done. In other words good works do not earn salvation but a person who has faith naturally does good work. In this, Kierkegaard's philosophy is no different from other Christian theologians. Luther is quite rigid in his stance and suggests that the term "free choice" ought to be dropped altogether in the study of man, since such a thing as free choice does not exist in him. The catch in Luther's doctrine of free will, however, is that God alone instills faith in human beings and Himself chooses the saved and the damned; as a result no one but God is responsible for the salvation of human beings. (Ibid) Luther also professed a theory of "justification by faith"--the belief that faith alone, rather than good works, makes human beings righteous before God and qualified for salvation. Augustine, after embracing Christianity, sought to disprove the Manichaean notion of a supreme evil principle, by holding that evil is not a material or spiritual substance and that all natures are good because their existence is from God. However, Kierkegaard argues that God's grace is available to every human being at some time in his life, and it is up to him to either to act upon it or choose to "abandon his soul to worldly pleasures. At times their explanation implies the apparent injustice of God choosing different groups of people to be saved or to be damned; at other times, they seem to advance self-contradictory theories about free will and God's salvation.
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Acceptance Essays
