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109-560: Prosper was a native of Aquitaine , and may have been educated at Bordeaux . By 417 he arrived in Marseilles as a refugee from Aquitaine in the aftermath of the Gothic invasions of Gaul. In 429 he was corresponding with Augustine . In 431 he appeared in Rome to appeal to Pope Celestine I regarding the teachings of Augustine; there is no further trace of him until 440, the first year of

218-558: A Pelagian treatise In the Pelagian view, by corollary, sin was not an inevitable result of fallen human nature, but instead came about by free choice and bad habits; through repeated sinning, a person could corrupt their own nature and enslave themself to sin. Pelagius believed that God had given man the Old Testament and Mosaic Law in order to counter these ingrained bad habits, and when that wore off over time God revealed

327-486: A bad example, but not corrupted their nature, while Caelestius went even further, arguing that Adam had been created mortal. He did not even accept the idea that original sin had instilled fear of death among humans, as Augustine said. Instead, Pelagius taught that the fear of death could be overcome by devout Christians, and that death could be a release from toil rather than a punishment. Both Pelagius and Caelestius reasoned that it would be unreasonable for God to command

436-719: A coherent Pelagian movement, although these findings are disputed. Bonner argued that the two core ideas promoted by Pelagius were "the goodness of human nature and effective free will" although both were advocated by other Christian authors from the 360s. Because Pelagius did not invent these ideas, she recommended attributing them to the ascetic movement rather than using the word "Pelagian". Later Christians used "Pelagianism" as an insult for theologically orthodox Christians who held positions that they disagreed with. Historian Eric Nelson defined genuine Pelagianism as rejection of original sin or denial of original sin's effect on man's ability to avoid sin. Even in recent scholarly literature,

545-620: A council in Jerusalem, which were referred to Rome for judgement. The same year, the exiled Gallic bishops Heros of Arles and Lazarus of Aix accused Pelagius of heresy, citing passages in Caelestius' Liber de 13 capitula . Pelagius defended himself by disavowing Caelestius' teachings, leading to his acquittal at the Synod of Diospolis in Lod , which proved to be a key turning point in

654-627: A detachment from the Frankish central authority on Charlemagne's death. The new emperor Louis the Pious reacted by removing him from his capacity, which stirred the Basques into rebellion. The king in turn sent his troops to the territory, obtaining their submission in two campaigns and killing the duke, while his family crossed the Pyrenees and continued to foment risings against Frankish power. In 824,

763-529: A large degree, "Pelagianism" was defined by its opponent Augustine , and exact definitions remain elusive. Although Pelagianism had considerable support in the contemporary Christian world , especially among the Roman elite and monks , it was attacked by Augustine and his supporters, who had opposing views on grace, predestination and free will. Augustine proved victorious in the Pelagian controversy ; Pelagianism

872-401: A life of perfect righteousness." However, this is at the expense of downplaying human frailty and presenting "the operation of divine grace as being merely external". According to scholar Rebecca Weaver , "what most distinguished Pelagius was his conviction of an unrestricted freedom of choice, given by God and immune to alteration by sin or circumstance." What Augustine called "Pelagianism"

981-463: A meaningful role for human free will in their own salvation as covert "Pelagians" or "semi-Pelagians". During the Middle Ages, Pelagius' writings were popular but usually attributed to other authors, especially Augustine and Jerome. Pelagius' Commentary on Romans circulated under two pseudonymous versions, "Pseudo-Jerome" (copied before 432) and "Pseudo-Primasius", revised by Cassiodorus in

1090-549: A more general geographical feature. Under Augustus ' Roman rule, from 27 BCE the province of Aquitania was further stretched to the north to the river Loire , thus including proper Gaul tribes along with old Aquitani south of the Garonne (cf. Novempopulania and Gascony ) within the same region. In 392, the Roman imperial provinces were restructured as Aquitania Prima (north-east), Aquitania Secunda (centre) and Aquitania Tertia , better known as Novempopulania in

1199-803: A not preponderant but clearly significant Basque presence in the former too. Recorded evidence points to their deployment across Aquitaine in a military capacity as a mainstay of the Duke's forces. 'Romans' are cited as living in the cities of Aquitaine, as opposed to the Franks (mid 8th century). After the 843 Treaty of Verdun , the defeat of Pepin II and the death of Charles the Bald , the Kingdom of Aquitaine (subsumed in West Francia ) ceased to have any relevance and

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1308-419: A result of "moral arbitrariness" and therefore unequal wealth is undeserved. In contrast, the Pelagian position would be that human sufferings are largely the result of sin and are therefore deserved. According to Nelson, many contemporary social liberals follow Rawls rather than the older liberal-Pelagian tradition. The conflict between Pelagius and the teachings of Augustine was a constant theme throughout

