Matthias Gockel
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203222
- eISBN:
- 9780191707711
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203222.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The book argues that the doctrine of election in Karl Barth's early theology shows a striking resemblance to the position of Friedrich Schleiermacher, and that his later christological revision of ...
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The book argues that the doctrine of election in Karl Barth's early theology shows a striking resemblance to the position of Friedrich Schleiermacher, and that his later christological revision of the doctrine overcomes the limitations of his earlier ‘Schleiermacherian’ position. Initially, both agree that predestination is not a pre‐temporal decision by which God has decreed once and for all who will believe and who will not believe. Instead, the outcome of the divine decision is determined when God addresses a human being here and now. Schleiermacher's concept of a single divine decree is consistent with Barth's assertion that God addresses every person in the same way, but the responses to the address are diverse. Their doctrine of election is theocentric and envisions a teleological relation between reprobation and election, in which the former always serves the purpose of the latter, without an endorsement of universalism. Whereas Schleiermacher rejects the concept of double predestination, Barth modifies it twice. In Church Dogmatics II/2 it refers no longer to the twofold possibility of faith and unbelief but to the double determination of individual human beings and God's own being. It explains that God sees every human being and also Himself in Christ.Less
The book argues that the doctrine of election in Karl Barth's early theology shows a striking resemblance to the position of Friedrich Schleiermacher, and that his later christological revision of the doctrine overcomes the limitations of his earlier ‘Schleiermacherian’ position. Initially, both agree that predestination is not a pre‐temporal decision by which God has decreed once and for all who will believe and who will not believe. Instead, the outcome of the divine decision is determined when God addresses a human being here and now. Schleiermacher's concept of a single divine decree is consistent with Barth's assertion that God addresses every person in the same way, but the responses to the address are diverse. Their doctrine of election is theocentric and envisions a teleological relation between reprobation and election, in which the former always serves the purpose of the latter, without an endorsement of universalism. Whereas Schleiermacher rejects the concept of double predestination, Barth modifies it twice. In Church Dogmatics II/2 it refers no longer to the twofold possibility of faith and unbelief but to the double determination of individual human beings and God's own being. It explains that God sees every human being and also Himself in Christ.
Phillip Cary
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195336481
- eISBN:
- 9780199868438
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195336481.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Rather than constituting a break with his Platonism, Augustine's doctrines of grace and free will are formed from the beginning by Platonist conceptions of happiness, wisdom, intellect, virtue, ...
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Rather than constituting a break with his Platonism, Augustine's doctrines of grace and free will are formed from the beginning by Platonist conceptions of happiness, wisdom, intellect, virtue, purification, conversion, faith, and love. Divine grace is inner help for the will, and our need for it expands “outward” over the course of Augustine's career, being required originally for attaining the happiness of wisdom (i.e., the intellectual vision of God), then for rightly ordered love (i.e., charity), and eventually for Christian faith. Reading the apostle Paul, Augustine emphasizes the difficulty of willing and loving the good, and eventually concludes that even the human choice to believe depends on grace, though this comes to us in the external words of a “suitable call,” which does not directly change the will from within. However, in his later polemics against Pelagianism, Augustine reconceives grace as wholly inward, a divine inner teaching that turns our will and causes us to believe. Since God foresees how he will give the gift of grace, this raises questions of predestination and especially election: why does God choose to bring some people rather than others to conversion, faith, and ultimate salvation? A more biblical and external doctrine of election, in which the chosen people are a blessing for those outside them, would avoid the anxieties of Augustine's doctrine of predestination.Less
Rather than constituting a break with his Platonism, Augustine's doctrines of grace and free will are formed from the beginning by Platonist conceptions of happiness, wisdom, intellect, virtue, purification, conversion, faith, and love. Divine grace is inner help for the will, and our need for it expands “outward” over the course of Augustine's career, being required originally for attaining the happiness of wisdom (i.e., the intellectual vision of God), then for rightly ordered love (i.e., charity), and eventually for Christian faith. Reading the apostle Paul, Augustine emphasizes the difficulty of willing and loving the good, and eventually concludes that even the human choice to believe depends on grace, though this comes to us in the external words of a “suitable call,” which does not directly change the will from within. However, in his later polemics against Pelagianism, Augustine reconceives grace as wholly inward, a divine inner teaching that turns our will and causes us to believe. Since God foresees how he will give the gift of grace, this raises questions of predestination and especially election: why does God choose to bring some people rather than others to conversion, faith, and ultimate salvation? A more biblical and external doctrine of election, in which the chosen people are a blessing for those outside them, would avoid the anxieties of Augustine's doctrine of predestination.
Stephen Edmund Lahey
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195183313
- eISBN:
- 9780199870349
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183313.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The 14th-century English philosopher and theologian John Wyclif (d. 1384) has been described as a forerunner of the Reformation, but is better understood as the last important thinker of Oxford’s ...
