Pelagianism
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Pelagianism is a Christian theological position that holds that the fall did not taint human nature and that humans by divine grace have free will to achieve human perfection. Pelagius (c. 355 – c. 420 AD), an ascetic and philosopher from the British Isles, taught that God could not command believers to do the impossible, and therefore it must be possible to satisfy all divine commandments. He also taught that it was unjust to punish one person for the sins of another; therefore, infants are born blameless. Pelagius accepted no excuse for sinful behaviour and taught that all Christians, regardless of their station in life, should live unimpeachable, sinless lives.
To a large degree, "Pelagianism" was defined by its opponent
Background
During the fourth and fifth centuries, the Church was experiencing rapid change due to the
Early Christianity was
Pelagian controversy
In 410, Pelagius and Caelestius fled Rome for Sicily and then North Africa due to the
Jerome attacked Pelagianism for saying that humans had the potential to be sinless, and connected it with other recognized heresies, including Origenism,
At the time, Pelagius' teachings had considerable support among Christians, especially other ascetics.
Pelagius' teachings
Free will and original sin
The idea that God had created anything or anyone who was evil by nature struck Pelagius as Manichean.[35] Pelagius taught that humans were free of the burden of original sin, because it would be unjust for any person to be blamed for another's actions.[29] According to Pelagianism, humans were created in the image of God and had been granted conscience and reason to determine right from wrong, and the ability to carry out correct actions.[36] If "sin" could not be avoided it could not be considered sin.[35][24] In Pelagius' view, the doctrine of original sin placed too little emphasis on the human capacity for self-improvement, leading either to despair or to reliance on forgiveness without responsibility.[37] He also argued that many young Christians were comforted with false security about their salvation leading them to relax their Christian practice.[38]
Pelagius believed that Adam's transgression had caused humans to become mortal, and given them a bad example, but not corrupted their nature,
Sin and virtue
He is a Christian
- who shows compassion to all,
- who is not at all provoked by wrong done to him,
- who does not allow the poor to be oppressed in his presence,
- who helps the wretched,
- who succors the needy,
- who mourns with the mourners,
- who feels another's pain as if it were his own,
- who is moved to tears by the tears of others,
- whose house is common to all,
- whose door is closed to no one,
- whose table no poor man does not know,
- whose food is offered to all,
- whose goodness all know and at whose hands no one experiences injury,
- who serves God all day and night,
- who ponders and meditates upon his commandments unceasingly,
- who is made poor in the eyes of the world so that he may become rich before God.
In the Pelagian view, by corollary, sin was not an inevitable result of fallen human nature, but instead came about by
Pelagius taught that a human's ability to act correctly was a gift of God,
Baptism and judgment
Because sin in the Pelagian view was deliberate, with people responsible only for their own actions, infants were considered without fault in Pelagianism, and unbaptized infants were not thought to be sent to hell.
Comparison
Significant influences on Pelagius included
Theologian
Definition
What Augustine called "Pelagianism" was more his own invention than that of Pelagius.
Pelagianism and Augustinianism
Pelagius' teachings on human nature, divine grace, and sin were opposed to those of Augustine, who declared Pelagius "the enemy of the grace of God".[29][18][h] Augustine distilled what he called Pelagianism into three heretical tenets: "to think that God redeems according to some scale of human merit; to imagine that some human beings are actually capable of a sinless life; to suppose that the descendants of the first human beings to sin are themselves born innocent".[30][i] In Augustine's writings, Pelagius is a symbol of humanism who excluded God from human salvation.[18] Pelagianism shaped Augustine's ideas in opposition to his own on free will, grace, and original sin,[68][69][70] and much of The City of God is devoted to countering Pelagian arguments.[47] Another major difference in the two thinkers was that Pelagius emphasized obedience to God for fear of hell, which Augustine considered servile. In contrast, Augustine argued that Christians should be motivated by the delight and blessings of the Holy Spirit and believed that it was treason "to do the right deed for the wrong reason".[38] According to Augustine, credit for all virtue and good works is due to God alone,[71] and to say otherwise caused arrogance, which is the foundation of sin.[72]
According to Peter Brown, "For a sensitive man of the fifth century, Manichaeism, Pelagianism, and the views of Augustine were not as widely separated as we would now see them: they would have appeared to him as points along the great circle of problems raised by the Christian religion".
