Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-6b989bf9dc-6f5p8 Total loading time: 0.001 Render date: 2024-04-15T02:25:03.681Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
Series:   Elements in the Philosophy of Religion

God and Human Freedom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2019

Leigh C. Vicens  and
Simon Kittle
Leigh C. Vicens
Affiliation:
Augustana University, South Dakota
Simon Kittle
Affiliation:
Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, Austria

Summary

This Element considers the relationship between the traditional view of God as all-powerful, all-knowing and wholly good on the one hand, and the idea of human free will on the other. It focuses on the potential threats to human free will arising from two divine attributes: God's exhaustive foreknowledge and God's providential control of creation.
Get access

Keywords

free willGoddivine foreknowledgedivine providencethe problem of evil
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in the Philosophy of Religion
Online ISBN: 9781108558396
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 04 July 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Bibliography

Adams, M. M. (1967). Is the Existence of God a ‘Hard’ Fact? The Philosophical Review, 76(4), 492–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adams, M. M. (2006). Christ and Horrors: The Coherence of Christology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Alexander, D. E., & Johnson, D. M. (2016). Introduction. In Alexander, D. E. & Johnson, D. M. (eds.), Calvinism and the Problem of Evil (pp. 1–18). Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications.Google Scholar
Ayer, A. J. (1977). Freedom and Necessity. In Abelson, R., Friquegnon, M.-L. & Lockwood, M. (eds.), The Philosophical Imagination. (pp. 311–19). New York: St. Martin’s Press.Google Scholar
Baker, L. R. (2003). Why Christians Should Not Be Libertarians: An Augustinian Challenge. Faith and Philosophy, 20(4), 460–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basinger, D. (1994). Practical Implications. In Pinnock, C. H. (ed.), The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God (pp. 155–76). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar
Berofsky, B. (2003). Classical Compatibilism: Not Dead Yet. In McKenna, M. S. & Widerker, D (eds.), Moral Responsibility and Alternative Possibilities (pp. 107–27). Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Boethius. (1999). The Consolation of Philosophy. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Boyd, G. A. (2001a). God of the Possible: A Biblical Introduction to the Open View of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.Google Scholar
Boyd, G. A. (2001b). Satan and the Problem of Evil: Constructing a Trinitarian Warfare Theodicy. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar
Boyd, G. A. (2001c). The Open-Theism View. In Eddy, P. R. & Beilby, J. K (eds.), Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views (pp. 13–47). Carlisle: Paternoster Press.Google Scholar
Boyd, G. A. (2011). God Limits His Control. In Jowers, D. W. (ed.), Four Views on Divine Providence (pp. 183–208). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.Google Scholar
Byerly, T. R. (2017). Free Will Theodicies for Theological Determinists. Sophia, 56(2), 289–310.Google Scholar
Campbell, J. K. (1997). A Compatibilist Theory of Alternative Possibilities. Philosophical Studies, 88(3), 319–30.Google Scholar
Churchill, J. R. (2017). Determinism and Divine Blame. Faith and Philosophy, 34(4), 425–48.Google Scholar
Coburn, R. C. (1963). Professor Malcolm on God. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 41(2), 143–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Y. (2014). Molinists (Still) Cannot Endorse the Consequence Argument. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion. OnlineFirst. 77(3), 231–46.Google Scholar
Couenhoven, J. (2013). Stricken by Sin, Cured by Christ. New York: Oxford University Press USA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crabtree, J. A. (2004). The Most Real Being: A Biblical and Philosophical Defense of Divine Determinism. Eugene, OR: Gutenberg College Press.Google Scholar
Craig, W. L. (1987). The Only Wise God. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers.Google Scholar
Craig, W. L. (1989). ‘No Other Name’: A Middle Knowledge Perspective on the Exclusivity of Salvation through Christ. Faith and Philosophy, 6(2), 172–88.Google Scholar
Craig, W. L. (1999). “Men Moved by the Holy Spirit Spoke from God”: A Middle Knowledge Perspective on Biblical Inspiration. Philosophia Christi, 1(1), 45–82.Google Scholar
Craig, W. L. (2001). The Middle-Knowledge View. In Eddy, P. R. & Beilby, J. K. (eds.), Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views (pp. 119–43). Carlisle: Paternoster Press.Google Scholar
Craig, W. L. (2017). A Molinist View. In Meister, C. V. & Dew, J. K. Jr (eds.), God and the Problem of Evil: Five Views. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.Google Scholar