1417-423: A sinless life; to suppose that the descendants of the first human beings to sin are themselves born innocent". In Augustine's writings, Pelagius is a symbol of humanism who excluded God from human salvation. Pelagianism shaped Augustine's ideas in opposition to his own on free will, grace, and original sin, and much of The City of God is devoted to countering Pelagian arguments. Another major difference in

1526-544: A theologian and an aggressive propagator of the Augustinian doctrine of grace. It is no doubt that Prosper holds a place in the ranks of the moulders of theological understanding of the doctrine of grace. Most of his works were aimed at defending and distributing Augustine's teachings, especially those pertaining to grace and free will. Following Augustine's death in 430, Prosper continued to disseminate his teachings and spent his life working to make them acceptable. Prosper

1635-541: Is Claudian . There were five different editions, the last of them dating from 455, just after the death of Valentinian III . For a long time the Chronicon imperiale was wrongly attributed to him. It is entirely independent of the real Prosper, and in parts even shows Pelagian tendencies and sympathies. Prosper of Aquitaine's most influential writings are admired for their classical qualities, but have been criticized for being flat and dull. His writings come mostly from

1744-421: Is Prosper's Epitoma chronicon (covering the period 379–455) which Prosper first composed in 433 and updated several times, finally in 455. It was circulated in numerous manuscripts and was soon continued by other hands, whose beginning dates identify Prosper's various circulated editions. The Encyclopædia Britannica 1911 found it a careless compilation from Jerome in the earlier part, and from other writers in

1853-549: Is a historical region of Southwestern France and a former administrative region . Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine . It is situated in the southwest corner of metropolitan France , along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain ; for most of its written history Bordeaux has been a vital port and administrative centre. It

1962-408: Is also popular in the region. Major surfing championships regularly take place on Aquitaine's coast. Pelagian 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

2071-844: Is available in English translation in From Roman to Merovingian Gaul: A Reader ed. & trans. A. C Murray (Ontario, 2003) pp. 62–76. Prosper's Epigrams were edited by Albertus G. A. Horsting in Prosper Aquitanus. Liber epigrammatum , Berlin-New York 2016 ( Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 100 ). Aquitaine Aquitaine ( UK : / ˌ æ k w ɪ ˈ t eɪ n / , US : / ˈ æ k w ɪ t eɪ n / ; French: [akitɛn] ; Occitan : Aquitània [akiˈtanjɔ] ; Basque : Akitania ; Poitevin-Saintongeais : Aguiéne ), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( Occitan : Guiana ),

2180-592: Is composed of the five departments of Dordogne , Lot-et-Garonne , Pyrénées-Atlantiques , Landes and Gironde . Gallia Aquitania was established by the Romans in ancient times and in the Middle Ages , Aquitaine was a kingdom and a duchy, whose boundaries fluctuated considerably. There are traces of human settlement by prehistoric peoples, especially in the Périgord , but the earliest attested inhabitants in

2289-555: Is discussed in the light of Augustine's doctrine of Grace , Prosper appears as the first of the medieval Augustinians. The Pelagians were attacked in a glowing polemical poem of about 1000 lines, Adversus ingratos , written about 430. The theme, dogma quod ... pestifero vomuit coluber sermone Britannus , is relieved by a treatment not lacking in liveliness and in classical measures. After Augustine's death he wrote three series of Augustinian defences, especially against Vincent of Lérins ( Pro Augustino responsiones ). His chief work

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2398-496: Is good and just because God wills it or whether God wills it because it is good and just ?", this defense (although accepted by many Catholic and Reformed theologians) creates a God-centered morality , which, in Leibniz' view "would destroy the justice of God" and make him into a tyrant. One of the most important distinctions between Christianity and Judaism is that the former conventionally teaches justification by faith, while

2507-463: Is the foundation of sin. 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". John Cassian argued for a middle way between Pelagianism and Augustinianism, in which

2616-588: The 2nd Battle of Roncevaux took place, in which counts Aeblus and Aznar , Frankish vassals from the Duchy of Vasconia sent by the new King of Aquitaine, Pepin, were captured by the joint forces of Iñigo Arista and the Banu Qasi . Before Pepin's death, emperor Louis had appointed a new king in 832, his son Charles the Bald , while the Aquitanian lords elected Pepin II as king. This struggle for control of

2725-732: The Conlationes of John Cassian . The problem of providence is discussed in the context of God's creation of the World and in relation to the invasion of Gaul by the Vandals and the Goths . This work has been attributed to Prosper of Aquitaine in the past, but this theory has been discredited. "Prosper of Aquitaine was much more famous for what he wrote than for what he did." (Abbé L. Valentin) However, many historians believe his chief fame rests not on his historical work, but on his activities as

2834-470: The Hebrew prophets . This view was at odds with that of Augustine and orthodox Christianity, which taught that Jesus was the only man free of sin. Pelagius did teach Jesus' vicarious atonement for the sins of mankind and the cleansing effect of baptism, but placed less emphasis on these aspects. Pelagius taught that a human's ability to act correctly was a gift of God, as well as divine revelation and

