His Tractoria shows that a little later in life Prudentius changed his views signficantly and took a very strong stand on grace against Hincmar of Reims, the archbishop who held Gottschalk in prision for twenty years for his theology of grace.

This article, recently published in Kerux 25:1 (May 2010):11-23, summarizes Prudentius’ extant writings and includes an English translation of his Tractoria. Enjoy!

Read the whole article, entitled “The Tractoria of Prudentius of Troyes (d. 861)” in PDF format.

The opening paragraph:

When the doctrine of predestination, the relationship of grace to free will, and the extent of Christ’s atonement became topics of debate in the mid-ninth century, Gottschalk of Orbais was not alone in asserting the inability of the human will to choose good apart from special enabling grace, God’s predestination of the elect to salvation and the reprobate to merited punishment, and the shedding of Christ’s blood for all believers. Remigius of Lyons, Florus of Lyons, Lupus of Fierrières, and Prudentius of Troyes similarly promoted such strict Augustinian tenets as the faith of the Church. This article briefly introduces the life and writings of Prudentius, and provides a translation of his Tractoria, which contains four chapters that succinctly illustrate his doctrine of grace.

The Tractoria of Prudentius of Troyes (d. 861) is a post from: Books and Articles on the Theology of Grace and Eschatology ~ Francis Gumerlock

Julian of Toledo (d. 690), a seventh-century Spanish bishop, was the first theologian to compile a systematic treatise on Christian eschatology. Drawing upon the wisdom of the fathers, Julian treats life after death, the resurrection, Last Judgment, the eternal state and many related questions. Plowing through this sizable treatise in Latin, printed in the Patrologia Latina series and more recently in the Corpus Christianorum series, is no easy task. But thanks to Stancati, it will soon be available in English as Volume 63 in the Ancient Christian Writers series by Paulist Press. Its projected release date is September 2010.

Outlines of the chapters of Stancati’s book are found at www.prognosticum.info. The introduction by Stancati reveals that Prognosticum began as a dialogue between Julian and Idalius of Barcelona. He also comments upon the library of Julian and discusses Prognosticum as an anti-apocalyptic work.

The actual Prognosticum is divided like this:
Book 1: The Mystery of Death
Book 2: The Intermediate Eschatology
Book 3: Human corporeality has an eternal destiny

In Book 2, I look forward to reading about his distinction between the two paradises (presumably earthly and heavenly), what he has to say about apparitions of the dead, and his interpretation of Rev 20 that not only the martyrs but all the saints will reign with Christ.

In Book 3, I look forward to reading what he had to say about our ignorance of the date of the Parousia, and what he believed about the place and time of the Judgment. Other subheadings that interest me are “The Christological modalities of the Parousia,” “The great sign of the cross will precede Christ the judge,” The Parousia is one but diversified,” “The vision of glorious Christ will be ocular and bodily,” and “The ‘when’ of the Parousia.”

The book of 624 pages is listed in the Paulist Press catalog at $49.95. To me it will be well worth the money.

Julian of Toledo on the World to Come is a post from: Books and Articles on the Theology of Grace and Eschatology ~ Francis Gumerlock

Of his writings, some were lost after his death, and none enjoyed considerable circulation. Two “confessions” of his were discovered in the 17th century, about 800 years after his death, and were printed by Bishop Ussher. In the 19th century they were reprinted by Migne, and MGH published several of his poems that had been discovered. Then in the early 20th century, a scholar found a large number of his writings in a library in Berne, and in 1945 Cyrille Lambot printed them. They include treatises on predestination, the Trinity, the Eucharist, and grammar.

Since 2003, Victor Genke and I have been translating these works from Latin to English. We decided to narrow our project down to his works on predestination, although Victor had previously translated the treatise on the Eucharist. After translating the texts and writing short introductions to each, we divided up the remaining tasks. Victor composed a comprehensive introduction to the life and theology of Gottschalk, and I standardized the biblical quotes and footnotes, compiled a bibliography, and created indices. We submitted the completed work to a major university press, and after several revisions, were offered a publishing contract.

The book, tentatively entitled Gottschalk of Orbais: Translated Texts from a Medieval Predestination Controversy, will be published by Marquette University Press in 2011 in their series Medieval Philosophical Texts in Translation. The final Word document was over 400 pages, which after typesetting will probably be a bit smaller.

Part One will include Gottschalk’s “Shorter Confession,” “Longer Confession,” “Confession of Faith at Mainz,” “On Predestination,” “On Different Ways of Speaking About Redemption,” and “Another Treatise on Predestination.” In addition selections from Gottschalk’s “Answers to Various Questions,” and the extant fragments of his “Reply to Rabanus Maurus,” and “Tome to Giselmar” will be translated therein.

Part Two is comprised of translations of letters by Rabanus Maurus, Hincmar of Reims, and Amolo of Lyons, along with a sermon on predestination by Florus of Lyons, all written during the Gottschalk controversy. These texts shed light on the history of the controversy, provide a glimse of how others viewed Gottschalk, and elucidate the arguments of his opponents.

It is our hope that these twenty-one texts, together with the introduction, maps, and photos that accompany them, will stimulate further research on this fascinating figure of the Carolingian renaissance. For more information on Gottschalk, I invite you to read the articles posted on this website “Predestination in the Century Before Gottschalk,” and “Gottschalk of Orbais: A Medieval Predestinarian.” I also encourage you to visit Victor Genke’s website Gottschalk of Orbais at gottschalk.inrebus.com.

Blessings,
Frank

Forthcoming Translation of Gottschalk of Orbais is a post from: Books and Articles on the Theology of Grace and Eschatology ~ Francis Gumerlock

These articles appeared in recent issues of Evangelical Quarterly. You can read both articles here: Predestination in the Century Before Gottschalk, Part 1 & Part 2

Have a great day. Frank

Predestination in the Century Before Gottschalk is a post from: Books and Articles on the Theology of Grace and Eschatology ~ Francis Gumerlock

I found much variety of interpretation on the seven seals by these biblical scholars of the middle ages. Some of them said that the opening of the seals corresponded to seven events in the life of Jesus which had been “sealed up” (concealed) in prophecies of the Old Testament. Others saw the seals as descriptions of life in the Church between the first and second comings of Christ. Still others viewed the seals as markers in a grand blueprint of history or as symbols of judgments associated with the Second Coming.

The Seven Seals includes translated texts from notables like Caesarius of Arles, who convened the Council of Orange in 529, Cassiodorus whose library at Viviarum preserved so many of the ancient texts we have today, Alcuin of York, the secretary and minister of education under the emperor Charlemagne, who is responsible for how we today write our upper and lower case letters, and Joachim of Fiore, the famous abbot from Calabria whom many regarded as a prophet in the time of the crusades.

If you are interested in how Revelation has been interpreted in the history of Christianity, The Seven Seals is a nice sampling of texts, heretofore unavailable in English translation, at a very reasonable price. For a link to the publisher/distributor, click here. I invite patristic, medieval, and biblical scholars to review it in academic journals; and I hope you enjoy it.

Frank

Seven Seals of the Apocalypse is a post from: Books and Articles on the Theology of Grace and Eschatology ~ Francis Gumerlock