Thanks! This is very good. I am surprised that an athiest gets to the core of the message and its necessary development more so than it seems than even some usually sound Catholic bloggers such as Mark Shea and Jimmy Akins.

Here is the URL to an atheist’s essay that clearly and effectively gives a breakdown of the lecture.
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9709

The writer has his own political agenda, however he is spot on in his understanding of the Pope’s lecture.

I highly recommend the explanatory essay.

Pass it on to anyone who might be interested.

Duns Scotus came on the scene after some of St. Thomas’ propositions had been condemned by the Archbishop of Paris for his integration of Aristotelian metaphysics. Thus, he reacted in opposition to much of St. Thomas’ thought.

Voluntarism essentially suggests that God can do anything that He wishes. Some voluntarists place no limits on God’s omnipotence such that He does not need to act in accord with His nature. Scotus did not go this far. For example, he said that God could change or suspend the last 7 commandments but not the first 3 because He cannot contradict His rational nature. In other words, He could have created a different rational relationship between creation and Himself.

In God and in humans Scotus gives liberty the primary value. Thus, for Scotus, free will is the highest perfection of human nature. The will is even prior to the intellect which led to thought in which free will became almost an end rather than a means to perfection. Many faulty moral systems have arisen based upon this problematic theory.

Thanks, Kathleen