Free Will Quiz

The paradox of human free will and God's infinite knowledge and power has troubled Jewish thinkers at every point in Jewish history. How much do you know about this debate?

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Question 1. How does Maimonides deal with the problem of free choice?
 By embracing the idea that man has free will, but that God has foreknowledge with what each person will choose
 By rejecting the concept outright
 By saying that God rejects free will, but God wants human beings to believe that it exists
 All of these
 None of these

 

Question 2. Which talmudic sage said that "everything is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven"?
 Shimon bar Yohai
 Hanina ben Hama
 Shmuel
 Rava bar bar Hama

 

Question 3. Elliot Dorff, a Conservative rabbi and theologian, has used arguments about genetic predeterminism and free will to respond to what issue?
 Poverty
 Rights for Homosexuals
 Kashrut
 Freedom of speech

 

Question 4. Which Jewish philosopher suggested that God knows the options from which we will choose, but doesn’t know the specific choice we will make?
 Philo
 Saadiah Gaon
 Gersonides
 Moses Mendelsohn

 

Question 5. According to Maimonides, God’s "special providence" is limited to
 Tzaddikim
 Human beings
 Jews
 Torah scholars

 

Question 6. True or false: The Bible has examples of God announcing predetermined events and interfering with individual choices.
 True
 False

 

Question 7. True or false: In antiquity, the different sects in Israel (Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes) all agreed about fate and determinism.
 True
 False

 

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