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The 14th-century English philosopher and theologian John Wyclif (d. 1384) has been described as a forerunner of the Reformation, but is better understood as the last important thinker of Oxford’s “Golden Age” of theology. Rather than describing him in terms of what would occur a century and a half after his death, this book describes Wyclif as coming at the end of a period of great intellectual activity. His logic, epistemology, and metaphysics emerge from academic discourse engendered by Ockham’s conceptualism and sharpened by the semantic analysis of the Mertonian Calculators. The theological innovations for which Wyclif is best known, including a heightened emphasis on Scripture in Christian life, his rejection of transubstantiation, and his program for ecclesiastical reform, are best understood in terms of the philosophical theology that he developed during his years at Oxford. This book attempts such an understanding by correlating the substance of these theological ideas to Wyclif’s philosophical works, showing how they articulate his scriptural hermeneutics and homiletics, his understanding of predestination, and his criticism of the doctrine of transubstantiation.Less
The 14th-century English philosopher and theologian John Wyclif (d. 1384) has been described as a forerunner of the Reformation, but is better understood as the last important thinker of Oxford’s “Golden Age” of theology. Rather than describing him in terms of what would occur a century and a half after his death, this book describes Wyclif as coming at the end of a period of great intellectual activity. His logic, epistemology, and metaphysics emerge from academic discourse engendered by Ockham’s conceptualism and sharpened by the semantic analysis of the Mertonian Calculators. The theological innovations for which Wyclif is best known, including a heightened emphasis on Scripture in Christian life, his rejection of transubstantiation, and his program for ecclesiastical reform, are best understood in terms of the philosophical theology that he developed during his years at Oxford. This book attempts such an understanding by correlating the substance of these theological ideas to Wyclif’s philosophical works, showing how they articulate his scriptural hermeneutics and homiletics, his understanding of predestination, and his criticism of the doctrine of transubstantiation.
Gregory Graybill
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199589487
- eISBN:
- 9780191594588
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199589487.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
If one is saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ, then what is the origin of that faith? Is it a preordained gift of God to elect individuals, or is some measure of human free choice involved? ...
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If one is saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ, then what is the origin of that faith? Is it a preordained gift of God to elect individuals, or is some measure of human free choice involved? Initially, Philipp Melanchthon concurred with Martin Luther—that the human will is completely bound by sin, and that the choice of faith can flow only from God's unilateral grace. But if this is so, what about those whom God has not chosen? Is he not casting people into hell who never even had a chance? What are the pastoral implications for believers thinking about the nature of God and their own relationship to him? As a result of practical concerns such as these, aided by an intellectual aversion to paradox, Melanchthon came to believe that the human will does play a key role in the origins of a saving faith in Jesus Christ. This was not the Roman Catholic free will of Erasmus, however. It was a limited free will tied to justification by faith alone. It was an evangelical free will.Less
If one is saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ, then what is the origin of that faith? Is it a preordained gift of God to elect individuals, or is some measure of human free choice involved? Initially, Philipp Melanchthon concurred with Martin Luther—that the human will is completely bound by sin, and that the choice of faith can flow only from God's unilateral grace. But if this is so, what about those whom God has not chosen? Is he not casting people into hell who never even had a chance? What are the pastoral implications for believers thinking about the nature of God and their own relationship to him? As a result of practical concerns such as these, aided by an intellectual aversion to paradox, Melanchthon came to believe that the human will does play a key role in the origins of a saving faith in Jesus Christ. This was not the Roman Catholic free will of Erasmus, however. It was a limited free will tied to justification by faith alone. It was an evangelical free will.
Matthew Levering
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199604524
- eISBN:
- 9780191729317
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199604524.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, History of Christianity
Why have Christian theologians returned again and again over the course of the centuries to the topic of predestination? This book argues that the reason for the recurrent interest in predestination ...
