Free Agent Or Automaton? Gnostic, Zoroastrian, Christian, and Jewish Free Will Doctrines in the Works of Jorge Luis Borges

"Free Agent or Automaton? Gnostic, Zoroastrian, Christian, and Jewish Free Will Doctrines in the Works of Jorge Luis Borges" examines several differing theories surrounding the nature of free will when confronted with the omniscience of God's perfect foreknowledge such as represented in the works of Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges. The first chapter investigates the Gnostic and Christian treatment of this debate in "Tres versiones de Judas," "La secta de los treinta," and "El muerto." The second chapter analyzes the Zoroastrian response in "Las ruinas circulares." The third and final chapter engages the Jewish response to the unanswerable question of "To whom, if anyone, does mankind owe its existence?" in "El milagro secreto." Also, the third chapter examines the role of the reader in the author/character dynamic vis a vis "Pierre Menard, autor del Quijote." I propose a notion of a Gnostic Reader similar to the cosmogonies of Basilides' and Carpocrates' disciples, with the reader as the demi-urge removed from the Abraxas creator god by 365 degrees of separation. In reading these texts, I am interested in how literature, theology, and philosophy coincide in an attempt to foster skepticism toward orthodox traditions as a means to answering questions surrounding the nature of human destiny, existence, and free will. I argue that these encapsulations of existential dilemmas create highly compelling fictions that attempt to address the unknowable nature of agency while in mortality, prompting the reader to examine the great existential questions of life. Thus the dissertation, in addition to analyzing free will doctrines, encompasses a reflection on literature's position within religious belief and faith, as well as its intersection with other practices, such as philosophy, and theology.