Predestination and Free Will: A Comparative Theological Study

Omer Atilla Ergi
Paperback
9781682060339

The concepts of predestination and free will have been and continue to be two of the most difficult problems of classical and contemporary theology and philosophy. The debate on the perplexing coexistence of predestination and free will has been the focal point of discourse among theologians and philosophers since antiquity. The deliberations on determinism also played an important role in the formation of Islamic theology, as the creedal statements of Islamic doctrines define belief in predestination as one of the essential articles of creed while asserting that human agents possess some form of will defined as irāda al juz’īyya, ‘the minor will’ in the Arabic lexicon.

The main argument of this book is based on the theological premises proposed by Fethullah Gülen and mainstream Sunni theologians that support the coexistence of predestination and free will.