Tag Archives: predestination

St Augustine on the ‘Last Things’ and Human Destiny: Is Eschatological Universalism Possible?

by Fr. Robert Deinhammer, S.J. In this essay, I am going to outline some basic aspects of Augustinian eschatology and identify its problems. What is the ultimate destiny of the human race according to St. Augustine? Was Augustine right in … Continue reading

Posted in Eschatology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The World is a Novel in the Mind of God

Can God determine our actions? One need not think more than a second or two. Of course he can, we answer. If CIA brainwashers and television advertising can cause us to act in specific ways, then the Creator of the … Continue reading

Posted in Hugh McCann, Philosophical Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

Apprehending Apokatastasis: Predestinating to Perdition

No theological topic provokes more angst, consternation, and passionate debate than the Latin doctrine of absolute predestination (yes, even more so than apokatastasis). No matter how carefully formulated and gently proclaimed, what we hear is this: from the mass of … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews, David B. Hart, Eschatology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

St Gennadios Scholarios on Prayer and God’s Providence

by Matthew C. Briel, Ph.D. A couple of weeks ago I had a late night discussion with two senior colleagues who asked me about my work on Gennadios Scholarios (1400-1472) and his reconciliation of the Thomistic and Palamite accounts of … Continue reading

Posted in Philosophical Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Preaching the Gospel of Predestination

How can the Church recover the preaching of predestination? It seems an impossibility. When treated abstractly, as an explanation of why some are saved and others are not, predestination must always function as an existential threat to our personhood and … Continue reading

Posted in Preaching, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , | 52 Comments

The Unpreachability of Predestination

When was the last time you heard a sermon preached on election and predestination? In thirty-plus years of priestly ministry I think I may have preached on it once. Christian pastors simply do not preach on it; and it doesn’t … Continue reading

Posted in Preaching, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Why is Presdestination Missing in Action?

Something is wrong with traditional formulations of the doctrine of divine predestination. For over fifteen hundred years, the theologians of the Church—Origen, St Augustine of Hippo, St John of Damascus, St Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, Luis de Molina, Domingo Báñez, … Continue reading

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Tom Talbott Reviews ‘That All Shall Be Saved’ (Part IV)

by Thomas Talbott, Ph.D. Predestination unto Glory Christians have traditionally held that, because they are saved by grace, they can take no credit for their own salvation, all of the credit for which goes to God. As Paul himself put … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews, David B. Hart, Thomas Talbott | Tagged , , , , , , | 14 Comments