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Why have Christian theologians returned again and again over the course of the centuries to the topic of predestination? This book argues that the reason for the recurrent interest in predestination is that Scripture teaches the core elements of the doctrine of predestination. When Second Temple Jewish theologies took up the election of Israel, their affirmation of an eternal Creator God resulted in the doctrine of predestination. For the New Testament authors as well, God from eternity governs everything in his providence, electing some by grace and permitting others to rebel permanently. The claim that Scripture teaches predestination has been highly controverted in the Christian tradition. This book explores the views of sixteen key figures representing a wide spectrum of views: Origen, Augustine, Boethius, and John of Damascus (patristic period); John Scottus Eriugena, Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, and Catherine of Siena (medieval period); John Calvin, Luis de Molina, Francis de Sales, and G. W. Leibniz (Reformation/early modern period); and Sergius Bulgakov, Karl Barth, Jacques Maritain, and Hans Urs von Balthasar (20th century). The final chapter offers a constructive approach to the topic, rooted in Aquinas's theocentric metaphysics and doctrine of God's permission of sin, and in Catherine's and Francis's emphasis on God's superabundant love for all rational creatures.Less
Why have Christian theologians returned again and again over the course of the centuries to the topic of predestination? This book argues that the reason for the recurrent interest in predestination is that Scripture teaches the core elements of the doctrine of predestination. When Second Temple Jewish theologies took up the election of Israel, their affirmation of an eternal Creator God resulted in the doctrine of predestination. For the New Testament authors as well, God from eternity governs everything in his providence, electing some by grace and permitting others to rebel permanently. The claim that Scripture teaches predestination has been highly controverted in the Christian tradition. This book explores the views of sixteen key figures representing a wide spectrum of views: Origen, Augustine, Boethius, and John of Damascus (patristic period); John Scottus Eriugena, Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, and Catherine of Siena (medieval period); John Calvin, Luis de Molina, Francis de Sales, and G. W. Leibniz (Reformation/early modern period); and Sergius Bulgakov, Karl Barth, Jacques Maritain, and Hans Urs von Balthasar (20th century). The final chapter offers a constructive approach to the topic, rooted in Aquinas's theocentric metaphysics and doctrine of God's permission of sin, and in Catherine's and Francis's emphasis on God's superabundant love for all rational creatures.
Jeff Jordan
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199291328
- eISBN:
- 9780191710698
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199291328.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter scrutinizes nine objections leveled against Pascal's Wager. Two of these objections are charges that Pascalian reasoning is immoral. Three might be called ‘methodological objections’, as ...
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This chapter scrutinizes nine objections leveled against Pascal's Wager. Two of these objections are charges that Pascalian reasoning is immoral. Three might be called ‘methodological objections’, as they purport to show that the Wager argument is unsound because of this or that logical flaw. Four of the objections flow out of theological considerations. None of the nine, however, survives close scrutiny. The Jamesian Wager, in particular, escapes the nine unscathed.Less
This chapter scrutinizes nine objections leveled against Pascal's Wager. Two of these objections are charges that Pascalian reasoning is immoral. Three might be called ‘methodological objections’, as they purport to show that the Wager argument is unsound because of this or that logical flaw. Four of the objections flow out of theological considerations. None of the nine, however, survives close scrutiny. The Jamesian Wager, in particular, escapes the nine unscathed.
Simon Harrison
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198269847
- eISBN:
- 9780191713385
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269847.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter sets out the structure and method of this book. Will, evil, and predestination are all problems which have a history, and whose history is relevant to Augustine’s On Free Choice of the ...
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This chapter sets out the structure and method of this book. Will, evil, and predestination are all problems which have a history, and whose history is relevant to Augustine’s On Free Choice of the Will. This book adopts a rather parsimonious approach to these contexts by focusing upon On Free Choice itself. Rather than attempting to map Augustine’s text onto a contemporary account of these concepts or locating it in an overarching narrative of their development, this book is an enquiry into the way Augustine uses such terms and ideas in the context of this particular text. A related methodological minimalism consists in the leaving out of detailed references to Augustine’s relationship to other historical figures and movements (Manichaeanism, Stoicism, Neoplatonism).Less
This chapter sets out the structure and method of this book. Will, evil, and predestination are all problems which have a history, and whose history is relevant to Augustine’s On Free Choice of the Will. This book adopts a rather parsimonious approach to these contexts by focusing upon On Free Choice itself. Rather than attempting to map Augustine’s text onto a contemporary account of these concepts or locating it in an overarching narrative of their development, this book is an enquiry into the way Augustine uses such terms and ideas in the context of this particular text. A related methodological minimalism consists in the leaving out of detailed references to Augustine’s relationship to other historical figures and movements (Manichaeanism, Stoicism, Neoplatonism).
Matthias Gockel
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203222
- eISBN:
- 9780191707711
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203222.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The chapter discusses the doctrine of election in the context of the Glaubenslehre. The concept of a single divine decree structures the argument throughout the book, and the content of the decree is ...
