Catholic Philosophy

Philosophy and Theology of St. Augustine

The Controversy with Pelagius

A significant part of St. Augustine's theological teaching, which had the most profound influence, was deeply intertwined with his struggle against the Pelagian heresy. Pelagius, a Welshman by birth, was originally named Morgan, which translates (as does "Pelagius" in Greek) to "man of the sea." He was an enlightened and kind-hearted cleric, less fanatical than most of his contemporaries. Pelagius believed in the freedom of the will, questioned the doctrine of original sin, and maintained that when people act virtuously, it is a result of their own moral efforts. According to him, those who live righteously and adhere to orthodoxy are rewarded with admission to heaven.

These views, although they may now seem banal, once caused significant turmoil and were declared heretical largely due to the efforts of St. Augustine. Nevertheless, they enjoyed considerable temporary success. Augustine felt compelled to write to the Patriarch of Jerusalem, warning him against the insidious heretic whose ideas had gained traction among many Eastern theologians. Even after Pelagius was condemned, there were individuals (dubbed semi-Pelagians) who defended his teachings in a more moderated form. It took considerable time before St. Augustine's purer doctrine achieved full victory, particularly in France, where the semi-Pelagian heresy was definitively condemned at the Council of Orange in 529.

St. Augustine taught that prior to the Fall, Adam possessed free will and could have refrained from sin. However, when he and Eve tasted the forbidden fruit, corruption entered them and was passed on to all their descendants, none of whom can, by their own strength, abstain from sin. Only God's grace enables individuals to remain on the path of virtue. Since we all inherit Adam's sin, we all deserve eternal damnation. All who die unbaptized, even infants, will descend into hell and endure endless torment. We are not entitled to complain about this, for we are all wicked. (In his "Confessions," Augustine enumerates the crimes he committed even as a child.) Nevertheless, by God's free grace, certain individuals among the baptized are chosen to enter heaven; they are the elect. They attain heaven not because of their goodness—since we are all utterly mired in vice—but only to the extent that God's grace allows, which is bestowed solely upon the elect. It is impossible to explain why some are saved while others are damned; this is owed to God's arbitrary decision. Damnation demonstrates God's justice; salvation reveals His mercy. In both cases, His grace is equally manifest.

Augustine finds arguments for this harsh doctrine—which was revived by Calvin and has since been rejected by the Catholic Church—in the writings of St. Paul, primarily in the Epistle to the Romans. Augustine interprets them as a lawyer would interpret laws: his exegesis is clever, extracting everything the texts can convey. In the end, one begins to believe that it does not matter whether St. Paul held the views that Augustine derives from his writings; rather, if one takes individual texts in isolation, they imply precisely what Augustine ascribes to them. It may seem strange that Augustine did not find it horrifying to condemn unbaptized infants to damnation while attributing this to a benevolent God. However, his conviction in the wickedness of humanity so consumed Augustine that he genuinely believed newborn infants were progeny of Satan. Much of what became most brutal in the medieval church may trace its origins to this dark sense of guilt that enveloped him.

Only in one instance does St. Augustine find himself truly perplexed by a theoretical dilemma. He seems not to be troubled by the thought that the very act of creating humanity (given that the vast majority of humankind is predestined to eternal torment) might elicit regret. What confounds him instead is this: if original sin is inherited from Adam, as St. Paul teaches, then parents must transmit not only bodies but also souls, for it is the soul that sins, not the body. Augustine senses that there is something amiss in this doctrine, yet he declares that since Scripture is silent on the matter, the correct resolution cannot be essential for salvation. Therefore, he leaves the question unresolved.

It is striking that the thoughts of the last prominent intellectuals, who toiled before the onset of the Dark Ages, were occupied not with saving civilization, expelling barbarians, or rectifying administrative abuses, but with preaching the virtues of virginity and the problem of the damnation of unbaptized infants. Given that these concerns were passed on by the church to the converted barbarians, should we be surprised that the ensuing era surpassed almost all other completed historical periods in cruelty and superstition?