Ekstrom, L. W. (2016). The Cost of Freedom. In Timpe, K. & Speak, D. (eds.), Free Will and Theism (pp. 62–78). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Feinberg, J. S. (2004). The Many Faces of Evil: Theological Systems and the Problems of Evil (Rev. and expanded edn). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.Google Scholar
Fischer, J. M. (1986). Power Necessity. Philosophical Topics, 14(2), 77–91.Google Scholar
Fischer, J. M. (1989). Introduction. In Fischer, J. M. (ed.), God, Foreknowledge, and Freedom (pp. 1–56). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Fischer, J. M. (1992). Recent Work on God and Freedom. American Philosophical Quarterly, 29(2), 91–109.Google Scholar
Fischer, J. M. (2016a). Introduction. In Fischer, J. M. (ed.), Our Fate: Essays on God and Free Will (pp. 1–52). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fischer, J. M. (2016b). Ockhamism: The Facts. In Fischer, J. M. (ed.), Our Fate: Essays on God and Free Will (pp. 130–49). Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, J. M. (ed.). (1989a). God, Foreknowledge, and Freedom. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Fischer, J. M., & Todd, P. (2011) The Truth about Freedom. A Reply to Merricks. The Philosophical Review, 120(1), 97–115.Google Scholar
Fischer, J. M., & Tognazzini, N. A. (2014). Omniscience, Freedom, and Dependence. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 88(2), 346–67.Google Scholar
Flint, T. P. (1998). Divine Providence: The Molinist Account. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Flint, T. P. (1999). A New Anti-Anti-Molinist Argument. Religious Studies, 35(3), 299–305.Google Scholar
Flint, T. P. (2011). Divine Providence. In Flint, T. P. & Rea, M. C. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology (pp. 262–85). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Frankfurt, H. G. (1969). Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility. Journal of Philosophy, 66(3), 829–39.Google Scholar
Frankfurt, H. G. (1971). Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person. The Journal of Philosophy, 68(1), 5–20.Google Scholar
Frankfurt, H. G. (1988). The Importance of What We Care About: Philosophical Essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Freddoso, A. J. (1983). Accidental Necessity and Logical Determinism. Journal of Philosophy, 80(5), 257–78.Google Scholar
Freddoso, A. J. (1988). Introduction. In Freddoso, A. J. (ed.), On Divine Foreknowledge: Part IV of the Concordia (pp. 1–81). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Garrigou-Lagrange, R. (1949). God: His Existence and Nature: Volume 2 (5th edn). St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Company.Google Scholar
Ginet, C. (1990). On Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Grant, W. M. (2010). Can a Libertarian Hold That Our Free Acts Are Caused by God? Faith and Philosophy, 27(1), 22–44.Google Scholar
Grant, W. M. (2016). Divine Universal Causality and Libertarian Freedom. In Timpe, K. & Speak, D. (eds.), Free Will and Theism (pp. 214–33). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Grössl, J., & Vicens, L. (2014). Closing the Door on Limited-Risk Open Theism. Faith and Philosophy, 31(4), 475–85.Google Scholar
Hasker, W. (1988). Hard Facts and Theological Fatalism. Noûs, 22(3), 419–36.Google Scholar
Hasker, W. (1989). God, Time, and Knowledge. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Hasker, W. (1992). Providence and Evil: Three Theories. Religious Studies, 28(1), 91–105.Google Scholar
Hasker, W. (1994). A Philosophical Perspective. In Pinnock, C. H. (ed.), The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God (pp. 126–54). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar
Hasker, W. (1999). A New Anti-Molinist Argument. Religious Studies, 35(3), 291–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasker, W. (2001). The Foreknowledge Conundrum. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 50(1/3), 97–114.Google Scholar
Hasker, W. (2004). Providence, Evil and the Openness of God. Oxford: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hasker, W. (2011). Theological Incompatibilism and the Necessity of the Present. Faith and Philosophy, 28(2), 224–9.Google Scholar
Helm, P. (2004). God Does Not Take Risks. In Peterson, M. L. & VanArragon, R. J. (eds.), Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Religion (pp. 228–37). Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hick, J. (1966). Evil and the God of Love. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Hick, J. (1990). An Irenaean Theodicy. In Badham, P. (ed.), A John Hick Reader (pp. 88–105). Basingstoke: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Hick, J. (2010). Evil and the God of Love (Reissued with a new preface). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Himma, K. E. (2009). The Free Will Defence: Evil and the Moral Value of Free Will. Religious Studies, 45(4), 395–415.Google Scholar
Hobbes, T., Bramhall, J. & Chappell, V. C. (1999). Thomas Hobbes and John Bramhall: On Liberty and Necessity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hoffman, J., & Rosenkrantz, G. S. (1984). Hard and Soft Facts. The Philosophical Review, 93(3), 419–34.Google Scholar
