I was listening to a podcast recently which featured a friendly discussion between two philosophers: W. Paul Franks, a Wesleyan libertarian, and Guilluame Bignon, a compatibilist Calvinist. They talked about several things, and it was a great example of intelligent, civil, and charitable debate between Christians. Bignon even said that if all people get from the podcast is that they can see that a Calvinist like him can be good friends with a libertarian, it would be a success. I think that’s a very mature attitude that is missing from a lot of Christians. I just got his book where he defends Calvinistic determinism, and I hope I can find time soon to read through it.
Nonetheless, here I want to hone in on Bignon’s claim that God’s freedom is a clear counterexample to the libertarian’s argument that one must be able to do otherwise in order to be free (the principle of alternative possibilities, aka PAP) and morally responsible. God is impeccable (he cannot sin), so this principle obviously does not apply to God, Bignon argued. Franks holds to source incompatiblism, which either diminishes or even eliminates the need for PAP, but Bignon still argues that it still doesn’t make sense of God’s freedom.