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The chapter discusses the doctrine of election in the context of the Glaubenslehre. The concept of a single divine decree structures the argument throughout the book, and the content of the decree is a universal predestination to salvation in Christ. Christ's redemptive work is realized gradually and without miraculous leaps. The historical existence of believers and unbelievers does not result from a foreordained division of human beings. Divine mercy and righteousness pertain to every person; the idea of double predestination is rejected. Since the Christian church is the complete revelation of Christ's dignity, it is possible that every person will be included in the fellowship with him. Schleiermacher's position remains theocentric; predestination is defined in terms of divine omniscience and omnipotence, not in terms of redemption. Christ is the universal mediator of salvation, but his appearance in history does not contribute significantly to the determination of the divine decree.Less
The chapter discusses the doctrine of election in the context of the Glaubenslehre. The concept of a single divine decree structures the argument throughout the book, and the content of the decree is a universal predestination to salvation in Christ. Christ's redemptive work is realized gradually and without miraculous leaps. The historical existence of believers and unbelievers does not result from a foreordained division of human beings. Divine mercy and righteousness pertain to every person; the idea of double predestination is rejected. Since the Christian church is the complete revelation of Christ's dignity, it is possible that every person will be included in the fellowship with him. Schleiermacher's position remains theocentric; predestination is defined in terms of divine omniscience and omnipotence, not in terms of redemption. Christ is the universal mediator of salvation, but his appearance in history does not contribute significantly to the determination of the divine decree.
Matthias Gockel
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203222
- eISBN:
- 9780191707711
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203222.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The chapter argues that Karl Barth's Commentary on Romans questions the individualistic assumptions of traditional views. For Barth, as for Schleiermacher, predestination is a divine act that ...
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The chapter argues that Karl Barth's Commentary on Romans questions the individualistic assumptions of traditional views. For Barth, as for Schleiermacher, predestination is a divine act that constitutes the unity of all human beings and not an absolute distinction between two kinds of persons. Every person is the object of God's universal judgment and grace, at once separated from and bound to God. The divine decision to elect or reprobate is not predetermined but occurs time and again in the historical event in which God's address leads to faith or to unbelief. Is Barth's thinking already ‘open toward the later characteristic christological centring of election’? He argues that humankind's reprobation is overcome in Christ because of Christ's resurrection from the dead, but he does not yet say that Christ's reconciling death is the result of God's self‐determination to be God in a covenant with humankind.Less
The chapter argues that Karl Barth's Commentary on Romans questions the individualistic assumptions of traditional views. For Barth, as for Schleiermacher, predestination is a divine act that constitutes the unity of all human beings and not an absolute distinction between two kinds of persons. Every person is the object of God's universal judgment and grace, at once separated from and bound to God. The divine decision to elect or reprobate is not predetermined but occurs time and again in the historical event in which God's address leads to faith or to unbelief. Is Barth's thinking already ‘open toward the later characteristic christological centring of election’? He argues that humankind's reprobation is overcome in Christ because of Christ's resurrection from the dead, but he does not yet say that Christ's reconciling death is the result of God's self‐determination to be God in a covenant with humankind.
Matthias Gockel
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203222
- eISBN:
- 9780191707711
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203222.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The chapter argues that the main theme of the doctrine of election in Karl Barth's Göttingen Dogmatics is the twofold possibility of faith and unbelief, which is an integral part of God's address to ...
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The chapter argues that the main theme of the doctrine of election in Karl Barth's Göttingen Dogmatics is the twofold possibility of faith and unbelief, which is an integral part of God's address to humanity. God's ‘unveiling’ is the purpose of His ‘veiling’, but the decision when and how the ‘unveiling’ occurs is made by God alone. Reprobation is the event in which God withholds the gift of faith, but it is not an end in itself and is always oriented toward election and salvation as the steadfast goal. Barth changes the concept of an eternal double predestination from a concept that refers to a pre‐temporal divine foreordination into an actualistic concept that refers to the freedom and contingency of God's acting in history. The modification underscores the theocentric and teleological character of his view.Less
The chapter argues that the main theme of the doctrine of election in Karl Barth's Göttingen Dogmatics is the twofold possibility of faith and unbelief, which is an integral part of God's address to humanity. God's ‘unveiling’ is the purpose of His ‘veiling’, but the decision when and how the ‘unveiling’ occurs is made by God alone. Reprobation is the event in which God withholds the gift of faith, but it is not an end in itself and is always oriented toward election and salvation as the steadfast goal. Barth changes the concept of an eternal double predestination from a concept that refers to a pre‐temporal divine foreordination into an actualistic concept that refers to the freedom and contingency of God's acting in history. The modification underscores the theocentric and teleological character of his view.
Matthias Gockel
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203222
- eISBN:
- 9780191707711
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203222.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The chapter shows how Barth's second revision of the doctrine, culminating in Church Dogmatics II/2, puts the doctrine on a new foundation. Predestination now is identical with the election of Jesus ...
