{"id":5773,"date":"2020-09-16T08:00:19","date_gmt":"2020-09-16T00:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=5773"},"modified":"2021-10-07T05:21:54","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T21:21:54","slug":"258-learning-from-the-pelagian-controversy-of-the-5th-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=5773","title":{"rendered":"256. Learning from the Pelagian Controversy of the 5th Century"},"content":{"rendered":"

12\u00a0<\/sup>Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned\u2014\u00a013\u00a0<\/sup>sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law.\u00a014\u00a0<\/sup>Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come<\/span><\/strong>. [Romans 5:12-14<\/span>, NRSV<\/em>]<\/p>\n

23\u00a0<\/sup>since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of Go<\/span>d<\/strong> [Romans 3:23<\/span>, NRSV<\/em>]<\/p>\n

8\u00a0<\/sup>If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us<\/span><\/strong>. [1 John 1:8, <\/span>NRSV<\/em>]<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

In early 5th<\/sup> century, a debate that affected the understanding of grace in Western Christianity, and that was to have long reaching effects on subsequent development in the doctrines of sin and grace, took place between Pelagius and Augustine of Hippo.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Background<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

When Augustine and Pelagius arrived Rome in 380\u2019s, they had much in common. Both were provincials: Augustine from Tagaste, N. Africa; Pelagius from Britain. Perhaps searching for a civil career in the heart of the Roman empire, they both turned out to be religious leaders exercising an enormous spiritual force. They shared a common historical period.<\/span><\/p>\n

With Constantine having legalized Christianity by the Edict of Milan in 313, the Church in the 4th<\/sup> century was rapidly shifting from a persecuted minority religion to becoming the state religion of the masses. The resultant scenario from this new freedom of worship was not altogether rosy, however. On the one hand, pagan morality infiltrated the Church with conversions of convenience. On the other hand, the tradition of a radical conversion to an authentic Christian life of committed discipleship persisted, and stayed strong at places. Augustine converted to that<\/em> Christian dedication; and Pelagius would be the apostle of the need for just such a conversion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paradoxically, however, time<\/em> as the fashioner of change got into the act. This was particularly true of Augustine, who faced several turning points in his life: getting baptized, becoming a priest, and then a bishop. He was a different man when Rome was sacked in 410 from the person he was during the winter of 386-387, and far more different still from the reformer Pelagius.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pelagius\u2019\u00a0 \u201cexperience\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Pelagius was a harsh ascetic monk from Britain, well educated, fluent in Greek\u00a0and Latin, and learned in theology. He was well known in Rome for his harsh asceticism, and for his rhetorical skills.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a rigorist in the moral life, he hated what he saw: the laxity of moral life in the city, and laxity even amongst the clergy. He was a reformist<\/em>. His reputation earned him praise early in his career. Even such pillars of the Church as Augustine referred to him as a \u201csaintly man\u201d at the time, and in the 17th<\/sup> century, John Wesley called him \u201cboth a wise and a holy man\u201d. All this, then, led to his rigorous, demanding, and challenging teaching in regards to grace and sin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pelagius\u2019 teaching<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There is no connection between Adam\u2019s sin and the state all people are born into. Concerning human nature, specifically free will, he insisted that people have free will<\/u><\/em> and can<\/u><\/em> [capax!<\/em>] choose good or evil. What was he aiming at?<\/span><\/p>\n

As a moral rigorist, Pelagius demanded moral accountability<\/u>. He insisted that by great efforts, it is possible<\/u> for us in the flesh to achieve moral perfection.<\/span><\/p>\n

His, therefore, was a positive or optimistic anthropology on which he based his reform mission, so he could demand and challenge. Concerning our ability to choose good over evil, discipline over laxity, Pelagius\u2019 point is best translated into a slogan:<\/span><\/p>\n