Hi John,

Thanks for the information on Aquinas. Though I'm not sure where I argued that predestination was a foreign concept to Aquinas? I looked through the threads, and found where I argued that free will was discussed by many people before the Reformation. Aquinas would count there, of course.

Aquinas may have written things that look very Calvinist - but make no mistake, he believed in free will. In fact, he wrote that free will was essential for the possibility of moral philosophy. And I don't mean to offend anyone here, but Aquinas actually wrote that it was very stupid to not believe in free will.

We could argue about what Aquinas said on the subject, but I think we agree that the subject existed before the Reformation. That, along with the premise that it arose in mainly philosopical circles, was my point. It wasn't as if free will were invented to oppose Calvinism, or predestination for that matter.

Wouldn't you say it's quite natural to believe that we have free will, and that only by considerable effort can you begin to prove the opposite?

Mike