Does Augustine contradict himself in Contra duas epistulas Pelagianorum?

American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly

Volumn 73, Issue 3, 1999, Pages 407-418

  Pang White, Ann A ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0141981704     PISSN: 10513558     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5840/acpq199973327     Document Type: Article

References (56)

1. For good discussion on the doctrines of Pelagianism, consult the following important works by Gerald Bonner: "Augustine and Pelagianism" Augustinian Studies 24(1994):27-47;
2. "Pelagianism Reconsidered", Augustinian Studies 27(1993):237-241;
3. "Pelagianism and Augustine", Augustinian Studies 23(1992):33-51;
4. Augustine and Modern Research on Pelagianism (Villanova: Villanova UP, 1972);
5. "Reflnus the Syrian and African Pelagianism", Augustinian Studies 1(1970):31-47;
6. and chapters eight and nine in St. Augustine of Hippo: Life and Controversies, 2nd ed. (Norwich, U. K.: The Canterbury Press, 1986).
7. Some might wonder what Augustine's view is in regard to Mary's presumed sinlessness. Augustine's position on this matter is not explicit. For helpful remarks on one particular important passage (De natura et gratia xxxvi, 42;
8. hereafter DNG)
9. see Roland J. Teske, introduction, Answer to the Pelagians, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century, pt. I, vol. 23, trans. Roland J. Teske (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1997), 214.
10. Teske writes: "Pelagius adds a long list of biblical women and men who, he claims, did not sin and lived righteously. Of Mary, Pelagius says, 'Piety demands that we admit that she had no sin.' Augustine does not concede that Mary was sinless, though he refuses to discuss her in the context of sin 'on account of the honor due to the Lord' (paragraph 42 [of DNG]). He adds, 'After all, how do we know what wealth of grace was given to her in order to conquer sin completely, since she merited to conceive and bear the one who obviously had no sin?'" (Teske, 214)
11. (Teske, 223, n. 39).
12. James Wetzel, Augustine and the Limits of Virtue (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1992), 170-187.
13. C2EP I, xi, 24: CSEL (abbreviation for Corpus Scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latina) LX, 444: "et ideo apostolos, quia homines erant et corpus, quod corrumpitur et adgrauat animam, in huius uitae mortalitate portabant, absit ut dicamus, sicut iste calumniatur, semper inmoderata libidine fuisse pollutos, sed dicimus a consensione prauarum libidinum liberos, de concupiscentia tamen carnis, quam moderando frenabant, tanta humilitate et pietate gemuisse, ut optarent earn non habere potius quam domare"
14. Unless otherwise noted, the English translation of Latin texts in this paper is from Answer to the Pelagians, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21 st Century, pt. I, vol. 23, trans. Roland J. Teske (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1997)
15. See, for example, Pelagius' letter "On the Possibility of not Sinning" (De possibilitate non peccandi): PLS (abbreviation for Patrologiae Latinae supplementum) I, 1457-62, trans.
16. B. R. Rees, The Letters of Pelagius and His Followers (Rochester, NY: Boydell, 1991), 164-170.
17. See, for example, De peccatorum meritis et remissione et de baptismo parvulorum (hereafter, PeccMer) II, vi, 7; II, vii, 8; II, xvii, 26; II, xx, 34;
18. De spiritu et littera (hereafter, DSL) xxxvi, 66.
19. See De perfectione iustitiae hominis (hereafter, DPI) xxi, 44
20. and DNG lxiii, 74.
21. See also Teske, introduction, Answer to the Pelagians, vol. 23, 279-288.
22. This thesis was first suggested, arguably as early as 412, in his first anti-Pelagian writing. In PeccMer II, xv, 24: CSEL LX, 96-97, Augustine clearly rejects the Pelagians' use of St. Paul as an example of sinless human beings.
23. For other texts related to the same theme, see PeccMer II, vii, 8;
24. cf. DSL xxxvi, 65;
25. DPI ix, 20, xi, 24;
26. C2EP I, xiv, 28.
27. Augustine holds that both the inherited guilt and the inherited defect of original sin-a result of Adam's sin-are transmitted and manifested through concupiscence. For enlightening discussion on this, see J. Van Oort, "Augustine on Sexual Concupiscence and Original Sin", Studia Patristica 22(1989):382-386
28. and Ugo Bianchi, "Augustine on Concupiscence", Studia Patristica 22(1989):202-212.
29. C2EP I, xiii, 27: CSEL LX, 445-446: "nec propter ipsam, cuius iam reatus lauacro regenerationis absumptus est, dicunt in oratione baptizati: dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris, sed propter peccata, quae fiunt, siue in eius consensionibus, cum ab eo quodlibet uincitur quod placet, siue cum per ignorantiam malum quasi bonum placet"
30. C2EP I, xiv, 28: CSEL LX, 446-447: "neque enim quisque sic desipit, ut dicat ad baptizatos dominicum illud non pertinere praeceptum: dimittite et dimittetur uobis; date et dabitur uobis⋯ multi quippe baptizati fideles sunt sine crimine; sine peccato autem in hac uita neminem dixerim,⋯ sed quia nobis in huius uitae infirnitate manentibus cotidie fieri non quiescunt, quae fideliter orantibus et misericorditer operantibus cotidie remittantur"
31. Note that, for example, Augustine says in PeccMer II, iv, 4: CSEL LX, 74: "It [concupiscence in the baptized] will do no harm whatsoever to those who do not consent to it regarding what is forbidden. But it holds guilty those who consent to it regarding what is forbidden, [non sibi ad inlicita consentientibus nihil omnino nocitura,⋯ consentientes autem sibi ad inclicita reos tenet⋯]"