Belief | Pelagianism | Augustinianism |
---|---|---|
Fall of man | Sets a bad example, but does not affect human nature[44][35] | Every human's nature is corrupted by original sin, and they also inherit moral guilt[44][35] |
Free will | Original sin renders men unable to choose good[80] | |
Status of infants | Blameless[51] | Corrupted by original sin and consigned to hell if unbaptized[81][44][35] |
Sin |
Comes about by free choice[44] | Inevitable result of fallen human nature[44] |
Forgiveness for sin | Given to those who sincerely repent and merit it[j] | Part of God's grace, disbursed according to his will[82] |
Sinlessness | Theoretically possible, although unusual[29][48] | Impossible due to the corruption of human nature[81] |
Salvation | Humans will be judged for their choices[29] | Salvation is bestowed by God's grace[83] |
Predestination | Rejected[84] | God |
According to Nelson, Pelagianism is a solution to the
Pelagianism and Judaism
One of the most important distinctions between Christianity and
Later responses
Semi-Pelagian controversy
The resolution of the Pelagian controversy gave rise to a new controversy in southern
Christians often used "Pelagianism" as an insult to imply that the target denied God's grace and strayed into heresy.[34] Later Augustinians criticized those who asserted a meaningful role for human free will in their own salvation as covert "Pelagians" or "semi-Pelagians".[18]
Pelagian manuscripts
During the Middle Ages, Pelagius' writings were popular but usually attributed to other authors, especially Augustine and Jerome.
Early modern era
During the modern era, Pelagianism continued to be used as an epithet against orthodox Christians. However, there were also some authors who had essentially Pelagian views according to Nelson's definition.
Nelson argues that the drive for rational justification of religion, rather than a symptom of secularization, was actually "a Pelagian response to the theodicy problem" because "the conviction that everything necessary for salvation must be accessible to human reason was yet another inference from God's justice". In Pelagianism, libertarian free will is
19th-century philosopher
Contemporary responses
The conflict between Pelagius and the teachings of Augustine was a constant theme throughout the works of Anthony Burgess, in books including A Clockwork Orange, Earthly Powers, A Vision of Battlements and The Wanting Seed.[124]
Scholarly reassessment
During the 20th century, Pelagius and his teachings underwent a reassessment.[125][53] In 1956, John Ferguson wrote:
If a heretic is one who emphasizes one truth to the exclusion of others, it would at any rate appear that [Pelagius] was no more a heretic than Augustine. His fault was in exaggerated emphasis, but in the final form his philosophy took, after necessary and proper modifications as a result of criticism, it is not certain that any statement of his is totally irreconcilable with the Christian faith or indefensible in terms of the New Testament. It is by no means so clear that the same may be said of Augustine.[126][125]
Thomas Scheck writes that although Pelagius' views on original sin are still considered "one-sided and defective":[53]
An important result of the modern reappraisal of Pelagius's theology has been a more sympathetic assessment of his theology and doctrine of grace and the recognition of its deep rootedness in the antecedent Greek theologians... Pelagius's doctrine of grace, free will and predestination, as represented in his Commentary on Romans, has very strong links with Eastern (Greek) theology and, for the most part, these doctrines are no more reproachable than those of orthodox Greek theologians such as Origen and John Chrysostom, and of St. Jerome.[53]
See also
References
Notes
- ^ According to Marius Mercator, Caelestius was deemed to hold six heretical beliefs:[16]
- Adam was created mortal
- Adam's sin did not corrupt other humans
- Infants are born into the same state as Adam before the fall of man
- Adam's sin did not introduce mortality
- Following God's law enables man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven
- There were other humans, besides Christ, who were without sin
- ^ a b At the Council of Diospolis, On the Christian Life was submitted as an example of Pelagius' heretical writings. Scholar Robert F. Evans argues that it was Pelagius' work, but Ali Bonner disagrees.[109]
- At the Synod of Diospolis, Pelagius went back on the claim that other humans besides Jesus had lived sinless lives, but insisted that it was still theoretically possible.[26]
- ^ According to Augustine, true virtue resides exclusively in God and humans can know it only imperfectly.[57]
- ^ Scheck and F. Clark summarize the condemned beliefs as follows:
- "Adam's sin injured only himself, so that his posterity were not born in that state of alienation from God called original sin
- It was accordingly possible for man, born without original sin or its innate consequences, to continue to live without sin by the natural goodness and powers of his nature; therefore, justification was not a process that must necessarily take place for man to be saved
- Eternal life was, consequently, open and due to man as a result of his natural good strivings and merits; divine interior grace, though useful, was not necessary for the attainment of salvation."[61]
- ^ The phrase (inimici gratiae) was repeated more than fifty times in Augustine's anti-Pelagian writings after Diospolis.[66]
- ^ Robert Dodaro has a similar list: "(1) that human beings can be sinless; (2) that they can act virtuously without grace; (3) that virtue can be perfected in this life; and (4) that fear of death can be completely overcome".[67]
- ^ Pelagius wrote: "pardon is given to those who repent, not according to the grace and mercy of God, but according to their own merit and effort, who through repentance will have been worthy of mercy".[39]
- Judith Shklar called "liberalism of fear".[119]
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f g Harrison 2016, p. 78.
