Online Global Scholars Program - Almighty God, Responsible People: Can We Believe in Both?

Global Scholars have a unique opportunity to engage with Notre Dame International faculty at our London Global Gateway and Kylemore Abbey Global Centre in Ireland during Global Scholars Spring 2022! Participants choose from six online courses of study, immersing themselves in the ND global community and meeting other like-minded peers from across the globe! Students will meet online as a class on Saturdays for synchronous learning each week for the duration of the six-week program, with additional asynchronous learning requirements per week. If God is the creator of all things and unlimited in power and knowledge, how can humankind be considered responsible for its actions? How can we think about our freedom with such a God, or do we need to deny either that God or our freedom? These are questions that many people inside and outside the Christian faith ask, and too often the answers are unsatisfactory or simplistic. This course will look at how the church has wrestled with this conundrum through the Bible and through its history, seeking to uphold both its ideas about God and about humankind, while occasionally falling into error by denying either one or the other. We will be combining studies and discussions of themes with explorations of some of the key debates in the history of church – Augustine and Pelagius, Calvin and Arminius – to gain as rich an understanding as we can of these issues.