How 'Free' Is Your Will? (Conversation with Nathan Adams)

Today is the first time I’ve wondered if the movie title “Free Willy” was actually a hidden joke.

…probably not. Nonetheless, the question of just how “free” our wills may be is no longer a conversation restricted to theologians. That said, this conversation is from a theological vantage point. In it, Nathan Adams (who is currently a PhD student @ McGill University) runs us through the paper he recently presented at the Wesleyan Theological Society. Wanna find out more? Either listen to the pod or comb through the guides below.

Hey, if you’ve gotten this far… maybe either leave a comment here (👇) or leave a quick review on your podcast provider of choice… if you’re inclined, that is!

Chapters:

04:04 Intro & "Wesleyan Theological Society"

09:12 What do we mean when we say "Wesleyan"?

13:05 Introduction to Melanchthon and Wesleyan Theological Society Conference

24:44 Luther and Melanchthon's Views on Free Will and Salvation

28:49 Calvin's Denouncement of Melanchthon

32:17 Melanchthon's Understanding of Grace and Human Agency

35:15 The Windmill Analogy: Human Will and God's Initiative

39:04 Faith Arising in the Process of Salvation

45:28 The Preached Word and the Transformation of Hearts

48:23 Looking to Christ and the Assurance of Salvation

50:05 Prevenient Grace and the Urgency of Responding to God's Call

56:11 Similarities Between Catholic and Protestant Perspectives on Salvation

59:38 The Ongoing Reformation Within the Catholic Church

(AI-generated) Conversation Summary:

Nathan Adams presented a paper on Proto Wesleyan Arminian at the Wesleyan Theological Society conference. The paper explores the relationship between God's will and human will in salvation. Adams delves into the theology of Luther, Melanchthon, and Calvin to understand their perspectives on free will and predestination. He highlights the unique position of Wesleyan Arminians, who believe in the involvement of free will in salvation. Adams focuses on Melanchthon's theology, which emphasizes the external action of God upon humans and the role of conviction and faith in salvation. He argues that salvation is not about human striving, but about recognizing our powerlessness and relying on Christ's resources. The conversation explores the concept of salvation and the role of human agency in the process. It discusses the prevailing approach of presenting salvation as a cost-benefit analysis and contrasts it with the views of Melanchthon, Luther, and Wesley. Melanchthon's view is that everything in salvation is from God, and human will is best pictured as a windmill that desires the wind of the Spirit to move it. The conversation also touches on the significance of the preached word in initiating salvation and the assurance of salvation. It concludes by discussing the modern implications of these theological perspectives.

(AI-generated) Sound Bites:

• "One of the perennial problems of theology, any theology, is the relation between God's will and human will in salvation."

• "Salvation is something that God's doing. It starts outside of us. We're not the initiators. None of the resources for this are coming from within us."

• "You don't have a free will to do good things in regards to God. The standard's too high, you're too selfish. It's really just a will that could say no to God, but any yes that your will says, it's not even you saying yes, it's really God saying yes."

• "We all do it in a very semi-Pelagian way. We basically present Christ like a cost benefit analysis."

• "The human will is best pictured as a windmill... The windmill can't make it happen. It's only as the wind blows on the windmill, the wind of the spirit, that the windmill will move."

• "If I think that the only way that anything's gonna happen is if God is moving and present in that moment, then I'm preaching for a miracle."

Keywords: Proto Wesleyan Arminian, Wesleyan Theological Society conference, God's will, human will, salvation, Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin, free will, predestination, Wesleyan Arminians, conviction, faith, powerlessness, Christ's resources, salvation, human agency, cost-benefit analysis, Melanchthon, Luther, Wesley, preached word, assurance of salvation