- ^ Kirwan 1998.
- ^ Teselle 2014, pp. 1–2.
- ^ a b Elliott 2011, p. 377.
- ^ a b Keech 2012, p. 38.
- ^ a b Scheck 2012, p. 81.
- ^ a b Wetzel 2001, p. 51.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bonner 2004.
- ^ a b Beck 2007, pp. 689–690.
- ^ Beck 2007, p. 691.
- ^ Brown 1970, pp. 60–61.
- ^ Bonner 2018, p. 299.
- ^ Teselle 2014, pp. 2, 4.
- ^ Scheck 2012, p. 82.
- ^ a b Teselle 2014, p. 3.
- ^ a b Rackett 2002, p. 224.
- ^ Rackett 2002, pp. 224–225, 231.
- ^ a b c d Scheck 2012, p. 79.
- ^ a b c d e Teselle 2014, p. 5.
- ^ Rackett 2002, pp. 228–229.
- ^ Rackett 2002, p. 230.
- ^ Beck 2007, p. 690.
- ^ Beck 2007, pp. 685–686.
- ^ a b c Rackett 2002, p. 226.
- ^ a b Keech 2012, pp. 39–40.
- ^ a b Rackett 2002, p. 233.
- ^ a b c Teselle 2014, p. 6.
- ^ Beck 2007, p. 687.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Puchniak 2008, p. 123.
- ^ a b c Wetzel 2001, p. 52.
- ^ a b Teselle 2014, p. 7.
- ^ Keech 2012, p. 40.
- ^ Cohen 2016, p. 523.
- ^ a b Rackett 2002, p. 236.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Harrison 2016, p. 81.
- ^ a b c d e f g Harrison 2016, p. 79.
- ^ a b c Chadwick 2001, p. 116.
- ^ a b c d e f Harrison 2016, p. 80.
- ^ a b Visotzky 2009, p. 49.
- ^ a b Visotzky 2009, p. 50.
- ^ Dodaro 2004, pp. 88–89.
- ^ a b c Beck 2007, p. 693.
- ^ Rees 1998, p. 124.
- ^ a b c d e f Visotzky 2009, p. 44.
- ^ a b c d Dodaro 2004, p. 79.
- ^ Dodaro 2004, pp. 79–80.
- ^ a b Dodaro 2004, p. 80.
- ^ a b c Visotzky 2009, p. 48.
- ^ Brown 1970, p. 69.
- ^ Ephesians 5:27
- ^ a b Kirwan 1998, Grace and free will.
- ^ Chadwick 2001, p. 119.
- ^ a b c d e f Scheck 2012, p. 80.
- ^ Bonner 2018, pp. 304–305.
- ^ Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, 3:4
- ^ Dodaro 2004, pp. 109–110.
- ^ Dodaro 2004, p. 111.
- ^ a b c Harrison 2016, p. 82.
- ^ a b Weaver 2014, p. xviii.
- ^ a b c Bonner 2018, p. 302.
- ^ a b Scheck 2012, p. 86.
- ^ Chronister 2020, p. 119.
- ^ Lössl 2019, p. 848.
- ^ a b c d e Nelson 2019, p. 4.
