ABSTRACT
According to medieval Christian thought, humans in heaven are unable to sin, having been “confirmed” in their goodness, but are nevertheless more free than humans are in the present life. The rise of voluntarist conceptions of the will in the late thirteenth century made it increasingly difficult to hold onto both claims. Peter John Olivi suggested that the impeccability of the blessed is dependent on a special activity of God upon their wills and argued that this external constraint upon their wills does not entirely eliminate their freedom. Later voluntarists largely agreed with Olivi in attributing the confirmation of the blessed to some sort of divine activity but disputed the means by which and the extent to which the wills of those in heaven can be said to retain their freedom. This chapter examines various attempts made either to harmonize these two claims or else to soften the blow of rejecting one of them; among the authors surveyed are Peter John Olivi, John Duns Scotus, Henry of Harclay, William of Ockham, Walter Chatton, and Marguerite Porete.
