Taking Basil of Caesarea as starting point we begin to explore Free Will in the ancient church.

1. Free Willing Basil
I, Human

2. On the Human Condition
On Free Will
“By creation we have the first (image), and by
our free choice we build the second (likeness).
In our initial structure co-originates and exists
our coming into being according to the image of God.
By free choice we are conformed to that which is according to the
likeness of God. And this is what is according to free choice: the
power exists in us but we bring it about by our activity.” (1.16)

3. On the Human Condition
On Free Will
“…if he had not given us the power to come to
be according to the likeness, we would not have
received the likeness to God by our own
authority.
Yet now he has made us with the power to become like God. And
in giving us the power to become like God, he let us be artisans of
the likeness to God, so that the reward for the work will be ours…
...he has left it to me to become according to the likeness of God.”
(1.16)

4. On the Human Condition
On Free Will
“The surest salvation for him, the remedy of his
ills, and the means of restoration to his original
state is in practicing humility and not pretending
that he may lay claim to any glory through his
own efforts but seeking it from God.”
(Homely 20)

5. On the Human Condition
On Free Will
Synergism, not Monergism

6. On the Human Condition
“Nonetheless, everything is by grace in so far as
it comes from grace; for without grace we can
do nothing whatsoever.
Therefore, on the one hand, it is said that grace comes first because
of the weakness inherent in the creature; on the other hand, it is
said that our choice is to follow, while grace leads, not in order to
force choice, but to help us use our free will just like one who holds
a light for those who wish to see it. Hence, he says, also, ‘through
faith’ (Eph. 2:8) so that free will is not outraged.”

7. Adam, Guilt, and Sin
1. The Augustine / Pelagius Controversy has not happened.
2. What is the Sinful Nature?
3. Are we Guilty of Adam’s Sin?
4. Do we retain a Free Will and Responsibility?

8. “Growth is of two kinds, that of the body and
that of the soul.
But the growth of the soul is progress to
perfection through things learned… Let the eye
be filled with seeing duties. Let the hand be
filled with good works. May the feet stand ready to visit the sick,
journeying to fitting things. Let every usage of our limbs be filled
with actions according to the commandments.
This is to ‘fill the earth’… we fill the earth connected to us with
good actions, that is, bodily service.” (2.5)

9. What do you mean, “Free Will”?

10. “Free will is an illusion. Our wills are
simply not of our own making.”
“How can we ask that other people behave themselves (and even
punish them for not behaving) when they are not the ultimate cause
of their actions?
We can (and should)
make such demands
when doing so has
the desired effect—
namely, increasing
the well-being of all
concerned.”
Sam Harris

11. “My neurons made me do it !”

12. “There’s No Such Thing as Free Will:
But we’re better off believing in it anyway.”
By Stephen Cave
“The contemporary scientific image of human behavior is one of
neurons firing, causing other neurons to fire, causing our thoughts
and deeds, in an unbroken chain that stretches back to our birth and
beyond.
In principle, we are therefore completely predictable. If we could
understand any individual’s brain architecture and chemistry well
enough, we could, in theory, predict that individual’s response to
any given stimulus with 100 percent accuracy.”

13. “Free Will Exists and is Measureable”
By Stephen Cave
“The kind of free will that I do think exists is one that is actually
entirely compatible with the laws of nature as we know them. This
kind of free will doesn’t happen at the level of quantum events, or
even of individual neurones. It happens at the level studied by
psychology—the level of decisions, deliberations and
imagination.”
“...a ‘Freedom Quotient’, ...which would allow us to rate your or
my free will, and identify ways in which we could make it even
freer.”

14. “Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills.”
Arthur Schopenhauer
(1788-1860)

15. If there was such a thing as Free Will, how would you
know it and how would you recognize it?
Determinism is the belief that all events are determined
completely by previously existing causes.
Incompatibilism is the view that a deterministic universe is
completely at odds with the notion that persons have free will.
Compatibilism is the belief that free will and determinism are
mutually compatible and that it is possible to believe in both
without being logically inconsistent.

19. The Ancient Philosophers

20. The Ancient Philosophers
Fate
Even the gods cannot change Fate!

21. The Ancient Philosophers
Plato
Freedom for Plato is a kind of self-mastery,
attained by developing the virtues of wisdom,
courage, and temperance, resulting in one’s
liberation from the tyranny of base desires
and acquisition of a more accurate
understanding and resolute pursuit of the
Good.

22. The Ancient Philosophers
Aristotle
Aristotle says that we have the power to do or not to do, and
much of what we do is voluntary, such that its origin is ‘in us’
and we are ‘aware of the particular circumstances of the action’.
Furthermore, mature humans make choices after deliberating...
it is in our power to be either virtuous or vicious*.
“The man is the father of his actions as of children”

23. The Ancient Philosophers
The Stoics
All ordinary things, human souls included, are corporeal and
governed by natural laws or principles.
Stoics believed that all human choice and behavior was causally
determined, but held that this was compatible with our actions
being ‘up to us’.
(Fate, life events, previous choices all determine our choices, but
they are still choices of our choosing.)

24. The Ancient Philosophers
The Stoics
… the universe is subject to the absolute sway of law, is
governed by the rigorous necessity of cause and effect. Hence
the individual is not free.
There can be no true freedom of the will in a world governed by
necessity. We may, without harm, say that we choose to do this
or that, and that our acts are voluntary. But such phrases merely
mean that we assent to what we do. What we do is none the less
governed by causes, and therefore by necessity.

25. The Ancient Philosophers
If there is no Freedom of Choice how can
anyone be held responsible?

26. The Early Church Writers
Justin Martyr (100-165)
“(It is not) by fate that men do what they do, or
suffer what they suffer, but (rather) each man by
free choice acts rightly or sins...
(For) God in the beginning made the race of angels and men with
free-will, (and) they will justly suffer in eternal fire the punishment
of whatever sins they have committed.
And this is the nature of all that is made, to be capable of vice and
virtue. For neither would any of them be praiseworthy unless there
were power to turn to both (virtue and vice).”

27. The Early Church Writers
Justin Martyr (100-165)
“And again, unless the human race have the power
of avoiding evil and choosing good by free choice,
they are not accountable for their actions, of
whatever kind they be.”

28. The Early Church Writers
Tertullian (155-220)
“(T)he vicious action (comes from) each individual free-will.
‘ Behold,’ says (God), ‘I have set before
you good and evil.’ Choose that which is
good: if you cannot, (it is) because you
will not—for that you can if you will He
has shown, because He has proposed each
to your free-will.”

29. The Early Church Writers
Origen (184-253)
“This also is clearly defined in the
teaching of the Church, that every
rational soul is possessed of free-will
and volition...”

30. John Calvin
There were no Calvinists among the
Early Christians !