Divine freedom in the Old Testament: a comparative-philosophical inquiry
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Authors
Gericke, Jaco
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OTWSA/OTSSA
Abstract
In this article we ask whether YHWH as depicted in the OT was
assumed to have free will. The background lies in contemporary
philosophy of religion where the problem of divine freedom arises in
the context of perfect being theology. However, not only did ancient
Yahwism(s) not operate on perfect being theology, the discourse
also did not seem to value free will to the extent that OT theologians
and philosophers of religion do. Though YHWH is typically characterised
as able to do whatever he pleased, it can be demonstrated
that his will was itself assumed to be governed by both intrinsic and
extrinsic determinants. Thus contrary to the popular consensus, a
belief in absolute divine freedom is in fact absent from the OT’s
folk-metaphysical assumptions
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Citation
Gericke, J. 2013. Divine freedom in the Old Testament: a comparative-philosophical inquiry. Old Testament essays, 26(2):334-347. [http://otwsa-otssa.org.za/ote/index.php/journal]