[Milton-L] Knowledge, free will, etc.

[jfleming at sfu.ca]

posit: Calvin's theocentric determinism, and Hayek's libertarian dialogism,
are about as far apart as two systems of thought can get. 
JDF

On Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:07:27 -0600 milton-l at lists.richmond.edu wrote:
> 
> 
> Michael Bryson wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > Calvin makes much the same point about rendering man inexcusable in
> > the Institutes (3.2.11):
> > 
> > "I know that to attribute faith to the reprobate seems hard to some,
> > when Paul declares it the result of election [cf 1 Thessalonians
> > 1:4-5]. Yet this difficulty is easily solved. For though only those
> > predestined to salvation receive the light of faith and truly feel the
> > power of the gospel, yet experience shows that the reprobate are
> > sometimes affected by almost the same feeling as the elect, so that
> > even in their own judgment they do not in any way differ from the
> > elect [cf. Acts 13:48]. Therefore it is not at all absurd that the
> > apostle should attribute to them a taste of the heavenly gifts
> > [Hebrews 6:4-6] and Christ, faith for a time [Luke 8:13]; not because
> > they firmly grasp the force of spiritual grace and the sure light of
> > faith, but because the Lord, to render them more convicted and
> > inexcusable, steals into their minds to the extent that his goodness
> > may be tasted without the Spirit of adoption."
> > 
> > In that moment from Book 5, the Father seems rather like Calvin's
> > conception of deity...
> 
> I am reminded of Keynes's comment on Hayek:
> 
> "[O]ne of the most frightful muddles I have ever read, with scarcely
> sound proposition in it beginning with page 45, and yet it remains a
> book of some interest, which is likely to leave its mark on the mind of
> the reader. It is an extraordinary example of how, starting with a
> mistake, a remorseless logician can end up in Bedlam."
> 
> Carrol
> 
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James Dougal Fleming
Associate Professor
Department of English
Simon Fraser University
778-782-4713
cell: 604-290-1637

"Not always, nor of necessity, nor for the most part."