Pelagianism
In Christianity, Pelagianism is understood to mean the doctrine that human nature was not corrupted by original sin , but must ultimately be good, as created by God, if one does not want to assume that part of God's creation is evil. In essence, the theologian Pelagius teaches that it is fundamentally possible to be without sin ( posse sine peccato esse ); more pointedly, it is a doctrine of the possibility and ability of self- redemption of people.
founder
It is debatable whether the monk and moralist Pelagius († around 418) represented this doctrine himself or whether it was not his follower and recipient Caelestius who first developed this doctrine from Pelagian writings. As the discussion increasingly came to a head on the question of original sin, the Apulian bishop Julianus von Eclanum was the most important theological and philosophical representative of Pelagianism.
The teaching of Pelagius
Pelagianism teaches that human nature - coming from God - is also divine and that mortal will is able to distinguish between good and bad without divine assistance . Adam's sin , while setting a bad example for his descendants, did not produce the consequences attributed to original sin. Accordingly, man bears full responsibility for his salvation and his sins.
In Pelagianism, therefore, the grace of God is only of secondary importance in comparison to other theological schools and only as a complement (as it were, as a helpful support for human activity) compared to the free will of man. The role of Jesus Christ is also seen differently than in the theology received by the church: He set a good example for mankind and thus set Adam's bad example.
Pelagian quarrel
Pelagianism was opposed by Augustine of Hippo and condemned as heresy by various popes, local synods and finally at the Council of Ephesus in 431 . This so-called Pelagian dispute was important for the Western Church , while Pelagianism never played an essential role in the Eastern Church, despite initial support from Theodor von Mopsuestia and Nestorius .
The conflict spanned several decades. The only exact date is only the termination by the Council of Ephesus in the year 431. The beginning of the dispute is assumed to be around the year 410, when Caelestius , a companion of Pelagius, wrote the so-called Six Sentences and Pelagius himself wrote his work De Natura (About Nature) published.
Because this doctrine, the freedom of human will , including the possibility of a morally perfect life, collided with Augustine's doctrine of original sin and thus also denied the necessity of infant baptism , Augustine had Pelagius and Caelestius condemned as heretics by a synod in Carthage as early as 411 .
When Augustine learned that Pelagius was trying to re-enter the church in the east, he turned to Jerome in 415 to obtain a condemnation of Pelagian teaching in the east through his support. Despite Jerome's efforts, the opposite occurred: a synod presided over by the Bishop of Jerusalem rehabilitated Pelagius and Caelestius. The Greek-speaking bishops of Palestine later justified their decision on the grounds that they did not properly understand the accusations made in Latin by the African bishops. In any case, Augustine ensured that two North African regional synods condemned the teachings of both Pelagius and Caelestius again.
After the condemnation of Pelagianism by Pope Zosimus , Augustine devoted himself again to the Pelagian doctrine of sin and grace in 418 and wrote De gratia Christi et de peccato originali . His most important opponent in this dispute, who was rhetorically and intellectually at least equal and often even superior, was Bishop Julianus of Eclanum , who had refused to sign the Epistola Tractatoria written by Pope Zosimus against Pelagius and was therefore deposed. However, the authority of Augustine caused other local synods to condemn the Pelagian doctrine, until the Pelagian dispute was finally ended with a final condemnation of this doctrine with the Council of Ephesus (431).
A modification of Pelagianism that took into account the doctrinal condemnations of the Council of Ephesus came to be known as semipelagianism . Because of semipelagian teachings, Augustine had already attacked the monk's father Johannes Cassianus (around 360-435) and turned against theses in his work De incarnatione Christi contra Nestorium . The semipelagian teachings were condemned almost 100 years later at the Synod of Orange (529), but remained in the Church of Gaul and in particular Ireland - and from there in the Irish-Scottish Mission - as a subliminal influence for centuries to come.
The consequences
Augustine saw himself induced by the disputes to develop his doctrine of grace further. This happens above all in the scriptures On the Reward of Sins and on Forgiveness and Infant Baptism and On the Spirit and the Letter .
literature
swell
- A. Augustine: Writings against the Pelagians ; ed. by S. Kopp et al .; Würzburg 1955 ff.
- A. Bruckner (Ed.): The four books of Julian from Aeclanum to Turbantius. A contribution to the characteristics of Julian and Augustine ; New Studies in the History of Theology and the Church, 8; Berlin 1910.
Secondary literature
- Ali Bonner: The Myth of Pelagianism. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2018, ISBN 978-0-19-726639-7 .
- G. Bonner: Augustine and modern research on Pelagianism ; Villanova 1972.
- G. Bonner: Article Pelagius / Pelagian controversy ; in: Theologische Realenzyklopädie 26, 1996, pp. 178-185.
- A. Bruckner: Julian from Eclanum. His life and his teaching. A Contribution to the History of Pelagianism ; Leipzig 1897.
- Y.-M. Duval: Julien d'Éclane et Rufin d'Aquilée. Du Concile de Rimini à la répression pélagienne ; in: Revue des Etudes Augustiniennes 24 (1978), pp. 243-271.
- Kurt Flasch : Augustin. Introduction to his thinking ; Stuttgart 1980.
- Gisbert Greshake : Grace as concrete freedom. An investigation into the doctrine of grace of Pelagius ; Mainz 1972.
- M. Lamberigts: Recent Research into Pelagianism with Particular Emphasis on the Role of Julian of Aeclanum ; in: Augustiniana 52 (2002), pp. 175-198.
- J. Lössl: Julian von Aeclanum. Studies of his life, work, teaching and tradition ; Leiden, Boston, Cologne 2001.
- E. Mühlenberg: Dogma and teaching in the West. Section One: From Augustine to Anselm of Canterbury ; in: C. Andresen (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Dogmen- und Theologiegeschichte , Volume 1: The development of teaching within the framework of catholicity; Göttingen 1983; Pp. 406-483.
- AU Sommer: The end of ancient anthropology as a test case for contextualist philosophy historiography: Julian von Eclanum and Augustin von Hippo ; in: Journal for Religious and Spiritual History, 57 (2005); Issue 1, pp. 1–28.
- S. Thier: Church at Pelagius ; Berlin, New York 1999.
- O. Wermelinger: Rome and Pelagius. The theological position of the Roman bishops in the Pelagian dispute in the years 411–432 ; Stuttgart 1975.