- ^ Scheck 2012, pp. 81–82.
- ^ Rackett 2002, p. 234.
- ^ Dodaro 2004, p. 186.
- ^ Visotzky 2009, p. 43.
- ^ Keech 2012, p. 15.
- ^ Stump 2001, p. 130.
- ^ Dodaro 2004, pp. 187–188.
- ^ Dodaro 2004, p. 191.
- ^ Visotzky 2009, p. 53.
- ^ Squires 2016, p. 706.
- ^ Wetzel 2001, pp. 52, 55.
- ^ Bonner 2018, pp. 303–304.
- ^ Bonner 2018, p. 305.
- ^ Dodaro 2004, p. 86.
- ^ Weaver 2014, p. xix.
- ^ Puchniak 2008, pp. 123–124.
- ^ a b c d Puchniak 2008, p. 124.
- ^ Chadwick 2001, pp. 30–31.
- ^ Stump 2001, pp. 139–140.
- ^ Elliott 2011, p. 378.
- ^ Chadwick 2001, pp. 123–124.
- ^ Levering 2011, p. 47–48.
- ^ James 1998, p. 102.
- .
- ISBN 978-0-227-90213-4.
- ^ a b Nelson 2019, p. 3.
- ^ Nelson 2019, pp. 3, 51.
- ^ a b c Nelson 2019, p. 51.
- ^ Chadwick 2001, pp. 117–118.
- ^ Stump 2001, p. 139.
- ^ Nelson 2019, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Fu 2015, p. 182.
- ^ a b Visotzky 2009, p. 45.
- ^ Visotzky 2009, p. 59.
- ^ Visotzky 2009, p. 60.
- ^ Weaver 2014, pp. xiv–xv, xviii.
- ^ a b c d Scheck 2012, p. 87.
- ^ 1 Timothy 2:3–4
- ^ Weaver 2014, pp. xv, xix, xxiv.
- ^ Weaver 2014, pp. xviii–xix.
- ^ Weaver 2014, p. xxiv.
- ^ a b Bonner 2018, pp. 288–289.
- ^ Scheck 2012, pp. 91–92.
- ^ a b Scheck 2012, p. 92.
- ^ Bonner 2018, Chapter 7, fn 1.
- ^ Nelson 2019, p. 5.
- ^ Nelson 2019, pp. 2, 5.
- ^ a b Nelson 2019, p. 8.
- ^ Nelson 2019, p. 7.
- ^ a b Nelson 2019, p. 11.
- ^ Nelson 2019, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Nelson 2019, p. 15.
- ^ Nelson 2019, pp. 16–18.
- ^ Nelson 2019, pp. 19–20.
- ^ Nelson 2019, p. 21.
- ^ Puchniak 2008, p. 126.
- ^ Puchniak 2008, p. 128.
- ^ Nelson 2019, pp. 50, 53.
- ^ Nelson 2019, p. 49.
- ^ 'Augustine's Confessions', The International Anthony Burgess Foundation
- ^ a b Beck 2007, p. 694.
- ^ Ferguson 1956, p. 182.
Sources
- Beck, John H. (2007). "The Pelagian Controversy: An Economic Analysis". S2CID 144950796.
- Bonner, Ali (2018). ISBN 978-0-19-726639-7.
- ISBN 978-1-4411-8259-3.
- .
- JSTOR 23957336.
- ISBN 978-0-19-285452-0.
- Chronister, Andrew C. (2020). "Ali Bonner, The Myth of Pelagianism". S2CID 213551127.
- Cohen, Samuel (2016). "Religious Diversity". In Jonathan J. Arnold; M. Shane Bjornlie; ISBN 978-9004-31376-7.
- ISBN 978-1-139-45651-7.
- ISBN 978-0-511-78128-5.
- Ferguson, John (1956). Pelagius: A Historical and Theological Study. Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons.
- Fu, Youde (2015). "Hebrew Justice: A Reconstruction for Today". The Value of the Particular: Lessons from Judaism and the Modern Jewish Experience. Leiden: Brill. pp. 171–194. ISBN 978-90-04-29269-7.
- S2CID 170152314.
