Topics Covered How should knowing the superiority of God’s knowledge help us spiritually? How does the Bible describe our choices in relation to God’s sovereignty? About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Chapter Summary Now that Philosophy has laid the foundation of the true nature of knowledge, she can discuss God’s nature, so we can see his knowledge. God is eternal, possessing perfect life forever, possessing all of time as his “now.” Therefore, God knows all things simultaneously, discerning between events that occur out of necessity and those that do not, so that we act freely, even while God knows perfectly what we will do in advance. No human being can evade God’s all-encompassing foreknowledge, which never changes, and indeed which is logically prior to future events, controlling them. But because God’s knowledge does not force people to act, they still have true free will; God can justly reward and punish the righteous and the wicked; and we can pray effectively. We must then pursue virtue with reliance on God, living before him. About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Chapter Summary Philosophy discusses the differences between types of knowledge: Some animals only know through Sensation (like mollusks), while others know through Imagination (like mobile animals). Humans know in both ways as well, but also know through Reason, which is superior. God alone knows through Intelligence, which is the most superior knowledge of all. Because Reason is superior to Sensation and Imagination, it grasps more of the whole of the knowledge of something. God’s knowledge is as superior to Reason as Reason is superior to Imagination and Sensation. Therefore, we must not think that God knows in the same way we do; we must yield to his superior knowledge, not assert our own. If we can ascend to the level of God’s knowledge, as much as we are able, we will see that there is no contradiction between it and free will. About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Chapter Summary Philosophy asserts that human reason cannot attain God’s simple foreknowledge, and for that reason Boethius is confused by the contradiction between foreknowledge and free will. She will now unravel his difficulties, and then help him grasp the simplicity of God’s foreknowledge. If some events do not occur out of necessity, then the contradiction between foreknowledge and free will is resolved. For example, there are actions that unfold before our eyes that are not compelled by outward necessity, such as skilled chariot-driving. Just as our knowledge does not compel events to happen as we watch them, so God’s perfect knowledge does not compel future events to happen as he watches them. But can events that by their nature are not certain to occur be foreknown? Yes, because whether an event is necessary or not does not affect God’s foreknowledge of it, since knowledge is based on the nature of the knower, not the nature of the event. Philosophy illustrates this by explaining that Physical Sensation, Imagination, Reason, and Intelligence grasp man’s nature in different ways, Intelligence being the highest of all, with the purest and most perfect insight. The knowledge of man these faculties gain is based on the nature of these faculties, not on the nature of man. About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Chapter Summary Boethius is still bothered by the contradiction he sees between Philosophy’s teaching on God’s foreknowledge of all things and on the existence of free will. If God accurately foresees every event, what he foresees will infallibly happen, which means man cannot have free will. Some argue that the inevitability of an action causes God’s foreknowledge. But those events are still necessary, and thus, in either case, free will is impossible. Also, if God’s decrees are that events may or may not happen, what kind of foreknowledge is that? But if his foreknowledge is certain, where is human freedom? The moral result is catastrophic: Good cannot be truly rewarded, or evil punished, because people acted out of necessity, not their own choice. Virtue and vice would cease to exist. Further, vice would be attributed to God, since he is the cause of all things. The practical result is destructive: Hope and prayer are both pointless. And since prayer is the only interaction people can have with God, we would thus be unable to be joined to him, cut off from our source of life. About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Topics Covered Would existing as a spirit only give us greater freedom of will than we do as embodied creatures? How does the Scripture view our bodies? Do some people have greater freedom of will than others? About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Chapter Summary Within this plan of Providence, does free will really exist? Yes, because each reasonable creature is able to discern between desirable and undesirable things, and thus to pursue the former and avoid the latter; in other words, they are able to will or not to will. However, humans who are embodied, and especially those who pursue vice, have lessened free will; their use of their will has enslaved them to vice. About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Chapter Summary Boethius asks Philosophy whether chance exists. She demurs at first, lest this matter weary him so he cannot complete his journey back to his spiritual home. Then she defines chance not as an outcome without a cause, but as an unintended and unplanned outcome of combined events—unplanned humanly speaking, since all things happen as Providence has planned. About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Chapter Summary Therefore, Philosophy concludes, every fortune is good. For the righteous to improve in virtue is good, and for the wicked to be punished or corrected is good. So a wise person will not resist when Fortune grates against him, since such difficulty helps him deepen his wisdom. So he should respond rightly to harsh or pleasant fortune to gain happiness. About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Topics Covered Does the Bible support Philosophy’s claim that God’s decrees are unalterable? How can this doctrine bring comfort to us? About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Chapter Summary Philosophy answers Boethius’s challenge. First, she states that everything that happens in the universe originates in the unchanging divine mind, who plans everything that happens. This plan is called Providence when viewed from God’s perfect perspective as a whole, but Fate when viewed by man’s limited perspective as it occurs. Providence is God’s perfect plan, while Fate is God’s carrying out that plan in time. Therefore, the second aspect depends on the first. Even though