Free Choice

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A powerful and persuasive discussion about economics, freedom, and the relationship between the two, from today's brightest economist. In this classic discussion, Milton and Rose Friedman explain how our freedom has been eroded and our affluence undermined through the explosion of laws, regulations, agencies, and spending in Washington. This important analysis reveals what has gone wrong in America in the past and what is necessary for our economic health to flourish.

R.J. Matava explains physical premotion as defended by Báñez in the Controversy de Auxiliis. Finding the critiques of Báñez and Molina convincing, Matava argues for an alternative rooted in Aquinas’s teaching on creation.

"Joseph Albo on Free Choice discovers unsuspected philosophical originality in the interpretations of biblical narrative found in Joseph Albo's Book of Principles, one of the most popular Hebrew works in the corpus of medieval Jewish philosophy. Several of Albo's exegetical analyses focus on free choice, which emerges as a conceptual scheme throughout his work. An exploration of Albo's innovative homiletical interpretations of the binding of Isaac, the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, the Book of Job, and God's choice of Israel, reveals his view of free choice which was significant during a historical period of religious coercion. Albo's sole surviving responsum dealing with the case of the qatlanit further demonstrates his philosophical position. In this new book, Shira Weiss shows that in the medieval era in which Albo lived, free choice was an important topic, subject to vehement debate that has continued to be contested in modern philosophy"--

Frances Myllar is a beautiful, intelligent, and rich prisoner of her family. She and her three siblings are guarded around the clock. In 2040 Frances is crippled by a terrible accident and uses her convalescence to write her life's story. Frances's story includes romance, honors for her work, a loveless marriage, and two children. It also includes her close relationships with her happy-go-lucky brother and her brilliant mother. The events of 2040 turn Frances's life around. From her hospital bed she makes decisions and sets in motion events that will free her from her family and her cold husband. Frances cannot know these decisions will also give her the opportunity for worldwide fame and executive responsibility.

The consensus view asserts Augustine developed his later doctrines ca. 396 CE while writing Ad Simplicianum as a result of studying scripture. His early De libero arbitrio argued for traditional free choice refuting Manichaean determinism, but his anti-Pelagian writings rejected any human ability to believe without God giving faith. Kenneth M. Wilson's study is the first work applying the comprehensive methodology of reading systematically and chronologically through Augustine's entire extant corpus (works, sermons, and letters 386-430 CE), and examining his doctrinal development. The author explores Augustine's later theology within the prior philosophical-religious context of free choice versus deterministic arguments. This analysis demonstrates Augustine persisted in traditional views until 412 CE and his theological transition was primarily due to his prior Stoic, Neoplatonic, and Manichaean influences.

This volume presents Augustine's writings on free will and divine grace in a new translation by Peter King. It is the first to bring together Augustine's early and later writings on these two themes, enabling the reader to see what Augustine regarded as the crowning achievement of his work.