- James, Frank A. III (1998). Peter Martyr Vermigli and Predestination: The Augustinian Inheritance of an Italian Reformer. Oxford: Clarendon. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
- Keech, Dominic (2012). The Anti-Pelagian Christology of Augustine of Hippo, 396-430. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-966223-4.
- Keeny, Anthony (2009). An Illustrated Brief History of Western Philosophy. ISBN 978-1-4051-7860-0.
- Kirwan, Christopher (1998). "Pelagianism". ISBN 978-0-415-25069-6.
- Levering, Matthew (2011). Predestination: Biblical and Theological Paths. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-960452-4.
- Lössl, Josef (20 September 2019). "The myth of Pelagianism. By Ali Bonner. (A British Academy Monograph.) Pp. xviii + 342. Oxford–New York: Oxford University Press (for The British Academy), 2018. 978 0 19 726639 7". S2CID 204479402.
- ISBN 978-0-674-24094-0.
- Rigby, Paul (2015). The Theology of Augustine's Confessions. ISBN 978-1-107-09492-5.
- Puchniak, Robert (2008). "Pelagius: Kierkegaard's use of Pelagius and Pelagianism". In ISBN 978-0-7546-6391-1.
- Rackett, Michael R. (2002). "What's Wrong with Pelagianism?". Augustinian Studies. 33 (2): 223–237. .
- ISBN 978-0-85115-714-6.
- Scheck, Thomas P. (2012). "Pelagius's Interpretation of Romans". In Cartwright, Steven (ed.). A Companion to St. Paul in the Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill. pp. 79–114. ISBN 978-90-04-23671-4.
- Squires, Stuart (2016). "Jerome on Sinlessness: a Via Media between Augustine and Pelagius". .
- ISBN 978-0-8132-2601-9.
- ISBN 978-1-1391-7804-4.
- Visotzky, Burton L. (2009). "Will and Grace: Aspects of Judaising in Pelagianism in Light of Rabbinic and Patristic Exegesis of Genesis". In Grypeou, Emmanouela; Spurling, Helen (eds.). The Exegetical Encounter Between Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity. Leiden: Brill. pp. 43–62. ISBN 978-90-04-17727-7.
- ISBN 978-0-8132-2601-9.
- ISBN 978-1-1391-7804-4.
Further reading
- Bonner, Gerald (2002). "The Pelagian controversy in Britain and Ireland". .
- JSTOR 23959559.
- ISBN 978-1-4008-6311-2.
- Cyr, Taylor W.; Flummer, Matthew T. (2018). "Free will, grace, and anti-Pelagianism". International Journal for Philosophy of Religion. 83 (2): 183–199. S2CID 171953180.
- S2CID 145615057.
- Dodaro, Robert (2004). ""Ego miser homo": Augustine, The Pelagian Controversy, and the Paul of Romans 7:7-25". Augustinianum. 44 (1): 135–144. .
- ISBN 978-1-60899-497-7.
- ISSN 0004-8003.
- Markus, Gilbert (2005). "Pelagianism and the 'Common Celtic Church'" (PDF). Innes Review. 56 (2): 165–213. .
- Nunan, Richard (2012). "Catholics and evangelical protestants on homoerotic desire: the intellectual legacy of Augustinian and Pelagian theories of human nature". Queer Philosophy. Brill | Rodopi. pp. 329–352. ISBN 978-94-012-0835-2.
- ISBN 0-85115-503-0.
- Scholl, Lindsey Anne (2011). ProQuest 3482027.
- Squires, Stuart (2013). Philip Rousseau (ed.). Reassessing Pelagianism: Augustine, Cassian, and Jerome on the Possibility of a Sinless Life (PhD thesis). Catholic University of America.
- Squires, Stuart (2019). The Pelagian Controversy: An Introduction to the Enemies of Grace and the Conspiracy of Lost Souls. Eugene: Wipf and Stock. ISBN 978-1-5326-3781-0.
- Wermelinger, Otto (1975). Rom und Pelagius: die theologische Position der römischen Bischöfe im pelagianischen Streit in den Jahren 411-432 [Rome and Pelagius: the theological position of the Roman bishops during the Pelagian controversy, 411–432] (in German). A. Hiersemann. ISBN 978-3-7772-7516-1.
External links
- Pelagius Library: Online site dedicated to the study of Pelagius