Divine Action in Predestination in John Calvin

Abstract

In this chapter, the author surveys the major arguments John Calvin made for divine predestination and the host of action predicates Calvin attributes to God. He notes a crucial problem in Calvin’s theology, where all the actions predicated of human agents, like dispositions, capacities, and intentions, are also actions predetermined by God. The author examines Calvin’s understanding of divine causality and how it works relative to human action. In the author’s view, Calvin’s understanding of divine causation in predestination has severe consequences for the integrity of human freedom. The chapter is thus intended to remind theologians and philosophers that any account of divine agency must also take seriously the integrity of human willing and action.