Social determinism
Christians typically object to deterministic social theories. Humans are not, we insist, slaves to birth, culture, nurture, social status, political affiliation. We are free.
That may be the wrong answer. The right answer may be: Yes, outside of Christ, human beings are slaves to all those things and more. These are the “powers” and the “elementary principles” that hold people in bondage, the powers from which Jesus releases us by His cross and resurrection. Perhaps what we count as evidence of human freedom from these determinations is simply the afterglow of two millennia of evangelization.
Perhaps the typical Christian response to determinism is a variant of Pelagius, and what we need to a sociological Augustinianism.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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