Hoffman, J. & Rosenkrantz, G. S. (2002). The Divine Attributes. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard-Snyder, D. (1996). Introduction: The Evidential Argument from Evil. In Howard-Snyder, D. (ed.), The Evidential Argument from Evil (pp. 19–55). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. M. (2016). Calvinism and the Problem of Evil. In Alexander, D. E. & Johnson, D. M. (eds.), Calvinism and the Problem of Evil. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. K. (2009). God, Fatalism, and Temporal Ontology. Religious Studies, 45(4), 435–54.Google Scholar
Judisch, N. (2012). Meticulous Providence and Gratuitous Evil. In Kvanvig, J. L. (ed.), Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion: Volume 4 (pp. 65–83). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kane, R. H. (1996). The Significance of Free Will (New edn). New York: Oxford University Press USA.Google Scholar
Kvanvig, J. L. (1986). The Possibility of an All-Knowing God. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Mackie, J. L. (1955). Evil and Omnipotence. Mind, 64(254), 200–12.Google Scholar
Mavrodes, G. I. (1984). Is the Past Unpreventable? Faith and Philosophy, 1(2), 131–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mavrodes, G. I. (2010). Omniscience. In Draper, P., Quinn, P. L. & Taliaferro, C. (eds.), A Companion to Philosophy of Religion (2nd edn, pp. 251–7). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
McBrayer, J. P., & Howard-Snyder, D. (eds.). (2013). The Blackwell Companion to the Problem of Evil. Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar
McCabe, L. D. (1882). Divine Nescience of Future Contingents a Necessity. New York: Phillips and Hunt.Google Scholar
McCall, S. (2011). The Supervenience of Truth. Freewill and Omniscience, Analysis, 71(3), 501–6.Google Scholar
McCann, H. J. (1995). Divine Sovereignty and the Freedom of the Will. Faith and Philosophy, 12(4), 582–98.Google Scholar
McCann, H. J. (2001). Sovereignty and Freedom: A Reply to Rowe. Faith and Philosophy, 18(1), 110–16.Google Scholar
McCann, H. J., & Johnson, D. M. (2017). Divine Providence. In Zalta, E. N. (ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Google Scholar
McFarland, I. A. (2010). In Adam’s Fall: A Meditation on the Christian Doctrine of Original Sin. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKay, T., & Johnson, D. (1996). A Reconsideration of an Argument against Compatibilism. Philosophical Topics, 24(2), 113–22.Google Scholar
McKenna, M. S., & Coates, D. J. (2015). Compatibilism. In Zalta, E. N. (ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Winter 2015 edn. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2015/entries/compatibilism/>>Google Scholar
Merricks, T. (2009). Truth and Freedom. The Philosophical Review, 118(1), 29–57.Google Scholar
Moore, G. E. (1912). Ethics. London: Humphrey Milford.Google Scholar
Nouwen, H. J. M. (1996). Bread for the Journey. London: Darton, Longman and Todd.Google Scholar
Nowell-Smith, P. H. (1960). Ifs and Cans. Theoria, 26, 85–101.Google Scholar
O’Connor, T. (1993). On the Transfer of Necessity. Noûs, 27(2), 204–18.Google Scholar
Pereboom, D. (2009). Free Will, Evil, and Divine Providence. In Dole, A. & Chignell, A. (eds.), God and the Ethics of Belief (pp. 77–98). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pereboom, D. (2016). Libertarianism and Theological Determinism. In Timpe, K. & Speak, D. (eds.), Free Will and Theism (pp. 112–31). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Perszyk, K. (2013). Recent Work on Molinism. Philosophy Compass, 8(8), 755–70.Google Scholar
Pike, N. (1965). Divine Omniscience and Voluntary Action. The Philosophical Review, 74(1), 27–46.Google Scholar
Pike, N. (1970). God and Timelessness. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Pink, A. W. (1949). The Sovereignty of God (4th edn). Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library.Google Scholar
Pinnock, C. H. (ed.). (1994). The Openness of God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar
Pinnock, C. H., Rice, R., Sanders, J., Hasker, W., & Basinger, D. (1994). Preface. In Pinnock, C. H. (ed.), The Openness of God (pp. 1–10). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar
Plantinga, A. (1978). The Nature of Necessity (New edn). Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Plantinga, A. (1986). On Ockham’s Way Out. Faith and Philosophy, 3(3), 235–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhoda, A. R. (2010). Gratuitous Evil and Divine Providence. Religious Studies, 46(3), 281–302.Google Scholar
Rice, R. (1980). The Openness of God: The Relationship of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Free Will. Nashville, TN: Review and Herald Publishing Association.Google Scholar
Rice, R. (1985). God’s Foreknowledge & Man’s Free Will (1st edn). Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House.Google Scholar
Rice, R. (1994). Biblical Support for a New Perspective. In Pinnock, C. H. (ed.), The Openness of God (pp. 11–58). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar
Rogers, K. A. (2007a). Anselmian Eternalism. Faith and Philosophy, 24(1), 3–27.Google Scholar
