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God Reforms Hearts: Rethinking Free Will and the Problem of Evil
Must we be free to truly love?Evil is a problem for all Christians. When responding to objections that both evil and God can exist, many resort to a "free will defense," where God is not the creator of evil but of human freedom, by which evil is possible. This response is so pervasive that it is just as often assumed as it is defended. But is this answer biblically and philosophically defensible?In God Reforms Hearts, Thaddeus J. Williams offers a friendly challenge to the central claim of the free will defense—that love is possible only with true (or libertarian) free will. Williams argues that much thinking on free will fails to carve out the necessary distinction between an autonomous will and an unforced will. Scripture presents a God who desires relationship and places moral requirements on his often--rebellious creatures, but does absolute free will follow? Moreover, God's work of transforming the human heart is more thorough than libertarian freedom allows.With clarity, precision, and charity, Williams judges the merits and shortcomings of the relational free will defense while offering a philosophically and biblically robust alternative that draws from theologians of the past to point a way forward.
- GenresTheology
Kindle Edition
Published August 11, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 8, 2022
very timely, as this topic continues to come up on a regular basis for me . . i hadn't read on it for a while, but this book very quickly put me right back into the thick of the issues, and felt familiar yet new all at once . . the author does a great job of outlining the main issues and options, and explains what his particular slant or focus will be (free will as it relates to the problem of evil) . .
by the end, the book got a bit repetitive in a sense, but mainly i think that's the author being thorough .. i appreciate the philosopher's sense to go point by point and don't mind some re-treading .. i also appreciated that the book moved sort of from logical/conceptual issues w different frameworks to biblical analysis of the different frameworks . . the author, to me, seems well read and smart/capable, etc. . . but definitely also like a Christian who wants to take the biblical data seriously re what it tells us about a topic like this . .
my experience is that i remain as convinced as ever of the "reformed" or Calvinistic / Augustinian take on this whole topic . . in other words, i agree w the author . . the reading i did on this earlier in life must have stuck - bolstered i think by bible reading, thinking, etc in the interim - because as i said above, the argumentation felt very familiar and as always very obvious to me . .
anyway . . really good book . . a great read for anyone interested in anything related to the issues of free will, predestination, sovereignty, evil, etc etc etc . . there are prob easier popular introductions . . *Chosen by God* by RC Sproul is the one that comes to mind . . but for those of a more completionist / philosophical bent who don't mind going a bit deeper and seeing the issues related to the problem of evil, this is excellent .
by the end, the book got a bit repetitive in a sense, but mainly i think that's the author being thorough .. i appreciate the philosopher's sense to go point by point and don't mind some re-treading .. i also appreciated that the book moved sort of from logical/conceptual issues w different frameworks to biblical analysis of the different frameworks . . the author, to me, seems well read and smart/capable, etc. . . but definitely also like a Christian who wants to take the biblical data seriously re what it tells us about a topic like this . .
my experience is that i remain as convinced as ever of the "reformed" or Calvinistic / Augustinian take on this whole topic . . in other words, i agree w the author . . the reading i did on this earlier in life must have stuck - bolstered i think by bible reading, thinking, etc in the interim - because as i said above, the argumentation felt very familiar and as always very obvious to me . .
anyway . . really good book . . a great read for anyone interested in anything related to the issues of free will, predestination, sovereignty, evil, etc etc etc . . there are prob easier popular introductions . . *Chosen by God* by RC Sproul is the one that comes to mind . . but for those of a more completionist / philosophical bent who don't mind going a bit deeper and seeing the issues related to the problem of evil, this is excellent .
September 12, 2024
This is a spectacular and very important book. While subtly arguing for Compatiblism, Williams thrust is mostly to take down Libertarianism theologically and logically.
In the interest of brevity, I would ask the Christian libertarian, and I struggle joining those two words as an identifier, if the ability to choose A or not A in any given situation is REQUIRED for praise or blame, what do you say to God Himself who cannot sin? How about Christ who fulfilled the hundreds of divine promises and had 0% chance of failure? Are the Father & Son not worthy of praise in their actions? If the libertarian answers negatively, my follow up question is why have so many poor theologians in the last 100 years continued pushing this narrative? Looking as you, Wesley & CS Lewis. “Love is not love unless it is free” which Lewis famously argued, implies such a high view of Man’s morality that does not take Romans 6 into account; men are slaves to sin and must be set free from ourselves to truly be free in Christ.
The Wesley’s of the world simply worship at the alter of free will and have deceived many into a high view of themselves and a lower Christology in the process. How silly!
I’ll offer Lewis, who was a universalist mind you, a correction: love is worthless unless it is set free from the bondage of self. Praise God for bestowing His grace in the hearts of His church that we would be free indeed.
In the interest of brevity, I would ask the Christian libertarian, and I struggle joining those two words as an identifier, if the ability to choose A or not A in any given situation is REQUIRED for praise or blame, what do you say to God Himself who cannot sin? How about Christ who fulfilled the hundreds of divine promises and had 0% chance of failure? Are the Father & Son not worthy of praise in their actions? If the libertarian answers negatively, my follow up question is why have so many poor theologians in the last 100 years continued pushing this narrative? Looking as you, Wesley & CS Lewis. “Love is not love unless it is free” which Lewis famously argued, implies such a high view of Man’s morality that does not take Romans 6 into account; men are slaves to sin and must be set free from ourselves to truly be free in Christ.
The Wesley’s of the world simply worship at the alter of free will and have deceived many into a high view of themselves and a lower Christology in the process. How silly!
I’ll offer Lewis, who was a universalist mind you, a correction: love is worthless unless it is set free from the bondage of self. Praise God for bestowing His grace in the hearts of His church that we would be free indeed.
December 18, 2022
A clear book challenging the libertarian axiom that for love to be truly free, it must be autonomous retaining the ability to love or not love. This is engaging both biblically and philosophically. Dr. Williams knows how to write and to be accurate and understandable without being simplistic. His "Love, Freedom and Evil" is one of my favorite books on free will from a Calvinist theologian for its reliance on the Bible and such neat categories to explain the compatibilist and libertarian models. The difference a word that can make such as "freedom FROM the heart" and "freedom OF the heart", one word explains the difference between those two models.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews