• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation

Francis Gumerlock

Books and Articles on the Theology of Grace and Eschatology

  • Fulgentius of Ruspe
  • Gottschalk of Orbais
  • Book of Revelation in Christian History
  • Apocalypticism in Christian History
  • Other Writings
  • Forthcoming
  • Current Projects
  • Library
  • About
    • Terms and Conditions

grace

New Books on the Theology of Grace

December 12, 2015 by Frank Leave a Comment

For our readers who are interested in the theology of grace in church history, this entry directs you to some new books and studies on the topic.  First, there is a doctoral dissertation by Thomas L. Humphries, Jr. entitled “That They May Learn What They Desire:  Latin Pneumatology from Cassian to Gregory the Great” (Emory University, 2011).  Most dissertations are available for purchase by Proquest.  This dissertation contains the most comprehensive study to date on the authorship of an ancient text which was used in the formation of the canons of the Council of Orange (529) called Chapters from Saint Augustine Transmitted Into the City of Rome.  On pages 88-92 and 123-135 Humphries shows that this text was written by the Scythian monks led by John Maxentius.

On Gottschalk of Orbais and the controversy over predestination in the ninth-century, Jenny C. Smith, now studying at the University of Notre Dame, wrote a master’s thesis on Gottschalk when she was attending Valdosta State University in Georgia.  It can be read on line at https://vtext.valdosta.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10428/1929/smith-jenny_thesis.pdf?sequence+1&isAllowed=y   Jonathan Dixon at the Queen’s University in Belfast has been working on a dissertation on John Scottus Eriugena’s Treatise on Divine Predestination.  I am not sure if his has been completed.  Connie L. Meyer’s Gottschalk:  Servant of God (Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2015) was recently published.  It provides English translations of two of Gottschalk’s poems that have not before appeared in publication.

On predestination in the late medieval and early modern periods, I recently came upon James L. Halverson’s Peter Aureol on Predestination, although it was published by Brill in 1998.  Guido Stucco’s The Catholic Doctrine of Predestination from Luther to Jansenius (Xlibris, 2014) presents the thoughts of obscure figures like Agostino Mainardi (c 1532) and Domingo Banez. The book also provides a 35-page English translation of the table of contents of Cornelius Jansen’s massive treatise Augustinus.  William of Auvergne’s Selected Spiritual Writings translated by the late Roland Teske and published by Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto contains his treatise “On Grace.”  It was written to “destroy the error of Pelagius who said…that the powers of our nature and our free choice were sufficient.” (p.63)

Several ancient and medieval Commentaries on Romans have recently appeared in English translations.  They include that of Origen translated by Thomas P. Scheck in Fathers of the Church Volume 103 & 104.  A two-volume English translation of Theodoret of Cyrus’s Commentary on the Letters of St. Paul was published in 2001 by Holy Cross Orthodox Press.  The translator was the late Robert Charles Hill.  Peter Abelard’s Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans was published in 2011 in the Fathers of the Church, Mediaeval Continuation series.  That same year Michael Scott Woodward’s translation of The Glossa Ordinaria on Romans was published in the TEAMS Commentary Series.  I was pleasantly surprised by the commentary on Romans 8 & 9 by Abelard and the Ordinary Gloss.

My hope is that in these you will find insights regarding the history of the theology of grace and hopefully also some food for the soul.

Merry Christmas 2015

Frank

Filed Under: Biblical Commentaries, Early Christian Studies, Medieval theology, Patristics, Reformed theology, Theology of Grace, Translated Texts Tagged With: Cornelius Jansen, Epistle to the Romans, Gloss Ordinaria, Gottschalk of Orbais, grace, Guido Stucco, John Maxentius, John Scottus Eriugena, Jonathan Dixon, Michael Woodward, Origen, Peter Abelard, Peter Auriol, predestination, Robert Charles Hil, Scythian monks, Thedoret of Cyrus, Thomas Humphries, Thomas Scheck

The Tractoria of Prudentius of Troyes (d. 861)

July 19, 2010 by Frank Leave a Comment

Prudentius of Troyes was one of the bishops in attendance at the Council of Quierzy in 849, which defrocked Gottschalk of Orbais, beat him almost to death, and made him throw his writings into a fire. He also assented to the canons of a council in the mid-850s which was directed against the predestinarian theology of Gottschalk.

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.

Filed Under: Medieval theology, Theology of Grace, Translated Texts Tagged With: Council of Quierzy, Gottschalk of Orbais, grace, Hincmar of Reims, particular redemption, predestination, Prudentius of Troyes, Tractoria

Fulgentius of Ruspe on the Saving Will of God

August 24, 2009 by Frank Leave a Comment

Fulgentius was born in the year 468 and educated in Vandal North Africa. After a short career in finance he joined a monastery. He later was elevated to an abbot and in the year 508 became bishop of Ruspe, a coastal town in modern Tunisia.

Fulgentius defended the doctrine of the Trinity against Arianism, which was the official religion of the Vandals that denied that the Son was one in being with the Father. He was exiled for his Trinitarian faith to the island of Sardinia for fifteen years. Fulgentius also wrote treatises on grace, free will, and divine predestination. These works are largely the foci of my book entitled Fulgentius of Ruspe on the Saving Will of God: The Development of a Sixth-Century North African Bishop’s Interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:4 During the Semi-Pelagian Controversy (Mellen, 2009). It shows that in his earlier writings, Fulgentius often asserted the universality of God’s saving will and general grace. But as he entered a debate on grace and free will, he restricted that universality to all those among the nations predestined by God for salvation.

There are only two other books in print in English devoted to Fulgentius, and Fulgentius on the Saving Will of God is the only one devoted wholly to his theology of grace. It is based upon the latest scholarship on Fulgentius, and in it many passages from his works are translated for the first time in English. In addition, other texts from his time period are translated therein, such as Caesarius of Arles’ On Grace and short works by John Maxentius. Available only in hardback and published by an academic press, Fulgentius on the Saving Will of God is expensive, but worth the investment for those interested in the theology of grace in church history, Augustinian studies, and the Semi-Pelagian debate.

To read some reviews of Fulgentius of Ruspe on the Saving Will of God, click here.

To order a copy, click here. Happy reading. Frank

Filed Under: Early Christian Studies, Patristics, Reformed theology, Slideshow, Theology of Grace, Translated Texts Tagged With: 1 Timothy 2:4, Arianism, Augustinianism, Caesarius of Arles, free will, Fulgentius of Ruspe, grace, John Maxentius, predestination, Sardinia, saving will of God, Semi-Pelagianism, Trinity, Tunisia, Vandal North Africa

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Privacy Policy | DMCA Policy | Anti-Spam Policy | Terms Of Use | Affiliate Agreement Copyright 2020 FrancisGumerlock.com