2943-807: The Nestorian controversy over Christology . Both Pelagianism and Nestorianism were condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431. With its supporters either condemned or forced to move to the East, Pelagianism ceased to be a viable doctrine in the Latin West . Despite repeated attempts to suppress Pelagianism and similar teachings, some followers were still active in the Ostrogothic Kingdom (493–553), most notably in Picenum and Dalmatia during

3052-540: The New Testament . However, because Pelagius considered a person to always have the ability to choose the right action in each circumstance, it was therefore theoretically possible (though rare) to live a sinless life. Jesus Christ , held in Christian doctrine to have lived a life without sin, was the ultimate example for Pelagians seeking perfection in their own lives, but there were also other humans who were without sin—including some notable pagans and especially

3161-710: The Poitevin-Saintongeais dialect of French. In 2005, 78,000 children were learning Occitan as a second language in state schools and 2,000 were enrolled in Occitan-medium private schools. Basque speakers number about 73,000, concentrated in the far south of the region: Bordeaux is the largest city in Aquitaine. It is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department . It is

3270-535: The Sack of Rome by Visigoths . At the 411 Council of Carthage , Caelestius approached the bishop Aurelius for ordination, but instead he was condemned for his belief on sin and original sin. Caelestius defended himself by arguing that this original sin was still being debated and his beliefs were orthodox . His views on grace were not mentioned, although Augustine (who had not been present) later claimed that Caelestius had been condemned because of "arguments against

3379-455: The Torah . The resolution of the Pelagian controversy gave rise to a new controversy in southern Gaul in the fifth and sixth centuries, retrospectively called by the misnomer "semi-Pelagianism". The "semi-Pelagians" all accepted the condemnation of Pelagius, believed grace was necessary for salvation, and were followers of Augustine. The controversy centered on differing interpretations of

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3488-435: The salvation of those who were never exposed to Christianity because, as Locke pointed out, access to revelation is a matter of moral luck . Early modern proto-liberals such as Milton, Locke, Leibniz, and Rousseau advocated religious toleration and freedom of private action (eventually codified as human rights ), as only freely chosen actions could merit salvation. 19th-century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard dealt with

3597-555: The 13th century until the French Revolution , Aquitaine was usually known as Guyenne . Aquitaine consists of 3,150,890 inhabitants, equivalent to 6% of the total French population. The region of Aquitaine forms the 6th most populated region in France. French is the official language of the region. Many residents also have some knowledge of Basque , of a variety of Occitan ( Gascon , Limousin , or Languedocien ), or of

3706-477: The Augustinian Caesarius of Arles , semi-Pelagianism was condemned but Augustinian ideas were also not accepted entirely: the synod advocated synergism , the idea that human freedom and divine grace work together for salvation. Christians often used "Pelagianism" as a criticism to imply that the target denied God's grace and strayed into heresy. Later Augustinians criticized those who asserted

3815-501: 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

3924-451: The Christian world had never heard of Augustine's doctrine of original sin. Eighteen Italian bishops, including Julian of Eclanum , protested against the condemnation of Pelagius and refused to follow Zosimus' Epistola tractoria . Many of them later had to seek shelter with the Greek bishops Theodore of Mopsuestia and Nestorius , leading to accusations that Pelagian errors lay beneath

4033-661: The Frankish Charles Martel in exchange for help against the advancing Arab forces. Basque-Aquitanian self-rule temporarily came to a halt, definitely in 768 after the assassination of Waifer . In 781, Charlemagne decided to proclaim his son Louis King of Aquitaine within the Carolingian Empire , ruling over a realm comprising the Duchy of Aquitaine and the Duchy of Vasconia . He suppressed various Basque ( Gascon ) uprisings, even venturing into

4142-465: The Garonne. A united Basque-Aquitanian realm reached its heyday under Odo the Great 's rule. In 721, the Aquitanian duke fended Umayyad troops ( Sarracens ) off at Toulouse , but in 732 (or 733, according to Roger Collins ), an Umayyad expedition commanded by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi defeated Odo next to Bordeaux, and went on to loot its way up to Poitiers . Odo was required to pledge allegiance to

4251-464: The Greek tradition. The nineteenth-century theologian Jacques Paul Migne suspected that Pelagius was the author, and William Ince recognized Pelagius' authorship as early as 1887. The original version of the commentary was found and published by Alexander Souter in 1926. According to French scholar Yves-Marie Duval  [ fr ] , the Pelagian treatise On the Christian Life was

4360-459: 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. Like early Augustine, Pelagians believed that infants would be sent to purgatory . Although Pelagius rejected that infant baptism was necessary to cleanse original sin, he nevertheless supported