Rogers, K. A. (2007b). The Necessity of the Present and Anselm’s Eternalist Response to the Problem of Theological Fatalism. Religious Studies, 43(1), 25–47.Google Scholar
Rowe, W. L. (1979). The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism. American Philosophical Quarterly, 16(4), 335–41.Google Scholar
Rowe, W. L. (1996). The Evidential Argument from Evil: A Second Look. In Howard-Snyder, D. (ed.), The Evidential Argument from Evil (pp. 262–85). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Rowling, J. K. (2015). Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Sanders, J. (2007). The God Who Risks (2nd edn). Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.Google Scholar
Shanley, B. J. (1998). Divine Causation and Human Freedom in Aquinas. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 72(1), 99–122.Google Scholar
Speak, D. J. (2011). The Consequence Argument Revisited. In Kane, R. H. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Free Will (2nd edn, pp. 115–30). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Strawson, P. F. (2003). Freedom and Resentment. In Watson, G. (ed.), Free Will (2nd edn). Oxford: Oxford University Press (Original work published 1962).Google Scholar
Stump, E. (1996). Persons: Identification and Freedom. Philosophical Topics, 24(2) Free Will (Fall), 183–214.Google Scholar
Swinburne, R. (1977). The Coherence of Theism (1st edn). New York: Oxford University Press, USA.Google Scholar
Swinburne, R. (2016). The Coherence of Theism (2nd edn). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tanner, K. E. (1994). Human Freedom, Human Sin, and God the Creator. In Tracy, T. F. (ed.), The God Who Acts (pp. 111–35). University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Todd, P. (2012). Manipulation and Moral Standing. Philosophers’ Imprint, 12(7), 1–18.Google Scholar
Todd, P. (2013). Soft Facts and Ontological Dependence. Philosophical Studies, 164(3), 829–44.Google Scholar
Todd, P. (2018). Does God Have the Moral Standing to Blame? Faith and Philosophy, 35(1), 33–55.Google Scholar
Todd, P., & Fischer, J. M. (2015). Introduction. In Fischer, J. M. & Todd, P. (eds.), Freedom, Fatalism, and Foreknowledge (1st edn, pp. 1–38). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Van Inwagen, P. (1983). An Essay on Free Will. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Van Inwagen, P. (1989). When Is the Will Free? Philosophical Perspectives, 3, 399–422.Google Scholar
Van Inwagen, P. (2008). What Does an Omniscient Being Know about the Future? In Kvanvig, J. L. (ed.), Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion: Volume 1 (pp. 216–30). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Vierkant, T., Kiverstein, J. & Clark, A. (2013). Decomposing the Will: Meeting the Zombie Challenge. In Clark, A., Kiverstein, J. & Vierkant, T. (eds.), Decomposing the Will (pp. 1–30). New York: Oxford University Press, USA.Google Scholar
Vihvelin, K. (2013). Causes, Laws, and Free Will: Why Determinism Doesn’t Matter. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ware, B. A. (2001). God’s Lesser Glory. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press.Google Scholar
Ware, B. A. (2004). God’s Greater Glory. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.Google Scholar
Watson, G. (2004a). Disordered Appetites. In Agency and Answerability: Selected Essays (pp. 59–87). Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Watson, G. (2004b). The Work of the Will. In Agency and Answerability: Selected Essays (pp. 123–59). Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Westphal, J. (2011). The Compatibility of Divine Foreknowledge and Freewill. Analysis, 71(2), 246–52.Google Scholar
Widerker, D. (1987). On an Argument for Incompatibilism. Analysis, 47(1), 37–41.Google Scholar
Widerker, D. (1990). Troubles with Ockhamism. Journal of Philosophy, 87(9), 462–80.Google Scholar
Widerker, D. (1996). Contra Snapshot Ockhamism. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 39(2), 95–102.Google Scholar
Wierenga, E. (2017). Omniscience. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/omniscience/.Google Scholar
Zagzebski, L. T. (1996). The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge (New edn). New York: Oxford University Press, USA.Google Scholar
Zagzebski, L. T. (2011). Eternity and Fatalism. In Tapp, C. & Runggaldier, E. (eds.), God, Eternity, and Time (pp.65–80). Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

God and Human Freedom
  • Leigh C. Vicens, Augustana University, South Dakota, Simon Kittle, Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, Austria
  • Online ISBN: 9781108558396
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

God and Human Freedom
  • Leigh C. Vicens, Augustana University, South Dakota, Simon Kittle, Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, Austria
  • Online ISBN: 9781108558396
Available formats
×

Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

God and Human Freedom
  • Leigh C. Vicens, Augustana University, South Dakota, Simon Kittle, Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, Austria
  • Online ISBN: 9781108558396
Available formats
×