NEW BOOK: The Controversy de Auxiliis was the Catholic variant of an intra-confessional, post-Reformation theological dispute over the relationship of divine grace and human cooperation. It was terminated by the Holy See with no definitive resolution over four centuries ago. In Divine Causality and Human Free Choice, R.J. Matava explains the doctrine of physical premotion defended by Domingo Báñez, whose position in the Controversy de Auxiliis has been typically ignored in contemporary discussions of providence and freewill. Through a close engagement with untranslated primary texts, Matava shows Báñez’s relevance to recent debates about middle knowledge. Finding the mutual critiques of Báñez and Molina convincing, Matava argues that common presuppositions led both parties into an insoluble dilemma. However, Matava also challenges the informal consensus that Lonergan definitively resolved the controversy. Developing a position independently advanced by several recent scholars, Matava explains how the doctrine of creation entails a position that is more satisfactory both philosophically and as a reading of Aquinas.
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