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Wellsprings
christian-anthropology-ethicsfeatured in 40 works

Free Will

Are we truly free to choose the good after the fall? Centuries of debate hinge here

Free will is the human capacity for self-determined moral choice, affirmed by early writers like Justin and Origen and explored deeply by Augustine. The traditions differ over its scope after the fall and how it relates to grace: this is the heart of the Augustinian–Pelagian dispute and later of Reformation and synergist debates. Some stress grace's priority in enabling every good choice, while others emphasize the will's cooperation with grace.

How it traveled

  1. Romans
    Corinth · 67
    explains
  2. Matthew
    Antioch · 80
    explains
  3. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  4. Homilies on First Corinthians
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  5. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  6. A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  7. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  8. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Timothy, Titus, and Philemon
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  9. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  10. The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and Ephesians
    Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
    explains
  11. City of God
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  12. A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  13. The Confessions
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  14. A Treatise on Nature and Grace
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  15. Letters of St. Augustin
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  16. A Treatise on Grace and Free Will
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  17. A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  18. Expositions on the Book of Psalms
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  19. A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  20. A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  21. A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  22. Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  23. A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  24. On Marriage and Concupiscence
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  25. A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  26. A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants
    Hippo Regius · 430
    explains
  27. Treatise on Man (qq[75]-102)
    Paris · 1274
    explains
  28. Treatise on the Conservation and Government of Creatures (qq[103]-119)
    Paris · 1274
    explains
  29. Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90)
    Paris · 1274
    explains
  30. Treatise on the Incarnation (qq[1]-59)
    Paris · 1274
    explains
  31. Treatise on the Angels (qq[50]-64)
    Paris · 1274
    explains
  32. Discussion: Second Part
    Wittenberg · 1546
    applies
  33. Discussion: First Part
    Wittenberg · 1546
    explains
  34. Discussion: Third Part
    Wittenberg · 1546
    challenges
  35. Book Second. of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the Gospel
    Geneva · 1564
    redefines
  36. Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It
    Geneva · 1564
    explains
  37. a careful and strict inquiry into the prevailing notions of the freedom of will
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains
  38. The great christian doctrine of original sin defended
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains
  39. Seventeen Occasional Sermons
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains
  40. XIV Five discourses on the soul's eternal salvation
    Northampton, Massachusetts · 1758
    explains

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Modern teachers who discuss this idea

Modern and living teachers whose books take up Free Will. These works are still in copyright, so we can’t show the text here — each links out to the book.