Grace for Grace: The Debates after Augustine and Pelagius

336 Pages·2014·1.47 MB·English

by  by Alexander Y. Hwang (Editor)

Grace for Grace

Grace
for
Grace
The Debates after Augustine
and Pelagius
Edited by Alexander Y. Hwang,
Brian J. Matz, and Augustine Casiday
The Catholic University of
America Press Washington, D.C.
Copyright © 2014
The Catholic University of America Press
All rights reserved
The paper used in this publication meets the
minimum requirements of American National
Standards for Information Science—Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1984.
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Grace for grace : the debates after Augustine and
Pelagius / edited by Alexander Y. Hwang, Brian J.
Matz, and Augustine Casiday.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8132-2601-9 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Grace
(Theology)—History of doctrines—Early church,
ca. 30–600. 2. Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo.
3. Pelagianism. 4. Church history —Primitive and
early church, ca. 30–600. I. Hwang, Alexander Y.,
editor of compilation.
BT761.3.G725 2014
234—dc23 2014004721
This book is dedicated to Roland J. Teske, SJ,
whose elegant translations and interpretations
of Augustine’s works are invaluable sources
for studying the Bishop of Hippo

CONTENTS
Preface ix
Introduction by Rebecca Harden Weaver xi
Abbreviations xxvii
Chronology of Key Events xxix
1. The Background: Augustine and the
Pelagian Controversy 1
Eugene Teselle
2. 1 Timothy 2:4 and the Beginnings of the
Massalian Controversy 14
Roland Teske, SJ
3. P auci perfectae gratiae intrepidi amatores:
The Augustinians in Marseilles 35
Alexander Y. Hwang
4. Prosper’s “Crypto-Pelagians”: De ingratis
and the Carmen de prouidentia Dei 51
Raúl Villegas Marín (translated by
Gerardo Rodríguez-Galarza)
5. “ Les vers servent aux saints”: Didactic
Poetry and Anti-Heretical Polemic in the
Carmen de Ingratis 72
Jérémy Delmulle
6. P rosper’s Pneumatology: The Development
of an Augustinian 97
Thomas L. Humphries Jr.
7. John Cassian and Augustine 114
Boniface Ramsey
8. V incent of Lérins’s Commonitorium, Objectiones,
and Excerpta: Responding to Augustine’s Legacy
in Fifth-Century Gaul 131
Augustine Casiday
9. Fulgentius of Ruspe on the Saving Will
of God 155
Francis X. Gumerlock
10. Augustine, Pelagius, and the Southern Gallic
Tradition: Faustus of Riez’s De gratia Dei 180
Matthew J. Pereira
11. Caesarius of Arles, Prevenient Grace, and
the Second Council of Orange 208
Ralph W. Mathisen
12. Augustine, the Carolingians, and Double
Predestination 235
Brian J. Matz
13. An Eastern View: Theodore of Mopsuestia’s
Against the Defenders of Original Sin 271
Nestor Kavvadas
Contributors 295
Index 297
PREFACE
The term “semi-Pelagian” is an ironic misnomer. This controver-
sy over grace and free will has long remained in the shadows cast by
the much better known Pelagian controversy. This book of essays
is the first published volume solely dedicated to this understudied
controversy. The publication of this volume represents the recent
renewal of scholarly interest in this controversy.
The Pelagian controversy was over the question of orthodoxy,
cast in terms of a struggle between good and evil, sin and grace,
and salvation and damnation. The controversy that followed had
much less at stake than the eternal fate of souls. Still, the contro-
versy is the Western Church’s initial struggle to interpret certain
elements of Augustine’s teachings on grace and set the terms and
arguments, if not the tone, for future debates over the interpreta-
tion of Augustine’s doctrine of grace.
The idea for this project originated from an informal conversa-
tion at the 2007 International Conference on Patristic Studies at
Oxford University. The editors wish to thank the contributors not
only for their contributions but also for their patience with all the
unexpected delays in the editing process. Special thanks to Taylor
Stewart for assistance with the index. We also wish to express our
gratitude to the staff of the Catholic University of America Press
for their support and encouragement for this project from the be-
ginning.
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