4469-463: The Pelagian writer Julian of Eclanum , and the former Roman aristocrat Caelestius was described by Gerald Bonner as "the real apostle of the so-called Pelagian movement". Many of the ideas Pelagius promoted were mainstream in contemporary Christianity, advocated by such figures as John Chrysostom , Athanasius of Alexandria , Jerome, and even the early Augustine . In 410, Pelagius and Caelestius fled Rome for Sicily and then North Africa due to

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4578-472: The Pyrenees. As of 660, the foundations for an independent Aquitaine/Vasconia polity were established by the duke Felix of Aquitaine , a magnate ( potente(m) ) from Toulouse, probably of Gallo-Roman stock. Despite its nominal submission to the Merovingians, the ethnic make-up of the new Aquitanian realm was not Frankish, but Gallo-Roman north of the Garonne and in main towns and Basque, especially south of

4687-406: The Roman elite. Historian Peter Brown argued that Pelagianism appealed "to a powerful centrifugal tendency in the aristocracy of Rome—a tendency to scatter, to form a pattern of little groups, each striving to be an elite, each anxious to rise above their neighbours and rivals—the average upper‐class residents of Rome." The powerful Roman administrator Paulinus of Nola was close to Pelagius and

4796-496: The Romans, and which are currently easily readable as Basque. Whether this Aquitanian language ( Proto-Basque ) was a remnant of a Vasconic language group that once extended much farther, or it was generally limited to the Aquitaine/Basque region, is not known. One reason the language of Aquitaine is important is because Basque is the last surviving non-Indo-European language in western Europe and it has had some effect on

4905-529: The Transgression of Adam " was "little consistent with the Justice or Goodness of the Great and Infinite God". He did not accept that original sin corrupted human nature, and argued that man could live a Christian life (although not "void of slips and falls") and be entitled to justification. Nelson argues that the drive for rational justification of religion, rather than a symptom of secularization ,

5014-400: The biblical passage. Cassian, whose writings survived, argued for prevenient grace that individuals could accept or reject. Other semi-Pelagians were said to undermine the essential role of God's grace in salvation and argue for a median between Augustinianism and Pelagianism, although these alleged writings are no longer extant. At the Council of Orange in 529, called and presided over by

5123-455: The capital of Aquitaine, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department. Bordeaux is famous for its wine industry. Apart from Bordeaux, there are also other important cities in Aquitaine. The region is home to many successful sports teams. In particular worth mentioning are: Football Rugby union is particularly popular in the region. Clubs include: Basketball Bull-fighting

5232-550: The controversy. Following the verdict, Augustine convinced two synods in North Africa to condemn Pelagianism, whose findings were partially confirmed by Pope Innocent I . In January 417, shortly before his death, Innocent excommunicated Pelagius and two of his followers. Innocent's successor, Zosimus , reversed the judgement against Pelagius, but backtracked following pressure from the African bishops. Pelagianism

5341-425: 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. He also argued that many young Christians were comforted with false security about their salvation leading them to relax their Christian practice. Pelagius believed that Adam's transgression had caused humans to become mortal, and given them

5450-413: The doctrine, but also did not reject any of his thoughts on predestination . It was written between 435 and 442. The Sententia was a collection of 392 maxims drawn up against the writings of Augustine of Hippo . The epigrammata was a compilation of 106 epigrams of florilegium in verse. Both were intended to be used as handbooks for the serious Christian, drawn from an Augustinian point of view. The work

5559-510: The evils they have done, but for their failures to do good". He did not accept purgatory as a possible destination for adults. Although Pelagius taught that the path of righteousness was open to all, in practice only a few would manage to follow it and be saved. Like many medieval theologians, Pelagius believed that instilling in Christians the fear of hell was often necessary to convince them to follow their religion where internal motivation

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5668-674: The example and teachings of Jesus. Further spiritual development, including faith in Christianity, was up to individual choice, not divine benevolence. Pelagius accepted no excuse for sin, and argued that Christians should be like the church described in Ephesians 5 :27, "without spot or wrinkle". Instead of accepting the inherent imperfection of man, or arguing that the highest moral standards could only be applied to an elite, Pelagius taught that all Christians should strive for perfection. Like Jovinian , Pelagius taught that married life

5777-457: The fact that the chronicler Marcellinus mentions him under the year 463 seems to indicate that his death was shortly after that date. Prosper was a layman, but he threw himself with ardour into the religious controversies of his day, defending Augustine and propagating orthodoxy . In his De vocatione omnium gentium ("The Call of all Nations"), in which the issues of the call to the Gentiles

5886-603: The fringes of Septimania), Toulouse, and Provence and Lower Rhone (the last two not in Aquitaine). After the death of the king Dagobert I , the Merovingian tenure south of the Loire became largely nominal, with the actual power being in the hands of autonomous regional leaders and counts. The Franks may have become largely assimilated to the preponderant Gallo-Roman culture by the 8th century, but their names were well in use by

