David Chalmers on Consciousness

The Nature of Human Beings and the Question of their Ultimate Origin: Richard Dawkins vs. Rowan Williams

The Potter's Freedom: Reflections on the Sovereignty of God

The question of the relationship between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility on matters concerning salvation is a conundrum that has perplexed theologians and Bible scholars for centuries. On one extreme reside the hyper Calvinists who see God's sovereignty as entailing no necessitude for evangelism. On the polar extreme reside the open theists who maintain that God's foreknowledge -- as well as his predetermination of future events -- is limited. It is my position that both of those extremes are at odds with Scripture and historic Christianity. In this blog post, I want to consider the issues of divine sovereignty, free will, election, predestination, the nature and extent of the atonement, and man's responsibility in salvation.

I will begin by presenting an outline and defense of my own perspective on the matter, and will subsequently discuss some common objections to this view.