Concept of Freedom: A Socio – Theological Inquiry

By Anselm Kentus Chijioke Eke MSP

Freedom comes with it a level of responsibility; it places a reasonable obligation on the individual. Freedom ought to make the individual humble enough to know and accept his/her place in the order of things. It helps one to appreciate one’s humanity and also to recognize one’s capabilities and limitations. Freedom is a gift from God with which the individual ought to enter into a relationship with the Creator; it should not be a reason to abandon the Creator. I am convinced that the proper use of freedom will surely make the world a better place and bring glory to God who is the source and summit of our freedom and ultimately of our existence.
I do not pretend to have the answers to the many questions that I have already raised neither do I lay any claim to having the intention to exhaust all the questions that could be posed in relation to the issue of freedom. I am simply setting out on a journey of exploration of freedom and I am hoping that by the end of the journey I would have been able to arrive at some point of clarity to myself and hopefully others who would read this work as to what constitutes true freedom and in whom this true freedom could be found. I will sure be operating from my Christian background and hope that at the end I would have been able to prove like St. John Paul II once said: “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what is right

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781728370736

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2020 Anselm Kentus Chijioke Eke, MSP (PhD). All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse    08/18/2020

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7074-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7073-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020915895

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Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am immensely grateful to almighty God for his grace which has enabled me to realize this project. In the course of my ministry and studies, many friends (so numerous to mention names here), parishioners and family members have served as pillars of support and encouragement for me in so many different ways; I want to say thank you to all of you for your generosity and kindness. I am also indebted to those who contributed helpful ideas as I was putting this work together and challenged me to put this work into the book form it has today. To all the teachers who have guided me in my studies, many thanks. Lastly, I will like to single out and thank Dr. John Henry Morgan, who diligently proofed this work and approved it.

To all of you, I pray God’s abundant blessing upon you and your families.

TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY

DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to the loving memory of my late parents

Emmanuel and Marcillina Eke

Who instilled in me the love for learning and taught

me that freedom can only be found in Christ.

Contents

Introduction

1. What is Freedom

I.    Relationship between liberty and freedom

II.    Sphere of Freedom

a. Freedom of Speech:

b. Freedom of Assembly:

c. Freedom of Religion:

d. Freedom to Petition the Government:

e. Freedom of the Press

III.    Limits to our freedom

2. Freedom and Existentialism

I.    The Existentialist thinking

II.    The man Viktor Frankl

III.    What is Freedom in Existentialism?

IV.    Concept of freedom in atheistic existentialism

V.    Jean Paul Sartre

VI.    Subjectivism at the root of freedom

VII.    The Hole

VIII.    Meaning and Values in Sartre

3. The Concept of Freedom in Moral Theology

I.    The two concepts

II.    What is Freedom of Indifference?

a. Destruction and Division:

b. Nominalism and Protestantism:

c. Destroy in order to build:

d. Freedom of Indifference and Scripture:

e. Freedom of indifference and the autonomy project:

III.    Freedom for Excellence:

a. Freedom for excellence and Discipline:

b. Freedom for excellence is a freedom to serve:

c. Freedom for excellence and Grace:

4. Freedom and Grace

I.    Exclusive Alternatives?

II.    The Providential Love of God

III.    Powers and limitations of fallen nature

IV.    Sanctifying Grace

V.    Sharing the Divine Life

VI.    Actual grace and Free will

VII.    Efficacious Grace and Supernatural Merit

5. Freedom in Christ

I.    The existential question

II.    Meaning of our existence

III.    Self understanding

IV.    Authentic Freedom

V.    Called to freedom

VI.    The implication of the freedom we have in Christ Jesus

6. Freedom from Militating Conditions

I.    Freedom from Sin

II.    The Meaning of Suffering

III.    Freedom from the fear of Death

IV.    Resurrection of the Body

V.    Freedom in relation to our final destiny and Christian living

7. Freedom is an All Inclusive Phenomenom

I.    Freedom is found only in relationship with others

II.    No man is an island

III.    Freedom is the Essence of Existence

IV.    Freedom calls us to a reverence for all life

INTRODUCTION

Just as it is in the nature of human beings to seek happiness so it does belong to their nature to seek freedom and to act freely. Pinckaers underlined the importance of freedom to humans when he wrote: Freedom is at the heart of our existence.¹ And it is true, for events in life have shown how much people resist any attempt to restrict their freedom. Yes, we are always seeking freedom, be it freedom from something (sometimes freedom from laws and obligations) or freedom to do something. One of the great fathers of the American Revolution, Patrick Henry is quoted to have said so many years ago, Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!² This is an indication of how much value he had placed on freedom. It was for freedom that the Pilgrims left Europe to settle in the ‘new world’ we know today as the United States of America – and how much they had to undergo to arrive at this freedom.

We live in a world today where freedom is readily on people’s lips. Freedom is used to explain whatever we believe and do. Sociologists will speak of the freedom people have in living out their cultural heritage and protecting same from others seeking to obliterate their cultures. We will hear again and again about the economic freedom that should exist, with the mention of free trade and its related programs. Environmentalists are not left out in the fight for freedom for the environment including all animals and plants. Political activists will do everything to ensure that peoples in the different parts of the world are ruled by democratic leaders freely elected by the people. Of course there are still militants who claim to be fighting for freedom, and we know how most of these go at the end of the day. What about the cry for religious freedom that rings out every day in every part of the universe? And all these are legitimate claims and aspirations; they require our attention.

