Grace, Predestination, and the Salvific Will of God: New Answers to Old Questions

Overall, a truly wonderful asset in approaching the beautiful, enigmatic mystery of predestination and free will. Fr. Most's reasoning is sound and clear, giving the reader summaries after each chapter. Fr. Most presents strong arguments for the conclusion that God's plan includes in it each persons free response to grace, which is given to each man unendingly and given with the sincere and true intent of salvation. Other systems in Catholicsm, and Reformed thought, that pretend to universally distribute grace, but actually universally distribute inadequate grace, ultimately are inconsitent with God's true, universal love.

Fr. William Most has written a very scholarly and comprehensive book about the topics he proposed in his title. The book attempts to find an orthodox, Catholic view that reconciles free, autonomous human will with divine predestination. This is not an easy task, especially when we consider that the well established theological traditions within the Church, namely Older Thomism and Molinism, have already spoken on the issue. OLDER THOMISTS: 1) Negative reprobation without foreseen demerits, just as a consequence of the seriousness of original sin 2) No autonomous, but secondary freedom. Physical premotion 3) Difference between sufficient grace and efficacious/irresistible grace. God gives everybody the ability, but not the application 4) Principle of predilection 5) Denial of God's real, vehement and universal salvific will Most charges them with Calvinism and with making God the author of sin; with a faulty interpretation of Rom 8 and 9 ; with metaphysical concerns that are not faithful to the biblical text and to the Church's magisterium. More specifically, Most distinguishes between an internal economy (grace and mercy on all) and the external economy (privileges on some) and claims that Rom 8 and 9 apply to the external economy. See #117. MOLINISTS 1) Divine foreknowledge (scientia media) as the cause of predestination: predestination after prevision of merits 2) Man's cooperation with grace Most criticizes the Molinist idea of God predetermining a certain world order, independently and regardless of man's freedom and response After rejecting both schools of thought's views on these topics, he sets forth his own view. There is no irresistible, infrustable and efficacious predestination of individuals to salvation. Election is truly universal, open to all, and so is final perseverance (which is not merited or owed). Predestination is corporate, to full membership in the church, not individual, to glory. God owes it to Himself (not to us) and freely bind himself in the covenant not to reprobate someone without prevision of his sins. Thus, non-election is always a consequence of God's foreknowledge of one's personal and willful sins. Those who do not resist God's grace are predestined. What does non-resistance mean? See # 82. The absence of bad decisions, not the presence of a good decision. See #139-144. So Most believes in predestination before prevision of merits but after taking into account absence of resistance. Now, God's salvific will is truly sincere, vehement, and not just a velleity, or a wish, as Augustine ("the very father of the system of negative reprobation before consideration of demerits" p. 283), Banez and older Thomists are inclined to think. God wills to save everyone, but because of their demerits he does not save some. Reprobation before consideration of demerits is incompatible with God's salvific will. GOD DOES NOT PASS ANYONE BY. Otherwise, if everything was pre-arranged, all exhortations like Ps 80:14 and Jesus's la

Quite simply the single best book on the topic available today. Absolutely decimates Calvinism, but without resorting to polemics. If you can buy just one book to help you understand how grace, predestination, and free will all come together, this is it. Examines all the key passages, all the key thinkers reflections on the questions, in a systematic way to shed light on perhaps the hardest questions facing theologians. You WILL gain a greater appreciation and insight into the bible from reading this book. Cannot be recommended too highly.

This book really opened the door for me to coming into the Catholic Church. I have studied alot of different theologies, from Calvinism to Thomists in the Catholic Church. I have never found a book that explains Justification in such a way that it grasps all the strong points from each and fits in perfectly with the bible and our form of Justice. This book does both, a great book for the Catholic understanding of Justification.

I read this book cover to cover and found it to be truly enlightening. The book is very thorough in going through history and illustrates how the Calvinist idea of predestination is contrary to the Fathers of the Church and to the revealed Universal Salvific will of God. God is not presented as some aloof being sitting on a throne casting souls into Hell without a second thought but rather a loving Being that predestines ALL for heaven, yet will not override our free will if we do not choose to accept this Grace. An excellent book for a seminarian or any deep-thinker.