De libero arbitrio (Erasmus of Rotterdam)

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De libero arbitrio ( Latin for about free will ) is a pamphlet by Erasmus von Rotterdam from 1524 .

Erasmus of Rotterdam wrote it in response to Martin Luther's theology and at the urging of many contemporaries, including the Pope. Erasmus takes a position - sometimes polemically - against Luther's thesis that only divine grace ( sola gratia ) decides on the fate of a person after his death and not his own deeds ( doctrine of justification , doctrine of predestination ).

This is to be distinguished from free will , which relates to the general will and action of a person: Latin arbitrium means freedom of choice in contrast to voluntas (will, desire, in the sense of desire, Latin voluptas).

The position taken by Erasmus reflects, albeit not uncritically, the position of the "old faith", that is, of the Roman Church , that by deciding to do good man can, as it were, decide about his grace with God through correct behavior .

In 1525 Luther wrote De servo arbitrio (“On the enslaved will”), which was sometimes very sharp against this position and its author , in which he denied it. The controversy represents the final break between Erasmus and Luther, who had initially been benevolent.

Text output

literature

  • Ernst-Wilhelm Kohls: The theological position and the traditional connection between Erasmus and the Middle Ages in "De libero arbitrio". In: Karlmann Beyschlag (Ed.): Humanitas-Christianitas. Walther von Loewenich on his 65th birthday, 1968, pp. 32–46.
  • James D. Tracy: Two Erasmuses, two Luthers. Erasmus' strategy in defense of "De libero arbitrio". In: Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 78 (1987), pp. 37–60.