Unfortunately though, there are many who equate freedom with license to do what they want and they end up causing harm to themselves and others in society. One person jokingly said, ‘Absolute freedom is being able to do what you please without considering anyone except your spouse and your kids, the company and the boss, neighbors and friends, the police and the government, the doctor and the church.’ At the end of the day, the question will be asked, ‘when people say that they want freedom what do they really mean?’ We might ask further, what really is freedom? From my observations I have come to the conclusion that there are false and true freedoms; but how can we differentiate these? How do we know each when we come across them? I mean, what are the distinctive marks of true freedom and false freedom? And if it is not true freedom in the first place, why do we allow it to go by the name of freedom? Is there a place where true freedom could be found?

Freedom comes with it a level of responsibility; it places a reasonable obligation on the individual. Freedom ought to make the individual humble enough to know and accept his/her place in the order of things. It helps one to appreciate one’s humanity and also to recognize one’s capabilities and limitations. Freedom is a gift from God with which the individual ought to enter into a relationship with the Creator; it should not be a reason to abandon the Creator. I am convinced that the proper use of freedom will surely make the world a better place and bring glory to God who is the source and summit of our freedom and ultimately of our existence.

I do not pretend to have the answers to the many questions that I have already raised neither do I lay any claim to having the intention to exhaust all the questions that could be posed in relation to the issue of freedom. I am simply setting out on a journey of exploration of freedom and I am hoping that by the end of the journey I would have been able to arrive at some point of clarity to myself and hopefully others who would read this work as to what constitutes true freedom and in whom this true freedom could be found. I will sure be operating from my Christian background and hope that at the end I would have been able to prove like St. John Paul II once said: Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what is right.³

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CHAPTER 1

WHAT IS FREEDOM

I. Relationship between liberty and freedom

This is one of those terms that people tend to define according to their subjective perceptions. It is rather easier to speak of the nature or notion of freedom than to define it. However after consulting several authors, be they philosophers or theologians, I am inclined to deduce that ‘Freedom is the capacity to decide what is good by oneself and not through external constraint.’ In everyday speech, it is common to hear the term freedom used in place of liberty and vice versa. According to the Oxford Dictionary, Freedom is ‘the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants.’ The same dictionary defines Liberty as ‘the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s behavior or political views.’ As a way of clarification, I intend to use the words ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ interchangeably in the course of this book. I do recognize the fact that there is a possible stretch here, yet it would seem to serve my purpose well to be free enough to use any of these words as I choose. Furthermore the various sources consulted in the course of this research do not seem to make an obvious and absolute distinction between the two words, without prejudice to the already noted difference indicated by the dictionary definition. In fact the only noticeable difference highlighted by some scholars is that of etymology i.e. the fact that freedom has a Saxon origin, while liberty has a French origin; and how insignificant that can be compared to the sense they both make and the importance to which they are held in our world today.

One is said to be free when one is able to choose to do a thing or not do a particular thing. To be free is to be able to choose and to want to choose according to one’s conscience. In all we can conveniently say that freedom means choice, and choice entails deciding how to fulfill one’s sense of and obligation to self and responsibility. The discussion is still going on as to whether we should speak of freedom in relation to the ability of one doing what he likes or in the ability of one doing what he ought. And whichever way one chooses to speak of freedom makes a lot of difference as to the definition one gives to freedom and how one acts out one’s freedom. In this regard the contribution of Isaiah Berlin in his book (Two concepts of Liberty), is monumental. In the article he introduced the idea of positive and negative freedom, an idea I intend to deal with later on in this book. He posited, among many other ideas, that Positive freedom therefore is less about what individuals are forbidden from doing, and more about what individuals can do to reach their full human potential. Under a state of positive freedom I wish, above all, to be conscious of myself as a thinking, willing, active being, bearing responsibility for my choices and able to explain them by references to my own ideas and purposes"⁴.

According to Law School Prof. Butler Shaffer (in an article posted on the internet on July 22, 2011 by Geoff) Freedom is your individual ability to do what you want with your time, believe what you want, think what you want. Freedom is in your core being and cannot be taken away, even by most totalitarian governments, although they may try. Following this definition of freedom, one can conveniently conclude that freedom belongs to an individual just for being born into the world. It is a God-given right of every individual. No wonder the right to freedom/liberty was included in the preamble of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Freedom has its source and origin from the creator of the universe; to be alive is synonymous to being free. One cannot be said to be fully alive unless one has freedom.

The great philosopher John Locke wrote about freedom, All men are naturally in a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of Nature, without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man.⁵ Locke, by this assertion, creates a situation in which every individual can afford to live by themselves and care less about what happens to the rest of humanity. The individual owes no responsibility to the community; an assertion he was later to reverse because he realized that it was not possible in the real world for each person to secure his or her own liberty. I believe that our freedom, though natural to every individual, is yet related to the community. While the question still goes on as to whether freedom should consist in one’s ability to do what one likes with what one has or one’s responsibility to do what one ought to do, we should all recognize that it is something we owe to ourselves and to each other – to be