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The chapter shows how Barth's second revision of the doctrine, culminating in Church Dogmatics II/2, puts the doctrine on a new foundation. Predestination now is identical with the election of Jesus Christ. It is a primal decision, by which God determines not only humankind but also Himself, and a gracious choice, by which God chooses reprobation for Himself and election for human beings. The idea of Jesus Christ as the subject and object of election overcomes the traditional distinction between God's will in Jesus Christ and God's eternal will. Barth's second revision of the doctrine succeeds in defining election more concretely. The teleological view of reprobation and election is preserved, but with a new focus on Jesus Christ, the ‘atoning substitute’ (Schleiermacher). The christological revision leads to a consideration of the election of the congregation and of the individual, two topics neglected in the Göttingen Dogmatics.Less
The chapter shows how Barth's second revision of the doctrine, culminating in Church Dogmatics II/2, puts the doctrine on a new foundation. Predestination now is identical with the election of Jesus Christ. It is a primal decision, by which God determines not only humankind but also Himself, and a gracious choice, by which God chooses reprobation for Himself and election for human beings. The idea of Jesus Christ as the subject and object of election overcomes the traditional distinction between God's will in Jesus Christ and God's eternal will. Barth's second revision of the doctrine succeeds in defining election more concretely. The teleological view of reprobation and election is preserved, but with a new focus on Jesus Christ, the ‘atoning substitute’ (Schleiermacher). The christological revision leads to a consideration of the election of the congregation and of the individual, two topics neglected in the Göttingen Dogmatics.
Joe B. Fulton
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195390971
- eISBN:
- 9780199777099
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195390971.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Church History
Mark Twain grappled seriously with theologians from the Calvinist tradition. While many of his comments seem dismissive (and funny), it is clear that Calvinism charged his writing with what one might ...
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Mark Twain grappled seriously with theologians from the Calvinist tradition. While many of his comments seem dismissive (and funny), it is clear that Calvinism charged his writing with what one might call an insistent humorousness of purpose. Reflecting on free will, election, and predestination, Twain read especially Jonathan Edwards; not just as one of whom to make fun but as one with whom he had much in common. Edwards provided more than just a whipping boy for Twain’s philosophical comedy—they shared a theological vocabulary, metaphysical assumptions, and a view of God as sovereign. Their disagreements were substantial, but Mark Twain and the Calvinists were partners in the same enterprise. Thus, one can argue that Twain’s growth as a writer came, not, as some have argued, only insofar as he could distance himself from his Calvinist upbringing and influences, but rather as he fully engaged and wrestled with that tradition.Less
Mark Twain grappled seriously with theologians from the Calvinist tradition. While many of his comments seem dismissive (and funny), it is clear that Calvinism charged his writing with what one might call an insistent humorousness of purpose. Reflecting on free will, election, and predestination, Twain read especially Jonathan Edwards; not just as one of whom to make fun but as one with whom he had much in common. Edwards provided more than just a whipping boy for Twain’s philosophical comedy—they shared a theological vocabulary, metaphysical assumptions, and a view of God as sovereign. Their disagreements were substantial, but Mark Twain and the Calvinists were partners in the same enterprise. Thus, one can argue that Twain’s growth as a writer came, not, as some have argued, only insofar as he could distance himself from his Calvinist upbringing and influences, but rather as he fully engaged and wrestled with that tradition.
Ali Bonner
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780197266397
- eISBN:
- 9780191879586
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266397.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Pelagius is the first known British author, important because of his persuasive advocacy of two ideas: that human nature was inclined to goodness, and that man had free will. After a campaign to ...
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Pelagius is the first known British author, important because of his persuasive advocacy of two ideas: that human nature was inclined to goodness, and that man had free will. After a campaign to vilify him, he was excommunicated in AD 418 for allegedly inventing a new heresy, and his name was made synonymous with arrogance. This book shows that Pelagius defended the contemporary ascetic account of Christianity and that, far from being the leader of a separatist group, he was one of many propagandists for the ascetic movement which swept through Christianity at this time and generated medieval monasticism. Textual analysis proves that Pelagius did not teach the ideas attributed to him or propose anything new. It is impossible to differentiate between Pelagius’ writings and other ascetic literature, and there was no separate group of ‘Pelagians’. This book also examines how and why the myth was created, setting this process in its historical context and in the context of scholarship on the function of heresy in religion and sociological analysis of the creation of deviance. Finally, manuscript evidence supports the argument that ‘Pelagianism’ was a deliberately created myth. Travelling under false attributions, Pelagius’ writings were staples of monastic book collections because they contained the same ideas as other texts promoting the ascetic version of Christianity. In the fourteenth century, when Christians once more sought a confident anthropology, it was Pelagius’ works to which they turned. This book presents a paradigm shift in our understanding of the history of Christianity in the West.Less
Pelagius is the first known British author, important because of his persuasive advocacy of two ideas: that human nature was inclined to goodness, and that man had free will. After a campaign to vilify him, he was excommunicated in AD 418 for allegedly inventing a new heresy, and his name was made synonymous with arrogance. This book shows that Pelagius defended the contemporary ascetic account of Christianity and that, far from being the leader of a separatist group, he was one of many propagandists for the ascetic movement which swept through Christianity at this time and generated medieval monasticism. Textual analysis proves that Pelagius did not teach the ideas attributed to him or propose anything new. It is impossible to differentiate between Pelagius’ writings and other ascetic literature, and there was no separate group of ‘Pelagians’. This book also examines how and why the myth was created, setting this process in its historical context and in the context of scholarship on the function of heresy in religion and sociological analysis of the creation of deviance. Finally, manuscript evidence supports the argument that ‘Pelagianism’ was a deliberately created myth. Travelling under false attributions, Pelagius’ writings were staples of monastic book collections because they contained the same ideas as other texts promoting the ascetic version of Christianity. In the fourteenth century, when Christians once more sought a confident anthropology, it was Pelagius’ works to which they turned. This book presents a paradigm shift in our understanding of the history of Christianity in the West.
