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New Credo Podcast: What is the Reformed View of Free Will?

, , · July 13, 2021

Debates over free will typically occupy Calvinists and Arminians. But did you know that even within the Reformed camp there has been recent debate over how to define free will? In this podcast, J. V. Fesko and Matthew Barrett discuss the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human free will with philosophical theologian, Paul Helm. Helm graciously tackles the views of Richard A. Muller and Antonie Vos to argue that compatibilism is deeply rooted in the mainstream understanding of the reformers’ conviction on the matter. Additionally, the three discuss the views of one of history’s key thinkers on this doctrine, Jonathan Edwards.

For more on this topic, read Helm’s book, Reforming Free Will: A Conversation on the History of Reformed Views edited by J. V. Fesko and Matthew Barrett (Mentor, 2020). 

J. V. Fesko

J. V. Fesko (PhD, University of Aberdeen) serves as professor of systematic and historical theology at RTS Jackson. He has been an ordained minister since 1998 in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church serving as a church planter, pastor, and now teacher. Dr. Fesko has authored or edited more than twenty books including Reforming Apologetics: Retrieving the Classic Reformed Approach to Defending the Faith, The Trinity and the Covenant of Redemption, Death in Adam, Life in Christ: The Doctrine of Imputation, Justification: Understanding the Classic Reformed Doctrine, and The Covenant of Works: The Origins, Development, and Reception of the Doctrine (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020).

Matthew Barrett

Matthew Barrett is the editor-in-chief of Credo Magazine, director of the Center for Classical Theology, and host of the Credo podcast. He is professor of Christian theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the author of several books, including Simply Trinity, which won the Christianity Today Book of the Year Award in Theology/Ethics. His new book is called The Reformation as Renewal: Retrieving the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. He is currently writing a Systematic Theology with Baker Academic.

Paul Helm

Paul Helm is Emeritus Professor of the History and Philosophy of Religion, King’s College, London, and publishes online at his blog Helms Deep. the author of several books including Eternal God: A Study of God without Time, The Beginnings: Word and Spirit in Conversion, Human Nature from Calvin to Edwards, The Providence of God, and Calvin and the Calvinists.

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