Nature Of Free Will Essay

Throughout the history of the church, there has been much debate about the nature of free will, primarily because it is difficult to understand how God’s omniscience allows for anything to be done freely. However, when we view the nature of free will form Ansel’s perspective, it is easier to understand how free will actually works, which makes the viewpoint of Augustine, the one which the church supports, more digestible for us. Before discussing the how Anselm’s principles of free will provide clarification for the nature of free will and God’s role in the world, it is important to understand the two major schools of thought on the nature of free will: Pelagianism and Augustinianism. According to Pelagius, there is a separation between our

Furthermore, when observing the nature of the will, it is seemingly less contradictory to having one that is truly free than the church supported position of Augustine. When we look at Augustine’s theory, it is not difficult to wonder exactly how our will is free; for if we are incapable of performing anything that is inherently good on our own, then either the act of allowing God to come into our hearts and change them so that we can act according to his will is not good (a position no Christian would claim to be true), or the act of allowing God to convert our hearts is not something we have any control over; if the conversion is forced, then our wills are not truly free, and the we have lost one of the primary aspects of what separates humans from the rest of creation (the other part being in the image and likeness of God). However, since the teachings of the church must be in accordance with the catechism and the bible, then Augustine’s perspective does not depose us of having free will, and we turn to Anselm for further clarification as to how this is