Bernard Green
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199534951
- eISBN:
- 9780191715990
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199534951.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Leo preached to a city in which the process of Christianization was effectively complete; he therefore had to describe Christianity in terms that made it accessible to the ordinary citizen. The style ...
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Leo preached to a city in which the process of Christianization was effectively complete; he therefore had to describe Christianity in terms that made it accessible to the ordinary citizen. The style and content of his sermons were intended to show that Christianity did not subvert civic values but rather made the Christian a better citizen and Rome a greater city. This was influenced by Augustine's account of Christ the Mediator mediating justice to the body of the elect, and through them, to the world but Leo offered a different account of predestination.Less
Leo preached to a city in which the process of Christianization was effectively complete; he therefore had to describe Christianity in terms that made it accessible to the ordinary citizen. The style and content of his sermons were intended to show that Christianity did not subvert civic values but rather made the Christian a better citizen and Rome a greater city. This was influenced by Augustine's account of Christ the Mediator mediating justice to the body of the elect, and through them, to the world but Leo offered a different account of predestination.
Phillip Cary
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195336481
- eISBN:
- 9780199868438
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195336481.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
The pastoral problems of predestination arise because Augustine uses the concept of divine election to answer the question: why are some saved rather than others? For Protestants, this becomes a ...
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The pastoral problems of predestination arise because Augustine uses the concept of divine election to answer the question: why are some saved rather than others? For Protestants, this becomes a question about why some are converted rather than others, but as his treatment of the conversion of Paul shows, Augustine does not conceive of conversion as a once‐in‐a‐lifetime event. Nor does he think it assures us of eternal salvation, for we do not know in advance whether we will also receive the gift of perseverance in faith. The anxieties evoked by predestination stem ultimately from supercessionism, the doctrine that Christians replace the Jews as God's chosen people, which assumes, contrary to the biblical concept of election (as Karl Barth shows), that God's choices are bad news for those not chosen.Less
The pastoral problems of predestination arise because Augustine uses the concept of divine election to answer the question: why are some saved rather than others? For Protestants, this becomes a question about why some are converted rather than others, but as his treatment of the conversion of Paul shows, Augustine does not conceive of conversion as a once‐in‐a‐lifetime event. Nor does he think it assures us of eternal salvation, for we do not know in advance whether we will also receive the gift of perseverance in faith. The anxieties evoked by predestination stem ultimately from supercessionism, the doctrine that Christians replace the Jews as God's chosen people, which assumes, contrary to the biblical concept of election (as Karl Barth shows), that God's choices are bad news for those not chosen.
Stephen E. Lahey
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195183313
- eISBN:
- 9780199870349
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183313.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
One of the most difficult elements of Wyclif’s thought is resolution of the tension between his deterministic understanding of the nature of the church and his call for ecclesiastical reform. ...
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One of the most difficult elements of Wyclif’s thought is resolution of the tension between his deterministic understanding of the nature of the church and his call for ecclesiastical reform. Augustine theology has long been defined by the problem of predestination, and Bradwardine had famously attacked the “Pelagianism” of the Ockhamists in his strongly deterministic De Causa Dei. Wyclif’s thought is an attempt at balancing Bradwardine’s determinism by a carefully articulated modal account of necessity, allowing for a stronger degree of reciprocity between God’s necessary understanding of creation and human free will than Bradwardine had allowed. This opened Wyclif’s conception of the church as the unknowable body of the Elect to the possibility of reform. While his writings are filled with references to Antichrist, Wyclif followed Augustine in rejecting millennialism, arguing that Antichrist’s threat in the form of papalism and friars was ongoing, but ultimately able to be resolved.Less
One of the most difficult elements of Wyclif’s thought is resolution of the tension between his deterministic understanding of the nature of the church and his call for ecclesiastical reform. Augustine theology has long been defined by the problem of predestination, and Bradwardine had famously attacked the “Pelagianism” of the Ockhamists in his strongly deterministic De Causa Dei. Wyclif’s thought is an attempt at balancing Bradwardine’s determinism by a carefully articulated modal account of necessity, allowing for a stronger degree of reciprocity between God’s necessary understanding of creation and human free will than Bradwardine had allowed. This opened Wyclif’s conception of the church as the unknowable body of the Elect to the possibility of reform. While his writings are filled with references to Antichrist, Wyclif followed Augustine in rejecting millennialism, arguing that Antichrist’s threat in the form of papalism and friars was ongoing, but ultimately able to be resolved.