some of God’s purposes are impossible for us to understand because we cannot view the whole, those purposes do exist, and move everything in the universe toward the Good. God deals rightly with every human being, according to what he knows he needs, whether that means giving adversity to a person who appears just but is not, withholding adversity from a just person, giving adversity to a just person to increase his virtue, giving adversity or blessings to a wicked person either to destroy him or heal him (and only God can make an evil person good). Human beings must accept the fact of God’s guidance of all things toward the Good, because no one can fully grasp or explain all that God does. About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Chapter Summary Boethius challenges Philosophy because of his astonishment at the punishment of good people and reward of the wicked that takes place in the world, especially since God is in control of the world. How is his manifest governance of the world any different than chance? Philosophy replies that Boethius does not understand because he does not know God’s good plan for the world that he is carrying out perfectly. About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Topics Covered Should we really pity wicked people, and not hate them? How does that fit with God’s commands to hate wickedness? About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Chapter Summary Philosophy asserts that not only do the wicked have no power, but also that the accomplishment of wicked people’s desires adds to their misery. Further, their wrongdoing is often limited by their sudden destruction. What follows from these truths is that wicked people who are punished are happier than if they were not punished. For it is just and, therefore, good for the wicked to be punished, who then experience something good. To know and love this truth is to be rewarded within one’s self, and to hate it is to be punished within one’s self—but tragically, the majority of mankind rejects this truth. A further truth is that those who inflict injustice on others are unhappier than those so afflicted, for those who act wickedly are wretched, and so worse off than those they afflict! Thus they are worthy of the pity of the wise, not hatred. About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Chapter Summary The dirtiness of shameful actions and the glory of virtuous actions shows that good people are always rewarded, and wicked people are always punished. This is because a reward is a natural result of the purpose of an action. If a good man becomes good, he must have the good—that is, happiness! And no one can take this reward from him, for only those who cease to be good lose it. Also, those who are happy partake in godhood, which reward cannot be diminished or destroyed. The wicked must suffer a converse punishment: wickedness itself. Since wicked people depart from the good and lose their own unity, they thus destroy their own personhood. They become subhuman, animals—far from being gods. About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Chapter Summary Philosophy’s argument is that good is always powerful, and so evil is always weak. She develops this argument from two sides: First, since all people seek happiness, and only the good attain it, they alone have both will and capability to attain what they seek. Secondly, since a person who can accomplish what his nature fits him for is stronger than someone who cannot, a good man who seeks happiness the way Nature has designed, being virtuous, is stronger than the wicked, who seek it piecemeal and thus cannot find it. She continues to support her argument with several other points: Evil people are weak, paralyzed and unable to obtain the highest goal of reality, either ignorant of the good or deliberately following vice. In fact, wicked people do not exist at all, because to do evil is to abandon one’s nature. Evil people have power only to perform evil, which cannot help you obtain the good, and so is not desirable. But since all power is desirable, power to do evil is no power at all. About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Chapter Summary Philosophy responds to Boethius’s complaint about the flourishing of evil by stating that because God reigns, powerful people are always good, and wicked people are always weak; goodness is always rewarded and evil always punished. If Boethius understands truths like this, which she will show him, he will be able to return from exile to his true home. About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Topics Covered How can evil be “nothing,” as Philosophy teaches? What does this mean for our daily lives? About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Chapter Summary Since Boethius believes that God governs the universe, Philosophy says she is confident she has almost finished rescuing him from spiritual exile; however, she still wants to recount her arguments. God is happiness itself; therefore, he must be fully sufficient, and therefore he governs the universe alone. God is the Good itself, and governs the universe himself; therefore, he governs the universe through goodness. And all creatures submit to God’s guidance as they act according to their natures. Even if they oppose God, they will surely not succeed since God is all-powerful. God’s good governance of the universe, therefore, cannot fail. Philosophy then tries to bring the arguments together to reveal a further truth: Since God can do anything, but cannot do evil, evil must be nothing. Boethius objects to this “labyrinth of tangled arguments,” reviewing Philosophy’s statements. About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.

Chapter Summary Philosophy adds more reasoning to support her point of the previous chapter. All parts of the good are inseparable, and everything that is good is so because it participates in the Good. Thus God, the ultimate unified one, and the Good are the same. Philosophy then talks about unity in earthly creatures. All existing things exist only as unities, and die when they break apart (such as the soul and body). Every living thing pursues self-preservation, even trees and fire and stones—this is a natural instinct. When they seek self-preservation, they are seeking unity. And unity is identical to the Good itself, to God himself. So the Good is the goal of all living things. About The Consolation of Philosophy Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue. Subscribe now and begin walking the path of wisdom with us. Want to go deeper? You’re invited to join the companion course that dives deep into each of the five books. There, we’ll explore each chapter, with guided readings, discussion prompts, and study tools to enrich your journey. Enroll today.