5995-410: The grace of Christ." Unlike Caelestius, Pelagius refused to answer the question as to whether man had been created mortal, and, outside of Northern Africa, it was Caelestius' teachings which were the main targets of condemnation. In 412, Augustine read Pelagius' Commentary on Romans and described its author as a "highly advanced Christian." Augustine maintained friendly relations with Pelagius until

6104-451: The great theologian led him to make an abridgment of his commentary on the Psalms , as well as a collection of sentences from his works—probably the first dogmatic compilation of that class in which Peter Lombard 's Liber sententiarum is the best-known example. He also put into elegiac metre, in 106 epigrams, some of Augustine's theological dicta. Far more important historically than these

6213-399: The human person, human responsibility and freedom, ethics and the nature of salvation" which might have come about if Augustine had not been victorious in the Pelagian controversy. According to Harrison, "Pelagianism represents an attempt to safeguard God's justice, to preserve the integrity of human nature as created by God, and of human beings' obligation, responsibility and ability to attain

6322-428: The human will is not negated but presented as intermittent, sick, and weak, and Jerome held a middle position on sinlessness. In Gaul, the so-called " semi-Pelagians " disagreed with Augustine on predestination (but recognized the three Pelagian doctrines as heretical) and were accused by Augustine of being seduced by Pelagian ideas. According to Ali Bonner, the crusade against Pelagianism and other heresies narrowed

6431-443: The ideology of the dialogue's author as having overemphasized the role of human intellect and will. Although his teachings on original sin were novel, Pelagius' views on grace, free will and predestination were similar to those of contemporary Greek-speaking theologians such as Origen, John Chrysostom, and Jerome. Theologian Carol Harrison commented that Pelagianism is "a radically different alternative to Western understandings of

6540-451: The importance of reading scripture, following religious commandments, charity, and taking responsibility for one's actions, and maintaining modesty and moderation. Pelagius taught that true virtue was not reflected externally in social status , but was an internal spiritual state. He explicitly called on wealthy Christians to share their fortunes with the poor. (Augustine criticized Pelagius' call for wealth redistribution.) Because sin in

6649-414: The impossible, and therefore each human retained absolute freedom of action and full responsibility for all actions. Pelagius did not accept any limitation on free will, including necessity , compulsion, or limitations of nature. He believed that teaching a strong position on free will was the best motivation for individuals to reform their conduct. He is a Christian — On the Christian Life ,

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6758-640: The kingdom led to a constant period of war between Charles, loyal to his father and the Carolingian power, and Pepin II, who relied more on the support of Basque and Aquitanian lords. Despite the early conquest of southern Gaul by the Franks after the Battle of Vouillé in 507, the Frankish element was feeble south of the Loire, where Gothic and Gallo-Roman Law prevailed and a small Frankish settlement took place. However scarce, some Frankish population and nobles settled down in regions like Albigeois, Carcassonne (on

6867-686: The lands of Pamplona past the Pyrenees after ravaging Gascony , with a view to imposing his authority also in the Vasconia to south of Pyrenees. According to his biography, he achieved everything he wanted and after staying overnight in Pamplona, on his way back his army was attacked in Roncevaux in 812 , but narrowly escaped an engagement at the Pyrenean passes. Seguin (Sihiminus), count of Bordeaux and Duke of Vasconia , seemed to have attempted

6976-481: The languages around it, including Spanish and, to a lesser extent, French. The original Aquitania (named after the inhabitants) at the time of Caesar's conquest of Gaul included the area bounded by the river Garonne , the Pyrenees and the Atlantic Ocean. The name may stem from Latin 'aqua', maybe derived from the town "Aquae Augustae", "Aquae Tarbellicae" or just "Aquis" (Dax, Akize in modern Basque ) or as

7085-418: The later, but that the lack of other sources makes it very valuable for the period from 425 to 455, which is drawn from Prosper's personal experience. Compared with his continuators, Prosper gives detailed coverage of political events. He covers Attila 's invasions of Gaul (451) and Italy (452) in lengthy entries under their respective years. Though he was a poet himself, the sole secular writer Prosper mentions

7194-476: The latter teaches that man has the choice to follow divine law. By teaching the absence of original sin and the idea that humans can choose between good and evil, Pelagianism advocated a position close to that of Judaism. Pelagius wrote positively of Jews and Judaism, recommending that Christians study Old Testament (i.e., the Tanakh) law —a sympathy not commonly encountered in Christianity after Paul . Augustine

7303-414: The next year, initially only condemning Caelestius' teachings, and considering his dispute with Pelagius to be an academic one. Jerome attacked Pelagianism for saying that humans had the potential to be sinless, and connected it with other recognized heresies, including Origenism, Jovinianism , Manichaeanism, and Priscillianism . Scholar Michael Rackett noted that the linkage of Pelagianism and Origenism

