De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio

De libero arbitrio is a diatribe of Erasmus of Rotterdam in the year 1524.

Erasmus of Rotterdam, she wrote in response to Martin Luther's theology and at the urging of many contemporaries, including the Pope. Erasmus refers - partly polemical - a stand against Luther's thesis that the divine grace alone ( sola gratia ) decides the fate of man after his death and not his own deeds ( the doctrine of justification, predestination ). This is to be distinguished from the freedom of the will, which refers to the general will and actions of a human being: Latin arbitrium means freedom of choice as opposed to voluntas (will, desire, within the meaning of desire, lat voluptas ). Reflects the position advocated by Erasmus, though not critical, the position of the "old faith ", that of the Roman Church, reflected that the decision by the good deeds of man on his favor with God through the correct behavior as it decide ( with ) could.

Luther wrote in 1525 directed sometimes in very sharply against this position and its author writing The Bondage ( "From the enslaved will" ), in which he denied this. The controversy illustrates the final break between Erasmus and Luther, who had initially been benevolent.

Text output

• Erasmus of Rotterdam: De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio ( 1524), in: idem, Selected Writings, ed. Werner Welzig, Volume 4, Darmstadt 1969, pp. 1-195. (Latin - German )