Erasmus versus Luther: A Contemporary Analysis of the Debate on Free Will

2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-335
Author(s):  
Aku Visala ◽  
Olli-Pekka Vainio
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Philosophical Theology ◽  
Contemporary Debate ◽  
Will And Grace ◽  
To Come

SummaryIn this article, we will use contemporary analytic tools to make sense of the main arguments in the classic debate on free will between Erasmus of Rotterdam and the Reformer Martin Luther. Instead of offering another exegesis of these texts, we put forward an analysis that links this historical debate with contemporary discussions on free will and grace in philosophical theology. We argue that the debate was ultimately about how three theological core claims are related to one another: the Anti-Pelagian Constraint (humans are incapable of willing any good, in order to come to faith), the Responsibility Principle (humans are morally responsible in the eyes of God) and human free will. Erasmus attacks Luther by arguing that the Responsibility Principle cannot be maintained without free will, while Luther responds by arguing that Erasmus must reject free will, because it is in conflict with the Anti-Pelagian Constraint. Luther is then left with the dilemma of justifying the Responsibility Principle without free will – a task, which in our estimation, fails. In the concluding section of the article, we point out some continuities and discontinuities between the contemporary debate and that of Luther and Erasmus.

The Taste to Come

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 238-262
Author(s):  
Virgil W. Brower
Keyword(s):  
Friedrich Nietzsche ◽  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The Body ◽  
Helene Cixous ◽  
Specific Kind ◽  
To Come

This article exploits a core defect in the phenomenology of sensation and self. Although phenomenology has made great strides in redeeming the body from cognitive solipsisms that often follow short-sighted readings of Descartes and Kant, it has not grappled with the specific kind of corporeal self-reflexivity that emerges in the oral sense of taste with the thoroughness it deserves. This path is illuminated by the works of Martin Luther, Jean-Luc Marion, and Jacques Derrida as they attempt to think through the specific phenomena accessible through the lips, tongue, and mouth. Their attempts are, in turn, supplemented with detours through Walter Benjamin, Hélène Cixous, and Friedrich Nietzsche. The paper draws attention to the German distinction between Geschmack and Kosten as well as the role taste may play in relation to faith, the call to love, justice, and messianism. The messiah of love and justice will have been that one who proclaims: taste the flesh.

The Divided Self in the Fiction of Henry James

PMLA ◽  
1975 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-460
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Henry James ◽  
Free Spirit ◽  
Divided Self ◽  
Structural Consequence ◽  
The World ◽  
To Come

AbstractThe divided self in James’s fiction may be regarded as an inevitable structural consequence of James’s desire to dramatize the problem of the free spirit in an enslaving world. But the divided self required by art is not essentially different from the divided self known to psychology, and an understanding of the anxieties of that self, particularly of the “obsessive imagery” James uses to depict those anxieties, enriches our understanding of James’s work. The fear of a world that threatens one’s being issues in an elaborate development of an escape motif; of imagery of seizure by the eye and by the world of appearances; and of imagery of petrification, reflecting a dread of being turned into a mere tool or machine. James’s vision of “the great trap of life” permits him to come to terms with his own limitations and culminates in a searching philosophic examination of the problem of free will and determinism.

scholarly journals Marriage in the theology of Martin Luther – worldly yet sacred: An option between secularism and clericalism

2007 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Buitendag
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Intercourse ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Human Race ◽  
Adam And Eve ◽  
The Creation ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Church ◽  
Law And Gospel

Marriage, according to Martin Luther, is an institution both secular and sacred. It is secular because it is an order of this earthly life. But its institution goes back to the beginning of the human race and that makes marriage sacred, a divine and holy order. It does not – like the sacraments – nourish and strengthen faith or prepare people for the life to come; but it is a secular order in which people can prove faith and love, even though they are apt to fail without the help of the Word and the sacrament. The author applies this view of Luther in terms of two unacceptable extremes: the creation ordinances of Brunner and the analogy of relation of Barth. The dialectic of Law and Gospel should never be dispensed. Marriage is necessary as a remedy for lust, and through marriage God permits sexual intercourse. Similar is the allegory which Paul employs: that Adam and Eve, or marriage itself, is a type of Christ and the church.

