Molinism

Molinism, named after 16th-century Spanish Jesuit theologian Luis de Molina, is the thesis that God has middle knowledge (or scientia media): the knowledge of counterfactuals, particularly counterfactuals regarding human action. It seeks to reconcile the apparent tension of divine providence and human free will. Prominent contemporary Molinists include William Lane Craig, Alfred Freddoso, Alvin Plantinga, Michael Bergmann, Thomas P. Flint, Kenneth Keathley, Dave Armstrong, John D. Laing, Timothy A. Stratton, Kirk R. MacGregor, and J.P. Moreland.

According to Kenneth Keathley, author of Salvation and Sovereignty: A Molinist Approach, Molinists argue that God perfectly accomplishes His will in the lives of genuinely free creatures through the use of His omniscience. Molinists, following Luis de Molina himself, present God's knowledge in a sequence of three logical moments.

The first is God's knowledge of necessary truths or natural knowledge. These truths are independent of God's will and are non-contingent. This knowledge includes the full range of logical possibilities. Examples include such statements as "All bachelors are unmarried" or "X cannot be A and non-A at the same time, in the same way, at the same place" or "It is possible that X obtain."

The second is God's free knowledge. This type of knowledge consists of contingent truths that are dependent upon God's will, or truths that God brings about. Examples include statements such as "God created the earth" or something particular about this world which God has actualized. Free knowledge encompasses the future of what will happen.

In between God's natural and free knowledge is His "middle knowledge" which contains the range of possible things that would happen given certain circumstances, by which God knows what His free creatures would do in any situation. These are "truths" that do not have to be true, but are true without God being the primary cause of them. In The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, John D. Laing has provided an example of middle knowledge: "If John Laing were given the opportunity to write an article on middle knowledge for the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, he would freely do so."

Molinists have supported their case scripturally with Christ's statement in Matthew 11:23:

The Molinist claims that in this example, God knows what His free creatures would choose under hypothetical circumstances, namely that the Sodomites would have responded to Jesus' miracles and ministry in a way that Sodom would still have been in existence in Jesus' day, given that hypothetical situation.

Matthew 11:23 contains what is commonly called a counterfactual of creaturely freedom. But counterfactuals are to be distinguished from foreknowledge, and middle knowledge is to be distinguished from God's knowledge of counterfactuals (because, for example, Thomists affirm that God has counterfactual knowledge). The Bible contains many examples of foreknowledge such as Deut 31:16–17, where God tells Moses that the Israelites will forsake God after they are delivered from Egypt.^{[non-primary source needed]}