 previous article in this issue | next article in this issue  |
Preview first page |
Document Details : Title: The Efficacy of Grace According to Domingo Bañez Author(s): CAI, Yilun Journal: Augustiniana Volume: 62 Issue: 3-4 Date: 2012 Pages: 291-326 DOI: 10.2143/AUG.62.3.3294573 Abstract : The Spanish Dominican theologian Domingo Bañez, in the controversy with the Jesuit theologian Luis de Molina, developed his own theology of efficacious grace. He held a distinction between sufficient grace and efficacious grace. For the latter, the efficacy is solely due to itself, no human consent being required. In this article, we will investigate Bañez's theology of efficacious grace. We begin by discussing the metaphysical foundation of efficacious grace: God as the exclusive cause of our existence and movement. This metaphysics implies that when we act, God does not work alongside us to produce the effect, but premoves us to act. It is through the principle of divine premotion that Bañez established his understanding of efficacious grace: a grace granted by God to infallibly move the elected people to convert to Himself. According to this principle, the efficacy of grace arises from God's will, rather than from His foreknowledge of man's response to His calling. Since efficacious grace is granted by God to the elected people, its implication for predestination will be discussed. In the last section of this article, we will explore how Bañez harmonised efficacious grace with human freedom. For him, grace moves the human will infallibly, but it happens in such a gentle way that grace never impedes human freedom. Bañez concluded that true human freedom is not indifferent to the good. On the contrary, it is a fruit of grace's work. |
 |