7412-522: The pontificate of Pope Leo I , who had been in Gaul , where he may have met Prosper. In any case Prosper was soon in Rome, attached to the pope in some secretarial or notarial capacity. Gennadius of Massilia 's De viris illustribus (lxxxiv, 89) repeats the tradition that Prosper dictated the famous letters of Leo I against Eutyches . The date of his death is not known, but his chronicle goes as far as 455, and

7521-425: The practice because he felt it improved their spirituality through a closer union with Jesus. For adults, baptism was essential because it was the mechanism for obtaining forgiveness of the sins that a person had personally committed and a new beginning in their relationship with God. After death, adults would be judged by their acts and omissions and consigned to everlasting fire if they had failed: "not because of

7630-446: The problem of evil. For instance, Leibniz, who coined the word theodicy in 1710, rejected Pelagianism but nevertheless proved to be "a crucial conduit for Pelagian ideas". He argued that "Freedom is deemed necessary in order that man may be deemed guilty and open to punishment." In De doctrina christiana , John Milton argued that "if, because of God's decree, man could not help but fall . . . then God's restoration of fallen man

7739-598: The range of acceptable opinions and reduced the intellectual freedom of classical Rome. When it came to grace and especially predestination, it was Augustine's ideas, not Pelagius', which were novel. According to Nelson, Pelagianism is a solution to the problem of evil that invokes libertarian free will as both the cause of human suffering and a sufficient good to justify it. By positing that man could choose between good and evil without divine intercession, Pelagianism brought into question Christianity's core doctrine of Jesus ' act of substitutionary atonement to expiate

7848-499: The rule of Theoderic the Great . Pelagianism was also reported to be popular in Britain, as Germanus of Auxerre made at least one visit (in 429) to denounce the heresy. Some scholars, including Nowell Myres and John Morris , have suggested that Pelagianism in Britain was understood as an attack on Roman decadence and corruption, but this idea has not gained general acceptance. The idea that God had created anything or anyone who

7957-545: The ruling class, like Odo. Still, in the Battle of Toulouse , the Aquitanian duke Odo was said to be leading an army of Aquitanians and Franks. On the other hand, the Franks did not mix with the Basques, keeping separate paths. In the periods before and after the Muslim thrust, the Basques are often cited in several accounts stirring against Frankish attempts to subdue Aquitaine (stretching up to Toulouse) and Vasconia, pointing to

8066-552: The same problems (nature, grace, freedom, and sin) as Augustine and Pelagius, which he believed were opposites in a Hegelian dialectic . He rarely mentioned Pelagius explicitly even though he inclined towards a Pelagian viewpoint. However, Kierkegaard rejected the idea that man could perfect himself. John Rawls was a critic of Pelagianism, an attitude that he retained even after becoming an atheist. His anti-Pelagian ideas influenced his book A Theory of Justice , in which he argued that differences in productivity between humans are

8175-513: The second quarter of the fifth century. This was Prosper's attempt to reconcile Augustine of Hippo 's teaching on grace in which he suggests that God wishes all men to be saved. The argument is that although all human beings do not receive the grace that saves, they do receive God's general grace. Written in AD 450, the Calling of All Nations was Prosper's most original contribution to theology. This

8284-529: The second-most copied work during the Middle Ages (behind Augustine's The City of God ) outside of the Bible and liturgical texts. 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 argued that many of those considered the predecessors to modern liberalism took Pelagian or Pelagian-adjacent positions on

8393-454: The sins of mankind. For this reason, Pelagianism became associated with nontrinitarian interpretations of Christianity which rejected the divinity of Jesus , as well as other heresies such as Arianism , Socinianism , and mortalism (which rejected the existence of hell ). Augustine argued that if man "could have become just by the law of nature and free will . . . amounts to rendering the cross of Christ void". He argued that no suffering

8502-420: The sixth century to remove the "Pelagian errors" that Cassiodorus found in it. During the Middle Ages, it passed as a work by Jerome. Erasmus of Rotterdam printed the commentary in 1516, in a volume of works by Jerome. Erasmus recognized that the work was not really Jerome's, writing that he did not know who the author was. Erasmus admired the commentary because it followed the consensus interpretation of Paul in

8611-485: The solution was adopting Christian asceticism . Early Christianity was theologically diverse . While Western Christianity taught that death was the result of the fall of man , a Syrian tradition including the second-century figures Theophilus and Irenaeus asserted that mortality preceded the fall. Around 400, the doctrine of original sin was just emerging in Western Christianity, deriving from

8720-632: The south-west were the Aquitani , who were not considered Celtic people, but more akin to the Iberians (see Gallia Aquitania ). Although a number of different languages and dialects were in use in the area during ancient times, it is most likely that the prevailing language of Aquitaine during the late pre-historic to Roman period was an early form of the Basque language . This has been demonstrated by various Aquitanian names and words that were recorded by

