Category:Determinism (subject)

Determinism

When Philo of Alexandria describes the major features of the Jewish concept of God, he states that in the Jewish view "God exercises a continual care for that which he has created" (Op 172). God is deeply involved in the history of humankind and has the authority to influence or modify the events of history. To which extent, however, God's determinism does not undermine human freedom was a matter of debate among different Jewish groups and theologies. Josephus puts the relation between fate and human free will as the central criterion of distinction between the major Jewish schools of "Sadducees", "Pharisees" and "Essenes" (Bel 2.162-166; Ant 13.171-173). Extant literary sources from the Second Temple period confirm that there was indeed a lively debate on this issue (Maier 1971).

The idea of covenant implies that God will reward and punish individuals and nations, determining their future destiny, sometimes establishing "times" of punishments or reward. In this sense God's action is not seen in opposition to human freedom but on the contrary as the necessary response to human responsibility, as God's authority would be undermined (and human choice nullified) if God did not have the power to fulfill God's promises and carry out God's threatens. As the rabbis would later stress: "All is foreseen and choice is granted. The world is judged by grace; and everything is according to work." (mAboth 3:15).

Sapiential traditions would rather stress the absolute sovereignty and freedom of God, who is able to pursue God's goals turning everything (including evil) to good. Since human freedom is ultimately inconsequential to challenge or modify God's plans, human freewill is exalted (Sir 15:11-20), while humans are reminded that true happiness comes from freely adjusting to God's times. Similarly, Philo argues against astral fatalism (Prov 1.77-88) and emphasize human freedom of choice (Conf 178-179) while stressing the omnipotent power of God's providence (Frick 1999).

God's determinism is mostly emphasized in apocalyptic traditions (Sacchi 1996). Their stress on the power of evil goes to the direction of limiting the authority of God on human history, which is rather seen as the unfolding of demonic forces. However, such an emphasis requires that at least in its final outcome the opposition between good and evil would be resolved with the triumph of good. The Book of the Watchers acknowledges the present corruption of God's creative order but promises that order and peace will be ultimately restored after a period of "seventy generations" with the Last Judgment (1 En 10:12).

For apocalyptic groups, the crisis of the Maccabean revolt was a turning point. As the present was seen as a time of growing evil and suffering, it became necessary to stress that however disturbing, the disorder of evil was compressed within a framework of goodness. In the book of Daniel (ch.9) "the seventy weeks of years" and in particular the last week are a long, tragic and yet clearly defined time of punishment in which the evil forces are unlashed but only in order to be defeated at the end with the reestablishment of the liberty of Israel and God's authority on earth (Boccaccini 1992).

In the Animal Apocalypse, in the Apocalypse of Weeks and in the Book of Jubilees the preordained framework now extends to the entire course of history, from creation to the end of times, and everything unfolds in the appointed times with rigorous precision (Collins 2016).

The most radical position is that expressed in some "sectarian" texts of Qumran (1QS 11:10-11, 17-18; CD 2:2-10; 1QH 7:15-28), where the deterministic stance seems to include the destiny of individuals. However it does not seem that even these strongest expressions of fatalistic thought should be read as a complete denial of individual free will (Lange 1995)

Later apocalyptic texts (including early Christian texts), while reiterating that history unfolds according to a preordained framework until the end of times, would bounce back from a much too specific narrative of events and times. The language of predestination is limited to categories of people, not to single individuals ("the poor" vs. "the rich"; "the sons of light" vs. "the sons of darkness"; "the chosen" vs. "the rejected"), even when preordained numbers of the saved are indicated. Texts written in the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem, like 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch and the Revelation of John, also refrain from providing a strict periodization of events (Henze-Boccaccini 2013).

The balance between God's determinism and human freedom ultimately depends on the different emphasis that different Jewish groups and texts gave to the power of evil in this world. The more this world appeared to be out of God's control, the more they stressed that nonetheless everything happens according to a preordained divine plan. The more God's authority in this world was reaffirmed, the less urgently they felt compelled to provide a preordained periodization of events.

Bibliography:

• Boccaccini, Gabriele (1992). Roots of Rabbinic Judaism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans)
• Collins, John J. (2016). The Apocalyptic Imagination (3rd. ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans)
• Frick, Peter (1999). Divine Providence in Philo of Alexandria (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck)
• Henze, Matthias, and Gabriele Boccaccini (2013). Fourth Ezra and Second Baruch (Leiden: Brill)
• Lange, Armin (1995). Weisheit und Prädestination (Leiden: Brill)
• Maier, Gerhard (1971). Mensch und freier Wille nach den jüdischen Religions-parteien zwischen Ben Sira und Paulus (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck)
• Merrill, Eugene H. (1975). Qumran and Predestination: A Theological Study of the Thanksgiving Hymns (Leiden: Brill)
• Sacchi, Paolo (1996). Jewish Apocalyptic and Its History (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark)
• Tukasi, Emmanuel O. (2008). Determinism and Petitionary Prayer in John and the Dead Sea Scrolls (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark)
• Wicke-Reuter, Ursel (2000) Göttliche Providenz und menschliche Verantwortung bei Ben Sira und in der frühen Stoa (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter)

@2016 Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan