Semi-Pelagianism

Grace for Grace, a new book on the Semi-Pelagian debate

August 21, 2014 by Frank Leave a Comment

The debates in Christian history on the theology of grace have intrigued me for many years. I was recently asked to contribute a chapter in a new book about the debates that happened after Augustine over his theology of grace. The book is entitled Grace for Grace: The Debates After Augustine and Pelagius and was published by Catholic University of America Press.
The Semi-Pelagian debates were a series of discussions on the dynamics of salvation between the years 426 and 529. They include many issues and many players. My chapter is on one episode in the early sixth century which involved bishops including Possessor, John Maxentius, and Fulgentius of Ruspe and of which even the emperor Justinian was well aware.

Around 518 John Maxentius and his Scythian monks found that some in Constantinople, led by Possessor, were teaching that personal faith and a good will have their origin in humans, and that when people exercise faith and a choice for Christ, God then rewards them with grace. They had a slogan, “It is of us to choose, but of God to help.” Maxentius believed that they had the cart before the horse. Faith, he taught, is a divine gift (Phil 1:29). Concerning the choice to come to Christ, that too is done only because God’s grace precedes, enabling the person to choose rightly; for as the Apostle said, “It is God who works in you to do and to will of His good pleasure” (Phil 2:13).

Possessor, to support his view of how individual salvation works, used 1 Timothy 2:4 which says that God “wills that all men be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Through letters, Maxentius appealed to Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspe in North Africa; and Fulgentius responded at length, supporting Maxentius’ view. This is the subject of my chapter entitled “Fulgentius of Ruspe on the Saving Will of God.”

Those interested in patristics, North African exegesis, the employment of classical rhetoric in early Christianity, church-state relations, Justinian, the Semi-Pelagian controversy, the extent of God’s saving will, and the doctrine of salvation, will find Grace for Grace a helpful tool containing the latest scholarship from a variety of experts in the field of early Christian studies.

See the Table of Contents.

To order a copy from Amazon, click here.

Predestination in the Century Before Gottschalk

October 13, 2009 by Frank Leave a Comment

In the mid-ninth century, a wandering monk named Gottschalk of Orbais (d. 868) sparked a controversy over divine predestination that shook both church and state in central Europe. But was Gottschalk the maverick that he is often made out to be? What did the church teach about grace and divine predestination in the century before Gottschalk? Through examination of the theological literature written between 740 and 840 AD, this two-part series answers those questions.

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

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