32. In De nuptiis et concupiscentia (hereafter, DNC) I, xxiii, 25, he says: "Concupiscence itself, after all, is not now a sin in those who have been reborn, provided they do not consent to it for acts that are forbidden⋯ [nam ipsa quidem concupiscentia iam non est peccatum in regeneratis, quando illi ad inclicita opera non consentitur,⋯]"
33. For other texts, see DNC I, xxiv, 27;
34. For discussion on concupiscence as "a sense of shame", not "sin in any strict formal sense", see Bernard J. Verkamp, "Moral Treatment of Returning Warriors in the Early Middle Ages", Journal of Religious Ethics 16(1988):223-249.
35. C2EP I, xi, 24.
36. C2EP I, xii, 24: CSEL LX, 444: "They [i.e., apostles] were free from consent to evil desire⋯" [sed dicimus a consensione prauarum libidinum liberos];
37. DPI xxi, 44: CSEL 47-48: "Unless I am mistaken, there would be no need to say this [Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors], if we never consented at all to the desires of this same sin by failing in words or by taking pleasure in some thought⋯" [quod, nisi fallor, non opus esset dicere, si numquam uel in lapsu linguae uel in oblectanda cogitatione eiusdem peccati desideriis aliquantum consentiremus⋯]
38. See, for example, Confessions (hereafter, Conf) VIII, v, 11;
39. DPI xv, 33 and xxi, 44;
40. Retra I, xiii, 5:CCL LVII, 38: "Quamuis et illa quae non inmerito non uoluntaria peccata dicuntur, quia uel a nescientibus uel a coactis perpetrantur, non omnimodo possunt sine uoluntate committi, quoniam et ille qui peccat ignorans uoluntate utique facit quod, cum faciendum non sit, putat esse faciendum, et ille qui concupiscente aduersus spiritum carne non ea quae uult facit, concupiscit quidem nolens, et in eo non facit quod uult, sed si uincitur, concupiscentiae consentit uolens,⋯" The English translation is from Augustine: Earlier Writings, trans. John Burleigh (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1980), 219.
41. DSL xxxi, 53: CSEL LX, 210: "neque enim dici solet quispiam potestate fecisse, si quid fecit inuitus. quamquam⋯ etiam quod quisque inuitus facere cogitur, si facit, uoluntate facit;⋯ nam si tanta uoluntas sit,⋯ cogenti procul dubio resistit nec facit. ac per hoc, si facit, non quidem plena et libera uoluntate, sed tamen non facit nisi uoluntate;.."
42. John M. Rist, "Augustine on Free Will and Predestination", Journal of Theological Studies 20(1969):422.
43. For Rist's recent discussion on evil habit as a cause of psychological compulsion, see his Augustine: Ancient Thought Baptized (New York: Cambridge UP, 1996), 173-180.
44. Augustine's view on action and free will resembles the so called "compatibilist theory" in the contemporary discussion on free will and determinism. For a compatibilist view, see Harry Frankfurt, "Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person", The Journal of Philosophy 68(1971):5-20
45. and "Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility", Journal of Philosophy 66(1969):828-839.
46. For a new interpretation of the Frankfurt examples, see Joseph Keim Campbell, "A Compatibilist Theory of Alternative Possibilities", Philosophical Studies 88(1997):319-330.
47. For good summaries of the literature, see John O'Leary-Hawthorne and Philip Petit, "Strategies for Free Will Compatibilists" Analysis 56(1996):191-201;
48. Gary Watson, "Free Action and Free Will", Mind 46(1987):145-172.
49. For application of Frankfurt's compatibilist account of freedom to philosophy of religion, see Eleanore Stump, "Sanctification, Hardening the Heart, and Frankfurt's Concept of Free Will", Perspectives on Moral Responsibility, eds. John Martin Fischer and Mark Ravizza (Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1993), 211-234.
50. The texts in DCD were called to my attention by Risto Saarinen's Weakness of the Will in Medieval Thought (New York: E. J. Brill, 1994), 32.
51. For discussion on Augustine's view that consent is sufficient for wrong-doing, see William E. Mann, "Dreams of Immorality", Philosophy 58(1983):378-385;
52. Gareth B. Matthews, "On Being Immoral in a Dream", Philosophy 56(1981):47-54.
53. C2EP I, x, 18: CSEL LX, 440: "Ad forte metuimus ea quae sequuntur: quod enim operor, ignoro; non enim quod uolo, hoc ago, sed quod odi, illud facio, ne forte ex his uerbis quispiam consentire carnis concupiscentiae ad opera mala sanctum apostolum suspicetur? sed considerandum est quod adiungit: si autem quod nolo hoc facio, consentio legi quoniam bona, magis enim se dicit legi consentire quam carnis concupiscentiae-hanc enim peccati nomine appellat-; facere ergo se dixit et operari non affectu consentiendi et inplendi, sed ipso motu concupiscendi.."
54. See Rist, Augustine: Ancient Thought Baptized, 179 where Rist correctly points out that "After about 415 Augustine came to think of the lives even of those 'under grace' as a constant struggle with evil habits"
55. See Contra Julianium opus imperfectum I, 105 for Augustine's most explicit discussion on Paul's struggle with the compulsion of his old habits.
56. For more discussion on Augustine's emphasis on the power of bad habits as found in his writings after 411, see Ann A. Pang-White, Augustine's Doctrine of Weakness of the Will After 411, diss., Marquette University, 1997 (Ann Arbor: UMI Dissertation Services, 1997), 136-144.