Middle Knowledge and Greek Fathers

[Julius_Caesar]

Would it be accurate to call Chrysostom and the Greek Fathers Molinists?

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

Can you give a definition of “molinism” and a few passages that illustrate why you think Chrysostom and the Greek Fathers may have believed it?

From what I’ve seen, “molinism” didn’t come about until the 16th century - long after Chrysostom and the Greek Fathers.

 

[Vico]

Would it be accurate to call Chrysostom and the Greek Fathers Molinists?

Saint John Chrysostom did consider the foreknowledge of God “but Himself even before the result knew it clearly” and the person’s “nobleness of choice and an obedient temper”.

Chrysostom on Rom 9:10-14:

“For the children,” he says, “being not yet born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, it was said unto her that the elder shall serve the younger:” for this was a sign of foreknowledge, that they were chosen from the very birth. That the election made according to foreknowledge, might be manifestly of God, from the first day He at once saw and proclaimed which was good and which not…For He that knows how to assay the soul, knows which is worthy of being saved. Whence also he says, “Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated.” That it was with justice, you indeed know from the result: but Himself even before the result knew it clearly. For it is not a mere exhibition of works that God searches after, but a nobleness of choice and an obedient temper (γνώμην εὐγνώμονα) besides.

 

[Lasse]

I am certainly no expert in St. John Chrysostom or this specific movement, but I believe the fathers who dealt with the notion of Providence in a more systematic way worked out their ideas within a rather different framework. Nemesios (4th century bishop) related to his contemporary philosophy and rejected the Stoic notion of (absolute) fate, using the Platonist argument of how it would undermine the moral foundation for law and justice. It was also incongruent with the Christian belief in the efficiency of prayer. According to Nemesios, God’s Providence was still absolute; God was described as working through our choices to design His Providence to meet our needs, both on a universal and on a particular level. Later on, St. Maximus, St. John Damascene etc. built upon Nemesios’ ideas to describe how Man is free, yet always protected by God’s Providence. Man’s freedom and creativity has often been held in high regard in the Greek East.

I highly recommend professor f. Andrew Louth’s article “Pagans and Christians on Providence” if you are interested in the subject.