| The correlation between God's Grace and Man's Free Will not only shares a deep link with modern dilemma in the humanistic subjectivity, but also marks a core issue in Christianity. Throughout the millennium of Christianity's history, magnitude debate and discussion concerning this issue find their vitality up to date, only to leave an omnipresent impact on every aspect of modern humanities. One must dig the deep root to this issue, whose original development results into this thesis, in order to have a direct and profound understanding on predicament in modern life.Debates and discussions centering on this issue exist in a long history and have no definite conclusion, because any discussion relating to Free Will can not be isolated from God's Grace, with God's Redemption as their ultimate goal. No definite answer is accessible from the Holy Bible. Yet, there are some connotations. Firstly, the right moment Adam and Eve are created, they have full right to make a free choice. Their redemptions depend on their choices based upon the Free Will. Secondly, whether or not man can be redeemed resides in God's final hand. Thirdly, the cooperation between God and man makes redemption possible, with man taking the Right Path and God exhibiting Grace. Accordingly, there are three relations in the long history: i. Redemption coming from God's Grace, while man only having the free will to disobey God, together deny the probability of man's redemption through his Free Will. ii. Man's choices based on Free Will on conducting morally right or wrong, as well as following or abandoning faith in God, lead to man's redemption or falling to the Hell. iii. God exhibits Grace and man has free will about this truth. During Patriarchy, these three aforementioned beliefs come to birth and earn discussion. During the Medieval, they become more coherent after prior discussion. After the Reformation, along with religious secularization, and with some combination of modern factors, arguments on the Free Will are not any longer confined in the paradox between it and God's Grace. However, they will continue to exist in Christianity.Throughout various developments in Christianity, this issue has exhibited in many forms. This thesis attempts to comb diversified exhibitions between the Free Will and God's Grace in various periods covering many periods, the Ancient Patriarchy, the Medieval, Renaissance, Reformation, to name them, and analyzes its intrinsic inheritance as well as its intricate connection with modernity. |
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