8829-582: The south-west. Accounts of Aquitania during the Early Middle Ages are imprecise, but there was much unrest. The Visigoths were called into Gaul as foederati , legalizing their status within the Empire. Eventually they established themselves as the de facto rulers in south-west Gaul as central Roman rule collapsed. Visigoths established their capital in Toulouse , but their tenure on Aquitaine

8938-513: The teaching of Cyprian that infants should be baptized for the sin of Adam . Other Christians followed Origen in the belief that infants are born in sin due to their failings in a previous life . Rufinus the Syrian , who came to Rome in 399 as a delegate for Jerome , followed the Syrian tradition, declaring that man had been created mortal and that each human is only punished for his own sin . Pelagius ( c.  355 – c.  420 )

9047-419: The term "Pelagianism" is not clearly or consistently defined. 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". 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

9156-401: The title of King of Aquitaine took on a nominal value. In 1058, the Duchy of Vasconia (Gascony) and Aquitaine merged under the rule of William VIII, Duke of Aquitaine . The title "Duke of Aquitaine" was held by the counts of Poitiers from the 10th to the 12th century. Aquitaine passed to France in 1137 when the duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine married Louis VII of France , but their marriage

9265-498: 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". According to Augustine, credit for all virtue and good works is due to God alone, and to say otherwise caused arrogance, which

9374-444: The verse 1 Timothy 2:4 : "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Augustine and Prosper of Aquitaine assumed that God's will is always effective and that some are not saved (i.e., opposing universal reconciliation ). Their opponents, based on the tradition of Eastern Christianity, argued that Augustinian predestination contradicted

9483-428: The works of Anthony Burgess , in books including A Clockwork Orange , Earthly Powers , A Vision of Battlements and The Wanting Seed . During the 20th century, Pelagius and his teachings underwent a reassessment. 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

9592-441: Was "dubious" but influential. Jerome also disagreed with Pelagius' strong view of free will . In 415, he wrote Dialogus adversus Pelagianos to refute Pelagian statements. Noting that Jerome was also an ascetic and critical of earthly wealth, historian Wolf Liebeschuetz suggested that his motive for opposing Pelagianism was envy of Pelagius' success. In 415, Augustine's emissary Orosius brought charges against Pelagius at

9701-496: Was Prosper's version of the history of the World. In it he sought to give his own version of the Pelagian controversy and in his own interpretation of recent history. The Epitoma Chronicon ends in 455. This was a simple list of ten doctrinal points asserting the efficacy and necessity of God's Grace, each separately supported by papal statements. It was a strong defense of an essential Augustinian doctrine, but most moderate one to its date. Prosper did not mention Augustine's name in

9810-419: Was a matter of justice not grace". Milton also argued for other positions that could be considered Pelagian, such as that "The knowledge and survey of vice, is in this world ... necessary to the constituting of human virtue." Jean-Jacques Rousseau made nearly identical arguments for that point. John Locke argued that the idea that "all Adam ' s Posterity [are] doomed to Eternal Infinite Punishment, for

9919-1020: Was able to put down revolutions of the Pelagian Christians. Prosper's works were very popular during the Middle Ages: the Epigrams alone sum no fewer than one hundred and eighty manuscripts. Prosper's Epitoma Chronicon was edited by Theodor Mommsen in the Chronica minora of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica (1892) and by Maria Becker and Jan–Markus Kötter as part of the Kleine und fragmentarische Historiker (KFHist G 5) (2016). Prosper's complete works are in Migne 's Patrologia Latina . vol. 51. The English translations include: Prosper's Epitoma Chronicon

10028-448: Was absent or insufficient. Significant influences on Pelagius included Eastern Christianity , which had a more positive view of human nature , and classical philosophy , from which he drew the ideas of personal autonomy and self-improvement. After having previously credited Cicero's lost Hortensius for his eventual conversion to Christianity, Augustine accused Pelagius' idea of virtue of being " Ciceronian ", taking issue with

10137-527: 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 necessary but not sufficient for God's punishment of humans to be justified, because man must also understand God's commands. As a result, thinkers such as Locke, Rousseau and Immanuel Kant argued that following natural law without revealed religion must be sufficient for

10246-535: Was an ascetic layman, probably from the British Isles , who moved to Rome in the early 380s. Like Jerome, Pelagius criticized what he saw as an increasing laxity among Christians, instead promoting higher moral standards and asceticism. He opposed Manicheanism because of its fatalism and determinism and argued for the possibility of a sinless life . Although Pelagius preached the renunciation of earthly wealth, his ideas became popular among parts of

10355-762: Was annulled in 1152. When Eleanor's new husband became King Henry II of England in 1154, the area became an English possession, and a cornerstone of the Angevin Empire . Aquitaine remained English until the end of the Hundred Years' War in 1453, when it was annexed by France. During the three hundred years that the region was ruled by the Kings of England , links between Aquitaine and England strengthened, with large quantities of wine produced in southwestern France being exported to London, Southampton , and other English ports. In fact, so much wine and other produce

