ABSTRACT
Human free will has been a dominant theme in theological anthropology since the inception of Christianity. It is deeply embedded in biblical theism, with its stress on divine-human relations and moral community under God’s sovereignty. Early Church Fathers, such as Origen, Irenaeus, Nemesius of Emesa, Augustine, and Gregory of Nyssa saw free will as an essential aspect of the dignity imputed to human beings by God, and as key to the articulation of several doctrinal themes. The picture of human agency in scripture is neither uniform nor systematic; Christian reflection not only has shaped, but has been shaped by, the philosophical frameworks of its host cultures. 1 Nevertheless, there are strong resemblances throughout times and cultures in Christian theistic conceptions of human agency.
