Abstract

This chapter discusses Javelli’s views on predestination through a close examination of his Quaestio de Dei praedestinatione (1577). The chapter is divided into three parts. The first presents Javelli’s Quaestio from a historical standpoint. It traces its origins to the controversy arising from the publication of Luther’s edition of St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (1534). The second part discusses Chaps. 1, 2, 3, and 4 of Javelli’s Quaestio, where the author surveys and rejects the views on predestination held by Aquinas, Duns Scotus and Luther, among others. Finally, the third part of the chapter focuses on the pars construens of Javelli’s argument, to be found in Chaps. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of his Quaestio. In contrast to the theories of most of his predecessors, Javelli discusses predestination from the point of view of the creatures (ex parte creaturae) rather than the Creator. He also develops a complex account of the different phases through which the process of predestination works. By doing this, Javelli’s theory stands out as an original attempt of simultaneously preserving God’s prescience, predestination and human free will.