Love Requires Free Will (17th Sunday - Cycle A)

The Second Reading for this Sunday contains a key passage that has led to much debate in Christian history: "For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified." (Romans 8:29-30)

During the Protestant Reformation, John Calvin, a French theologian, used this passage, in large part, to develop the doctrine of predestination, according to which God has determined from all eternity who will go to Heaven and who will go to Hell. Calvin's view of predestination became a core tenet of Calvinism, which came to be known as Presbyterianism. Today, the various branches of Presbyterianism still affirm the concept of predestination, but most have moved away from the strict Calvinist interpretation, and many would agree with the Catholic position on the question.

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Image Credit: Christ on the Cross, Anonymous, from Wikimedia Commons.