Jerry L. Walls, “Why No Classical Theist, Let Alone Orthodox Christian, Should Ever Be a Compatibilist”

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Please click on the link to view Jerry L. Walls, “Why No Classical Theist, Let Alone Orthodox Christian, Should Ever Be a Compatibilist,” Philosophia Christi 13.1 (Summer 2011), 75-104.

The author’s abstract of the article:

I argue that no classical theist, and even more no orthodox Christian, should affirm
compatibilism in our world. However plausible compatibilism may be on atheistic assumptions,
bringing God into the equation should radically alter our judgment on this ongoing controversy.
In particular, if freedom and determinism are compatible, then God could have created a world
in which all persons freely did only the good at all times. Given this implication of compatibilism,
three issues that are already challenging become extraordinarily more difficult, if not
insuperable, namely: moral responsibility, the problem of evil, and the orthodox doctrine of
eternal damnation.