10464-714: Was being exported to London and sold that by the start of the Hundred Years' War the profits from Aquitaine were the principal source of the English King's income per annum. The region served as a stronghold for the Protestant Huguenots during the 16th and 17th centuries, who suffered persecution at the hands of the French Catholics. The Huguenots called upon the English crown for assistance against forces led by Cardinal Richelieu . From

10573-524: Was decisively condemned at the 418 Council of Carthage and is regarded as heretical by the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church . For centuries afterward, "Pelagianism" was used in various forms as an accusation of heresy for Christians who hold unorthodox beliefs, but some recent scholarship has offered a different opinion. During the fourth and fifth centuries, the Church

10682-441: Was devoted to the discussion of doctrines of grace and the incarnation. The motto of the florilegia was monastically influenced, urging the reader to patience through adversity, exercise of virtue, and constant striving to perfection. This writing represents the final opinion of Prosper on the problem of necessity of grace. It was written during the reign of Pope Sixtus III (link) and is a step-by step response to Conference XIII of

10791-476: Was evil by nature struck Pelagius as Manichean . 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. 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. If "sin" could not be avoided it could not be considered sin. In Pelagius' view,

10900-465: Was experiencing rapid change due to the Constantinian shift to Christianity. Many Romans were converting to Christianity, but they did not necessarily follow the faith strictly. As Christians were no longer persecuted , they faced a new problem: how to avoid backsliding and nominal adherence to the state religion while retaining the sense of urgency originally caused by persecution. For many,

11009-624: Was feeble. In 507, they were expelled south to Hispania after their defeat in the Battle of Vouillé by the Franks, who became the new rulers in the area to the south of the Loire . The Roman Aquitania Tertia remained in place as Novempopulania , where a duke was appointed to hold a grip over the Basques ( Vascones/Wascones , rendered Gascons in English). These dukes were quite detached from central Frankish overlordship, sometimes governing as independent rulers with strong ties to their kinsmen south of

11118-487: Was his De gratia Dei et libero arbitrio (432), written against John Cassian 's Collatio . He also induced Pope Celestine to publish an open letter to the bishops of Gaul, Epistola ad episcopos Gallorum against some members of the Gaulish Church. He had earlier opened a correspondence with Augustine, along with his friend Hilary (not Hilary of Arles), and although he did not meet him personally, his enthusiasm for

11227-554: 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. Thomas Scheck writes that although Pelagius' views on original sin are still considered "one-sided and defective": An important result of

11336-511: Was later condemned at the Council of Carthage in 418, after which Zosimus issued the Epistola tractoria excommunicating both Pelagius and Caelestius. Concern that Pelagianism undermined the role of the clergy and episcopacy was specifically cited in the judgement. At the time, Pelagius' teachings had considerable support among Christians, especially other ascetics. Considerable parts of

11445-461: Was more his own invention than that of Pelagius. According to Thomas Scheck , Pelagianism is the heresy of denying Catholic Church teaching on original sin, or more specifically the beliefs condemned as heretical in 417 and 418. In her study, Ali Bonner (a lecturer at the University of Cambridge ) found that there was no one individual who held all the doctrines of "Pelagianism", nor was there

11554-523: Was not inferior to monasticism , but with the twist that all Christians regardless of life situation were called to a kind of asceticism. Pelagius taught that it was not sufficient for a person to call themselves a Christian and follow the commandments of scripture; it was also essential to actively do good works and cultivate virtue, setting themselves apart from the masses who were "Christian in name only", and that Christians ought to be extraordinary and irreproachable in conduct. Specifically, he emphasized

11663-425: Was the first chronicler to add to Jerome's account, beginning his continuation half a century later. Prosper's epigrams became most popular in his later years, providing a method for students of Christianity to learn moral lessons and aspects of the Augustinian doctrine. Prosper also played a vital role in the Pelagian controversy in southern Gaul in the 420's. With the help of Augustine and Pope Celestine , Prosper

11772-623: Was the first to accuse Pelagianism of " Judaizing ", which became a commonly heard criticism of it. However, although contemporary rabbinic literature tends to take a Pelagian perspective on the major questions, and it could be argued that the rabbis shared a worldview with Pelagius, there were minority opinions within Judaism (such as the Essenes ) which argued for ideas more similar to Augustine's. Overall, Jewish discourse did not discuss free will and emphasized God's goodness in his revelation of

11881-529: Was truly undeserved, and that grace was equally undeserved but bestowed by God's benevolence. Augustine's solution, while it was faithful to orthodox Christology, worsened the problem of evil because according to Augustinian interpretations, God punishes sinners who by their very nature are unable not to sin. The Augustinian defense of God's grace against accusations of arbitrariness is that God's ways are incomprehensible to mere mortals. Yet, as later critics such as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz asserted, asking " it

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