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Theological Fatalism And Compatibilism

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The Judeo-Christian God is recognised as a transcendent entity and, amongst other things, described as omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and omnibenevolent; interdependent traits which are intrinsic to his very nature and revealed to us through scripture and the active role he plays in the temporal realm.
Omniscience conceptually suggests that God possesses ultimate knowledge; everything that has been, that is being and that is to be resides in his sphere of intelligence. This knowledge is not ‘acquired’ nor does it demand sensory stimulation, like that of our spacio-temporal viewpoint, and to assume such would anthropomorphize a transcendent being; to God intelligence is intrinsic and stems from his creationistic role in the universe. However, …show more content…

The dilemma has been challenged by numerous philosophers throughout history, ultimately resulting in the emergence of two principal schools of thought; Theological Fatalism and Compatibilism.
On one hand, Theological Fatalism proposes that we are fundamentally determined; we possess no personal autonomy or individual thought and rather are just playing the role God has decided for us; the infallible theological foreknowledge of an event causes that act to be necessary and consequently a product of divine intervention. Calvin entertained theologically fatalist ideals with his concept of pre-destination; where individual salvation or damnation is established before birth and therefore our actions, whether moral or immoral, are insignificant in the face of God’s sovereignty and ultimate plan for …show more content…

Why does divine foreknowledge have to inhibit liberty? Boethian philosophy addresses this question and the dissonance between omniscience and freedom as a whole in Book V of ‘The Consolations of Philosophy’. Coined “the last of the Romans and the first of the Scholastics” Boethius viewed God as an eternal entity; holding a simultaneous possession of time and viewing past present and future in a single moment. This providence allows God to be aware of everything that exists within time, without imposing on free will as conditional necessity does not imply simple necessity, we are not determined because it is not our nature to be so, foreknowledge is not

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