Diodorus Cronus (late 4th–early 3rd centuries BC)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Denyer
Keyword(s):  
Space Time ◽  
Contemporary Debate ◽  
Master Argument ◽  
Greek Philosopher ◽  
To Come ◽  
Definition Of

The most famous member of the Dialectical school, the Greek philosopher Diodorus Cronus maintained various paradoxical theses. He argued that any attempt to divide space, time or matter must end with little regions, periods or bodies that cannot further be divided; hence, he inferred, things cannot be in motion. Diodorus also contributed to the contemporary debate on conditionals: one proposition implies another, he held, if and only if it never has been possible, and is not now possible, to have the former proposition true and the latter proposition false. Diodorus is however most famous for inventing the master argument. The master argument relied on two assumptions: that every past truth is necessary, and that the impossible does not follow from the possible. It concluded, on these assumptions, that no proposition is possible unless it either is true or will be. The master argument was designed to support Diodorus’ definition of possibility: a proposition is possible if and only if it either is or will be true. This definition is not exactly tantamount to the fatalist doctrine that all truths are necessary, but it was felt to come too close to fatalism for comfort.

Martin Luther in Sweden

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Axel Aurelius
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Thought Patterns ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Christian Thought ◽  
To Come ◽  
Swedish History ◽  
The 19Th Century

In the Swedish history of Christian thought there are various interpretations of the Reformation and of Martin Luther and his work. In the 17th century, Luther predominately stood out as an instrument of God’s providence. In the 18th century, among the pietists, he was regarded as a fellow believer, in the 19th century as a hero of history, and in the 20th century during the Swedish so-called Luther Renaissance as a prophet and an interpreter of the Gospel. This does not necessarily mean that the interpretations of Luther merely reflect the various thought patterns of different epochs, that whatever is said about Luther is inevitably captured by the spirit of the time. The serious study of Luther’s writings could also lead to contradictions with common thought patterns and presuppositions. One could say that Luther’s writings have worked as “classics,” not merely confirming the status quo but also generating new patterns of thought and deed, making him something rather different than just a name, a symbol, or a flag, which sometimes have been assumed. And one can only hope that his writings will continue to work in the same way in years to come. Anyway the reception of the Lutheran heritage in Sweden is well worth studying since it in some ways differs from the reception in other Evangelic countries.

Free Will in Philosophical Theology, by Kevin Timpe

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-248
Author(s):  
Josef Quitterer ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Philosophical Theology

Why Philosophers Disagree

1993 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 67-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.J.C. Smart
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Quantum Mechanical ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
To Come

Why is it that philosophers find it so hard to come to agreement? Many disputes that have gone on for centuries or even millennia are still unresolved, even though there has been increased conceptual sophistication on the part of the contending parties. Consider, for example, the question of free will, where libertarians still contest the field with determinists and compatibilists (who need not deny quantum mechanical indeterminism at the micro level).

The Restless American and a New Foreign Policy

Worldview ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 5-13
Author(s):  
Robert C. Good
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
White House ◽  
American Life ◽  
National Trauma ◽  
To Come ◽  
Rip Van Winkle

I have been out of the mainstream of American life for four years serving in an active, yet very remote, corner of Africa, I have decided however to make virtue of incompetence and —- like Rip van Winkle — present a kaleidoscope of impressions on my rediscovery of a deeply changed America.When I left this country there had been no Watts, no Newark or Detroit, no fires ten blocks from the White House or machine guns on the Capitol steps. Berkeley was just Berkeley, not a harbinger of turmoil to come. We were about to pass our most important Civil Rights bill and Martin Luther King's impossible dream was perhaps possible after all. Vietnam was becoming more serious, though hardly a national trauma.

Quantum Physics Takes Free Will into Account

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Cirac ◽  
Adolfo Plasencia
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Free Will ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Quantum Computer ◽  
Theoretical Description ◽  
Trapped Ions ◽  
Theory Of Relativity ◽  
Max Planck ◽  
Quantum Architecture ◽  
To Come

In this dialogue, the physicist Ignacio Cirac, director of the Theoretical Division of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, outlines why quantum physics has brought about a much greater change than that caused by Einstein’s theory of relativity, how quantum physics takes free will into account and how it combines with philosophy. He describes why quantum theory defines “everything else,” yet is unable to define itself. Explaining how, together with Peter Zoller, he developed and presented the first theoretical description of a quantum computing architecture based on trapped ions, and, how this quantum architecture will be viable and capable of performing calculations we cannot perform at present. Their quantum computer calculates in qubits, which would require at least 100,000 qubits to function, rising to 1,000,000 if error correction is implemented. It will be able to perform calculations previously unachievable and create encrypted messages impossible to decipher. Building a functional quantum computer still requires a huge technological change, which has yet to come about. Lastly, Cirac explains the differences between European and American visions of science and why mathematicians are even more conservative than physicists.

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