Of Molinism and Compatibilism

I realized that I haven't posted for a long time. A lot has happened. I've a job. Not necessarily a career change, but it provides for what we need as a family. My youngest son is now 15 months old, communicating more and more, forming some beginnings of sentences (at least in his mind), pointing out objects, and saying "Wow!" as we look at the mountains of snow in our Wisconsin front yard. And as winters are very long here I have to confess that I have been doing a lot of reading--not a lot of thinking to process what I'm reading--just a lot of reading.

Short list?

Eusebius, a biography of Wycliffe, Calvin's institutes, and The Works of Jacobus Arminius. Perhaps the diet of seminary students but I think I want to be one someday. As I've continued reading I've had the beginnings of discussions with some friends over some coffee and I've been thinking that Christianity has within it its own spectrum of thought. On one side you have yer Calvinists and on t'other you got yer Arminians and right smack dab in the middle of both of them--almost as if they're trying to somehow meet and be somewhat in one mind and harmonious--you have these ideas of Compatibilism (soft-determinism) and Molinism (soft-something--I'm not sure what). Of course I'm in danger of oversimplification and going to incur the wrath of both camps. Nevertheless, the nuances that exist are remarkable. Both seek to reconcile the paradoxes of Scripture. I'm not even close to being able to figure them out. In fact, I think it's more confusing.

Oh well...