Peter J. Thuesen
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195174274
- eISBN:
- 9780199872138
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195174274.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Church History
Predestination—the idea that God foreordains each person's eternal destiny—is one of the most fascinating and controversial doctrines in Christianity. For centuries, theologians assumed that outright ...
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Predestination—the idea that God foreordains each person's eternal destiny—is one of the most fascinating and controversial doctrines in Christianity. For centuries, theologians assumed that outright denial of the dogma amounted to atheism but disagreed on whether God elected persons for salvation unconditionally (apart from foreknowledge of their actions) or conditionally (because of their foreseen merit or faith). The book argues that today's denominational landscape cannot be understood apart from such predestinarian disputes dating back 1,600 years to Augustine. The age-old riddle of divine sovereignty versus human free will was only one facet of the problem. A more practical religious concern was predestination's relationship to the sacraments: If a person's fate was already sealed, did baptism or the Eucharist have any saving effect? Predestination was also inseparable from questions about the doctrine of original sin, the existence of purgatory and hell, and the extent of God's providential involvement in human affairs. The book reexamines not only familiar predestinarians such as the New England Puritans and many later Baptists and Presbyterians, but also non-Calvinists such as Catholics and Lutherans, who struggled to reconcile otherworldly predestination with confidence in this-worldly ritual. In addition, the book shows how a variety of newer groups, from Methodists to Mormons, derived a surprising measure of their initial energy from opposition to predestination. Even contemporary megachurches, which shun theological technicalities, preach a “purpose-driven” outlook owing much to the American career of this contentious doctrine.Less
Predestination—the idea that God foreordains each person's eternal destiny—is one of the most fascinating and controversial doctrines in Christianity. For centuries, theologians assumed that outright denial of the dogma amounted to atheism but disagreed on whether God elected persons for salvation unconditionally (apart from foreknowledge of their actions) or conditionally (because of their foreseen merit or faith). The book argues that today's denominational landscape cannot be understood apart from such predestinarian disputes dating back 1,600 years to Augustine. The age-old riddle of divine sovereignty versus human free will was only one facet of the problem. A more practical religious concern was predestination's relationship to the sacraments: If a person's fate was already sealed, did baptism or the Eucharist have any saving effect? Predestination was also inseparable from questions about the doctrine of original sin, the existence of purgatory and hell, and the extent of God's providential involvement in human affairs. The book reexamines not only familiar predestinarians such as the New England Puritans and many later Baptists and Presbyterians, but also non-Calvinists such as Catholics and Lutherans, who struggled to reconcile otherworldly predestination with confidence in this-worldly ritual. In addition, the book shows how a variety of newer groups, from Methodists to Mormons, derived a surprising measure of their initial energy from opposition to predestination. Even contemporary megachurches, which shun theological technicalities, preach a “purpose-driven” outlook owing much to the American career of this contentious doctrine.
J. Patrick Hornbeck II
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199589043
- eISBN:
- 9780191594564
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199589043.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
This chapter traces Wycliffite beliefs about salvation, starting with an analysis of Wyclif's doctrines of grace and predestination. Rather than espousing the view that God has arbitrarily elected ...
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This chapter traces Wycliffite beliefs about salvation, starting with an analysis of Wyclif's doctrines of grace and predestination. Rather than espousing the view that God has arbitrarily elected those who will be saved and condemned those who will be punished, as medieval polemicists and later scholars alike have argued, Wyclif and many Wycliffite writers instead ascribed to good deeds an essential role in the process of salvation. A majority of lay heresy suspects agreed, and only a few defendants endorsed predestinarian views after the turn of the sixteenth century. This trend suggests that many dissenters were hesitant to abandon the dominant religious world view of the Middle Ages. Ecclesiastically sponsored sermons, poems, plays, and other texts often privileged the need to perform good works over and above the operation of grace, and whilst lollard dissenters were not enthusiastic about such practices as indulgences and bequests for soul‐masses, the underlying logic of their soteriologies was strikingly similar.Less
This chapter traces Wycliffite beliefs about salvation, starting with an analysis of Wyclif's doctrines of grace and predestination. Rather than espousing the view that God has arbitrarily elected those who will be saved and condemned those who will be punished, as medieval polemicists and later scholars alike have argued, Wyclif and many Wycliffite writers instead ascribed to good deeds an essential role in the process of salvation. A majority of lay heresy suspects agreed, and only a few defendants endorsed predestinarian views after the turn of the sixteenth century. This trend suggests that many dissenters were hesitant to abandon the dominant religious world view of the Middle Ages. Ecclesiastically sponsored sermons, poems, plays, and other texts often privileged the need to perform good works over and above the operation of grace, and whilst lollard dissenters were not enthusiastic about such practices as indulgences and bequests for soul‐masses, the underlying logic of their soteriologies was strikingly similar.
