EleutherIA — Defined term

Liberum Arbitrium (Free Choice)

liberum arbitrium

Patristic

Liberum arbitrium is a Latin family of expressions for free judgment or choice whose meaning changes across authors. Tertullian uses the language of arbitrii libertas and liberi arbitrii in Adversus Marcionem II.5–7; his explicit gloss of Greek autexousion as libera arbitrii potestas occurs instead at De anima 21.6. Rufinus frequently uses liberum arbitrium when translating Origen, but each equivalence must remain witness-specific rather than being treated as a single lexical event. Augustine gives the phrase a major role in responsibility and grace; in his anti-Pelagian works free choice remains imputable, while salvific willing and action require healing and liberating grace.

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