Calvinism and Thomism: Friends or Foes?

A lecture with Q&A by Davenant Hall Teaching Fellow, Dr. Michael J. Lynch entitled "Calvinism and Thomism: Friends or Foes? An Early Modern Consensus on Predestination, Reprobation, and Free Choice." Roman Catholic and Reformed theologians alike have assumed and even argued that one of the differences demarcating these two traditions concerns the hotly debated doctrines of predestination and free choice. Predestination, with its focus on the inscrutable grace of God, is often associated with a stern and austere John Calvin. Free choice, on the other hand, is associated with his Roman Catholic opponents indebted to Thomas Aquinas, emphasizing whenever possible the necessity of man's exercise of his will. Yet, what if early modern Calvinists talked like Thomists and early modern Thomists talked like Calvinists? In this lecture, Dr. Lynch demonstrates that early modern Catholics and Protestants were not only asking all the same basic questions related to predestination and free choice but that the Reformed and a large swath of Roman Catholics fundamentally answered those questions in the same way. Among both groups, there is remarkable theological uniformity regarding predestination, reprobation, and divine concursus with human actions. Indeed the very problems and diversity that arose from some of the more complicated issues related to divine sovereignty and human responsibility permeate both traditions as well. Our speaker will sketch both this unity and diversity.