ABSTRACT
Questions about the will and freedom preoccupied philosophers long before the sixteenth century, of course, but one might well think that no other century saw the discussions of free will reach such a fever pitch. The most prominent magisterial Reformers-namely, Reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, who worked in alliance with magistrates and other secular authorities-aroused fierce condemnation by insisting that proper appreciation of God’s sovereignty and gracious activity shows that there is nothing left for human beings to contribute through free will. Roman Catholic theologians and philosophers generally attributed more to human free will, but were divided by intramural disagreements about how to understand free will and about how to understand doctrines about God’s providence, foreknowledge, and grace in a way compatible with human free will. Meanwhile, the so-called radical Reformers tended to side with the Catholics on this issue, opposing their cousins in the Reformation. Beyond theologically motivated domains, humanists often wished to attribute robust free will to humans as part of their special dignity. On the other hand, renewed appreciation for a wide range of ancient texts brought along sympathy for the Stoic endorsement of fate.
