MACHIAVELLI AND THE POLITICAL USE OF THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF FREE WILL

Recent scholarship on Machiavelli and free will has focused almost exclusively on its secular sources while ignoring or denying its Christian theological origin. I argue that such scholarship reduces the complexity of Machiavelli's approach to free will and fails to recognize Machiavelli's conscious appeals to Christian doctrine. By closely examining Machiavelli's three references to 'libero arbitrio' at the end of The Prince and his call in the Discourses for a new interpretation of Christianity, I show that Machiavelli sees political potential in a narrow version of Christianity that accentuates human agency and downplays divine providence.