Divine Causality and Human Free Choice

R.J. Matava, Ph. D. (2010), St. Andrews, is Assistant Professor of Theology at Christendom College. He was a research fellow at the Center for Medieval Philosophy, Georgetown University and the Liddon Fellow in Theology at Keble College, University of Oxford.

"Matava effectively shows how introducing the creative causality of God into the discussion of God’s action and human freedom can at once preserve divine transcendence, show that God is unlike creatures, and ground the doctrine of primary and secondary causality. He clearly reveals the fundamental mistakes of Bañez and Molina in the Controversy de Auxiliis. Matava also suggests how the issues surrounding the Controversy may have significant implications for fostering ecumenism, deepening Christian spirituality, addressing modern atheism, and understanding more general contemporary conundrums about causality. His work will be of great value not only for those concerned with the question of God and human freedom but for all who are interested in the nature of divine action."Michael J. Dodds OP, Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology inAmerican Catholic Philosophical Quarterly Vol. 92 (2018), No. 4 pp. 714–717. (doi: 10.5840/acpq2018924163)[The reader] “is masterfully guided through the “battlefield” of one of theology’s most exciting controversies. After reading this book, one better understands why the controversies on grace were the last time Catholic theology held the center stage in a worldwide intellectual debate.”Ulrich L. Lehner, Marquette University. In: Theological Studies, Vol. 78, No. 3 (2017), p. 789.

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSABBREVIATIONSPROLOGUE1. Framing the question2. The aim and scope of this study3. Rationale4. The form of this studyCHAPTER ONEAn Historical Introduction to the Controversy de Auxiliis1. The first period: Open scholarly engagement (1582-1594)2. The second period: Papal intervention and the Congregatio de Auxiliis (1594-1607)3. ResurgencesCHAPTER TWODomingo Báñez on Divine Causality and Human Free Choice1. Divine art: The idea of physical premotion2. Báñez on free choice3. Human freedom, physical premotion and sin4. ConclusionCHAPTER THREEDomingo Báñez’s Critique of Molina1. Molina’s teaching on free choice, divine causality and providence2. A survey and condensation of Báñez’s critique of Molinism3. Báñez’s critique of Molina’s doctrine of free choice and divine causality4. Báñez’s critique of middle knowledgeAPPENDIX TO CHAPTER THREEDo the limitations of correspondence-type truth theories undermine the grounding objection?1. The position of Trenton Merricks2. Does Merricks’s position undercut the grounding objection?CHAPTER FOURLuis de Molina’s Critique of Báñez1. The historical context of Molina’s condemnation of Báñez2. The central issue of dispute: Báñez’s view on the efficacy of divine causality3. Three problematic outworkings of Báñez’s view on the efficacy of divine causality4. The root of the problem: God predetermines all human actions5. ConclusionCHAPTER FIVEPhysical Premotion or Aristotelian Premotion? The Proposal of Bernard Lonergan1. Lonergan’s critique of Báñez2. Lonergan’s interpretation of Aquinas3. A constructive critique of Lonergan’s interpretation4. ConclusionCHAPTER SIXCreation, Causal Priority and Human Freedom: Revisiting Thomas Aquinas1. The thesis that Aquinas understands God’s motion of the human will as an exercise of God’s creative causality2. A textual argument for understanding God’s motion of the human will as an exercise of his creative causality3. Aquinas on the status of God’s creative action: An exposition of ST I q. 45 a. 34. ConclusionCHAPTER SEVENGod Creates Human Free Choices: An Explanation and Defense1. Literary origins of the view2. What it means to say human acts of free choice are created by God3. Five potential objections briefly considered4. A Suarezian objection and counterproposal: Divine concurrence revisited5. ConclusionEPILOGUESELECT BIBLIOGRAPHYINDEX