solve the tension that has emerged over the centuries between God and human freedom. Philosophical and theological variations on this theme abound. The philosophical nature of the problem alone has resulted in countless monolithic efforts, notwithstanding innumerable theological implications. If clarification should result from this work, it would more than likely not be the product of this writer's tentative reflections on the issue. Rather, it would issue from the depth and breadth of wisdom given to the Bishop of Hippo who's intellect, for at least 1500 years, has enriched the Church of God. It is necessary at the outset to expose what was doctrinally significant for Augustine during the time of his writings on free will. His two most important works on freedom of the will are De Libero Arbitrio (On Free Will) and De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio (On Grace and Free Will). The former was written early (ca. 387-395) as a charge against the Manichees who believed the world to be the arena within which two opposing forces were at war (good and evil). Human activity, according to the Manichees, was determined by these two powers, which were beyond any person's control. Augustine believed the Manichean error absolved individuals of moral responsibility. In De Libero Arbitrio he was combating the Manichean heresy that evil's origin was independent of humanity. Instead, he demonstrates that evil is a product of liberum arbitrium or free choice of the will. Moreover, Augustine explains why God gives freedom and that it is compatible with divine foreknowledge. The second work was written as a rejoinder to the Pelagian heresy. Though Pelagianism may have been a response to the abuse of grace and the moral laxity of the Christian Church, it was far from being a biblical alternative to Augustine's teachings.2 In defending the grace of God as the initial and effectual influence upon the soul's conversion, Augustine was interpreted as denying free choi...
