Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 85:2 (Fall 2023)
Article: The Classical Reformed View Of Free Will: An Examination And Revision
Author: Trenton C. Coker

WTJ 85:2 (Fall 2023) p. 326

The Classical Reformed View Of Free Will:
An Examination And Revision

Trenton C. Coker

This dissertation interacts with, evaluates, and offers certain revisions to the classical Reformed view of free will (FW) and the free will debate (FWD). It argues that there are various problems with how we have participated in the FWD from a Reformed perspective, and it offers critiques and solutions to some of these problems.

It begins with epistemology and evaluates intuition as it serves as an epistemological principium in the FWD (as well as, more broadly, in both philosophy and theology). Intuition is an important element of the human noetic system, and it is necessary to understand its place within a revelational epistemology. After providing an overview of a revelational epistemology, this is used to critique intuition so as to understand its proper place within human belief and knowledge. This understanding is then applied to the FWD. Intuition ought to serve as an important element in how we think about FW, how we participate in the FWD, and how we respond apologetically to non-Christian participation in the debate.

It further argues that the Reformed view of FW needs to reach outside of the boundaries of the classical debate to discover what God’s revelation has to say about FW (and related topics) in a broader sense. The Christian knower is in a most difficult situation regarding knowledge, and one solution to this is to follow a view of reflective equilibrium (RE) that is consistent with the revelational epistemology already outlined. RE can aid the Christian knower in gaining beliefs and knowledge, and this ought to provide an important justification and framework for adopting further knowledge claims that should aid the Reformed view of FW and Reformed participation in the FWD.

The rest of this dissertation focuses on the classical Reformed view of human agency and aims to provide a better, more accurate, and more satisfying view of human agency by identifying and solving certain problems. The most fundamental concern in the FWD is the nature of human agency. The classical Reformed view of human agency has an erroneous view of the body’s role in human choice and action. The solution to this is a Reformed view of embodiment which is able to appreciate the causally determinative role that the body plays in human choice and action. Classical faculty psychology has been the source of one major problem with the classical Reformed view of human agency. The mereological, or homunculus, problem obtains when we fail to adequately attribute human agency to whole human agents due to erroneous divisions that we allow into human nature. The result is that certain

WTJ 85:2 (Fall 2023) p. 327

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