Zusammenfassung / Summary
In the past decades, the adequacy of various concepts and definitions of freedom has been under debate in analytic philosophy as well as in systematic theology with, however, entirely different premises, intuitions, and motivations. The goal of this essay is to make a contribution toward systematizing the most important arguments of these discussions. To achieve this, free will criteria from physics, metaphysics, ethics, philosophy of religion, and Christian dogmatics are presented and evaluated. Based upon restrictive libertarianism, a concept of freedom is outlined which, on the one hand, enables moral responsibility without neglecting the role of rationality in decision-making processes, and, on the other hand, guarantees adequate theological usage regarding God’s and Christ’s free will as well as human free will toward God.