JEFFREY C. ALEXANDER
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199744466
- eISBN:
- 9780199944163
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744466.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
Political stories are all about heroes. It is because Barack Obama could not be a hero in south Chicago's black community that he lost that long-ago congressional race. Only by losing could Obama ...
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Political stories are all about heroes. It is because Barack Obama could not be a hero in south Chicago's black community that he lost that long-ago congressional race. Only by losing could Obama become a hero on the larger historical stage. There is a purpose to a hero's life. It is this goal that defines an arc stretching from the past to the future via the present, moving the heroes and the greater causes for which they fight from earlier despair to contemporary redemption and on to future glory. Persons who become heroes are predestined to traverse this rainbow arch. This is what the plot to their story is all about. This chapter discusses the hero's predestination and redemption, crisis and salvation, and the suffering and redemption of John McCain. In the campaign for the presidency, McCain played Achilles to Obama's Hector, even if the outcome of their epic confrontation inverted the tragic ending Homer earlier prescribed.Less
Political stories are all about heroes. It is because Barack Obama could not be a hero in south Chicago's black community that he lost that long-ago congressional race. Only by losing could Obama become a hero on the larger historical stage. There is a purpose to a hero's life. It is this goal that defines an arc stretching from the past to the future via the present, moving the heroes and the greater causes for which they fight from earlier despair to contemporary redemption and on to future glory. Persons who become heroes are predestined to traverse this rainbow arch. This is what the plot to their story is all about. This chapter discusses the hero's predestination and redemption, crisis and salvation, and the suffering and redemption of John McCain. In the campaign for the presidency, McCain played Achilles to Obama's Hector, even if the outcome of their epic confrontation inverted the tragic ending Homer earlier prescribed.
Frank Griffel
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195331622
- eISBN:
- 9780199867998
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331622.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Islam
While the earlier chapters have established al-Ghazali’s teachings on certain elements of his cosmology, all these alements are brought together here and analyzed from how they appear in al-Ghazali’s ...
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While the earlier chapters have established al-Ghazali’s teachings on certain elements of his cosmology, all these alements are brought together here and analyzed from how they appear in al-Ghazali’s later works, i.e. those works written after the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya’ ‘ulum al-din). Most important are al-Ghazali’s comparison of the created world with a water-clock. This comparison appears in two of his later works and offers a detailed understanding of how God creates a fully determined universe of secondary causes and effects. The so-called veil-section in his Niche of Lights (Mishkat al-anwar) has always posed the greatest difficulties for a comprehensive understanding of al-Ghazali’s cosmology. This chapter offers a coherent explanation of who the different groups in that section represent and what they believe in. Avicenna appears in the veil-section as someone who has an almost correct understand of God and His relation to the world, yet he did not grasp that the true God is one step beyond the creature that he assumes to be God. Those who truly arrive at an understanding of God, realize that the God of the philosophers is only a creature. He is the “one who is obeyed” (al-muta’) in al-Ghazali’s cosmology, the first intellect or God’s first creature. Finally the chapter analyzes al-Ghazali’s very last work, finished only days before his death and shows that even here at the end of his life, al-Ghazali maintains that the conflict between the proponents of occasionalism and that of secondary causality must remain undecided.Less
While the earlier chapters have established al-Ghazali’s teachings on certain elements of his cosmology, all these alements are brought together here and analyzed from how they appear in al-Ghazali’s later works, i.e. those works written after the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya’ ‘ulum al-din). Most important are al-Ghazali’s comparison of the created world with a water-clock. This comparison appears in two of his later works and offers a detailed understanding of how God creates a fully determined universe of secondary causes and effects. The so-called veil-section in his Niche of Lights (Mishkat al-anwar) has always posed the greatest difficulties for a comprehensive understanding of al-Ghazali’s cosmology. This chapter offers a coherent explanation of who the different groups in that section represent and what they believe in. Avicenna appears in the veil-section as someone who has an almost correct understand of God and His relation to the world, yet he did not grasp that the true God is one step beyond the creature that he assumes to be God. Those who truly arrive at an understanding of God, realize that the God of the philosophers is only a creature. He is the “one who is obeyed” (al-muta’) in al-Ghazali’s cosmology, the first intellect or God’s first creature. Finally the chapter analyzes al-Ghazali’s very last work, finished only days before his death and shows that even here at the end of his life, al-Ghazali maintains that the conflict between the proponents of occasionalism and that of secondary causality must remain undecided.
