Editing Augustine of Hippo (section)

==== Free will ====
Included in Augustine's earlier [[theodicy]] is the claim God created humans and angels as rational beings possessing [[free will]]. Free will was not intended for sin, meaning it is not equally predisposed to both good and evil. A will defiled by sin is not considered as "free" as it once was because it is bound by material things, which could be lost or be difficult to part with, resulting in unhappiness. Sin impairs free will, while grace restores it. Only a will that was once free can be subjected to sin's corruption.{{sfn|Meister|Copan|2013|p=}} After 412, Augustine changed his theology, teaching that humanity had no free will to believe in Christ but only a free will to sin: "I in fact strove on behalf of the free choice of the human 'will,' but God's grace conquered" (''Retract''. 2.1).{{sfn|Wilson|2018|p=285 }}

The early Christians opposed the deterministic views (e.g., fate) of Stoics, Gnostics, and Manichaeans prevalent in the first four centuries.{{sfn|McIntire|2005|pp=3206–3209}} Christians championed the concept of a relational God who interacts with humans rather than a Stoic or Gnostic God who unilaterally foreordained every event (yet Stoics still claimed to teach free will).{{sfn|Dihle|1982|p=152}} [[Patristics]] scholar Ken Wilson argues that every early Christian author with extant writings who wrote on the topic prior to Augustine of Hippo (412) advanced human free choice rather than a deterministic God.{{sfn|Wilson|2018|pp=93–94, 273–274}} According to Wilson, Augustine taught traditional free choice until 412, when he reverted to his earlier Manichaean and Stoic deterministic training when battling the Pelagians.{{sfn|Wilson|2018|pp=281–294}} Only a few Christians accepted Augustine's view of free will until the Protestant Reformation when both Luther and Calvin embraced Augustine's deterministic teachings wholeheartedly.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Luther |translator1-last=Krodel |translator1-first=Gottfried |editor1-last=Lehman |editor1-first=Helmut |title=Luther's Works |volume=48 |date=1963 |publisher=Fortress Press |page=24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Calvin |first1=John |translator1-last=Cole |translator1-first=Henry |title=Calvin's Calvinism |article=A Treatise on the Eternal Predestination of God |date=1927 |publisher=Sovereign Grace Union |location=London |page=38}}</ref>

The [[Catholic Church]] considers Augustine's teaching to be consistent with free will. He often said that anyone can be saved if they wish.{{sfn|Portalié|1907b}} While God knows who will and will not be saved, with no possibility for the latter to be saved in their lives, this knowledge represents God's perfect knowledge of how humans will freely choose their destinies.{{sfn|Portalié|1907b}}