Christ the pediatrician: Infant baptism and christological imagery in the pelagian controversy

Augustinian Studies

Volumn 28, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 7-34

  William Harmless, S J ^a  

^a SPRING HILL COLLEGE   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 79954964486     PISSN: 00945323     EISSN: 21537917     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5840/augstudies19972827     Document Type: Article

References (178)

1. Opus imperfectum 111.67-71, 1.48 (CSEL 85.1:402-403, 37-38; trans. Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo: A Biography [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967], 387-388, 391-392).
2. Rudolph Arbesmann, "The Concept of 'Christus Medicus' in St. Augustine," Traditio 10 (1954):7.
3. See also his "Christ the Medicus humilis in St. Augustine," Augustinus Magister 11:623-629. A good survey of the use of the image in the wider Christian tradition has just appeared: Regis Duffy, "The Medicus Image and Its Transformation from Its Patristic to Its Medieval and Tridentine Usages," in Rule of Prayer, Rule of Faith: Essays in Honor of Aidan Kavanagh, ed. Nathan Mitchell and John Baldovin (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1996), 106-122.
4. See also Gervais Dumeige, "Medecin (le Christ)," Dictionnaire de Spiritualite X:891-901 (Paris: Beauchesne, 1980).
5. Brian E. Daley, "A Humble Mediator: the Distinctive Elements in St. Augustine's Christology," Word and Spirit 9 (1987) 101.
6. see Joanne McWilliam, "The Study of Augustine's Christology in the Twentieth Century," in Augustine: From Rhetor to Theologian (Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1992), 183-205. Daley's article is certainly the best brief treatment.
7. The classic survey is that of T.J. Van Bavel, Recherches sur la christologie de saint Augustin (Paradosis 10; Fribourg: Editions Universitaires, 1954). Basil Studer has both helpful surveys and in-depth studies
8. see the chapter "The Revelation of the Love of the Humble God According to Augustine," in his recent Trinity and Incarnation: The Faith of the Early Church, ed. Andrew Louth (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1993), 167-185
9. see also his collected essays in Dominus Salvator: Studien zur Christologie und Exegese der Kirchenvater, Studia Anselmiana 107 (Rome: 1992).
10. Other important studies include: Brian E. Daley, "The Giant's Twin Substances: Ambrose and the Christology of Augustine's Contra Sermonem Arianorum," in Augustine: Presbyter Factus Sum, ed. Joseph T. Lienhard, Earl C. Muller, Roland J. Teske (New York: Peter Lang, 1993), 477-495
11. Joanne McWilliam Dewart, "The Christology of the Pelagian Controversy," Studia Patristica XVII/3, ed. Elizabeth A. Livingstone (Leuven: Peeters, 1993), 1221-1244
12. Gerald Bonner, "Christ, God and Man in the Thought of St. Augustine," Angelicum 61 (1984) 268-294, reprinted in God's Decree and Man's Destiny: Studies on the Thought of Augustine of Hippo (London: Variorum Reprints, 1987)
13. H.R. Drobner, Person-Exegese und Christologie bei Augustinus: zur Herkunft der Formel "unapersona" (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1986)
14. Albert Verwilghen, Christologie et spiritualité selon Saint Augustin: L 'hymne auxphilippiens, Théologie historique 72 (Paris: Beauchesne, 1985).
15. McWilliam, "Study of Augustine's Christology," 183.
16. Confessiones VII.ix.13-14 (CCL 27:101-102).
17. See De ciuitate Dei X.29 (CCL 47:306-307) in which he recounts a story told him by Simplicianus: that a Platonist philosopher had once recommended that Jn 1:1 be set in letters of gold in every church; against this, Augustine insisted on Jn 1:14.
18. Tractatus in Joannis evangelium 4.14 (CCL 36:38).
19. Tractatus in Joannis evangelium 10.1 (CCL 36:100-101; my own translation).
20. Sermo 188.2 (PL 38:1004; trans., Edmund Hill, Sermons, Part III/Volume 6, p. 32, in The Works of Saint Augustine, ed. John E. Rotelle, OSA [Brooklyn, NY: New City Press, 1993]). Hereafter abbreviated as "WSA" followed by Part, then Volume, then page; so in this case: WSA 111/6:32.
21. Sermo 214.6 (PL 38:1069)
22. Sermo 237.4 (PL 38:1124)
23. Epistula 140.4
24. De dono perseverantiae 24.67 (BA 24:760-762)
25. De haeresibus 55 (CCL 46:325).
26. Sermo 294.9 (PL 38:1340-1341; trans., Hill, WSA III/8:186).
27. Cf. De peccatorum meritis 1.31.60 (CSEL 60:60-61).
28. Enchiridion 10.35 (CCL 46:69).
29. Tractatus in Joannis evangelium 19.15 (CCL 36:199); 78.3 (CCL 36:524)
30. Epistula 137.11 (CSEL 44:109).
31. See the helpful comments of Daley, "Humble Mediator," 103-105. For an in-depth study of Cyril's christology
32. see John Anthony McGuckin, St. Cyril of Alexandria: The Christological Controversy: Its History, Theology, and Texts, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae, vol. 23 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994)
33. see also Aloys Grillmeier, Christ in Christian Tradition, Vol. 1, 2nd edition (Philadelphia: Westminster/John Knox, 1975), 473-487.
34. Contra Maximinum Arianorum Episcopum 11.20.3 (PL 42:789-790; trans., Roland JTeske, WSA 1/18:302).
35. Sermo 174.2 (PL 38:941; trans., Hill, WSA 111/5:258).
36. See N.W. James, "Leo the Great and Prosper of Aquitaine," Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 44 (1993): 554-584.
37. Two especially valuable studies of Augustine's poetic imagination are Suzanne Poque, Le langage symbolique dans la prédication d'Augustin d'Hippone: Images héroïques (Paris: Études Augustiniennes, 1984) and Robert J. O'Connell, Soundings in St. Augustine's Imagination (New York: Fordham, 1994). Both discuss some of these images, but are concerned with a broader range of issues and images.
38. Robert J. O'Connell, Soundings in St. Augustine's Imagination (New York: Fordham, 1994). Both discuss some of these images, but are concerned with a broader range of issues and images.
39. Sermo 233.4 (PL 38:1114).
40. Sermo 229J.2 (=Guelf. 7 app) (MA 1:583).
41. Enarrationes in psalmos 87.1-2 (CCL 39:1208).
42. Sermo 21.6-7 (CCL 41:281-283)
43. Sermo 86.7 (PL 38:52)
44. Sermo 344.4 (PL 39:1514-1515). For a discussion of this imagery
45. see P. Eijkenboom, "Christus Redemptor in the Sermons of St. Augustine," Mélanges offerts á Mademoiselle Christine Mohrmann (Utrecht-Anvers: Spectrum Editeurs, 1963), 233-239.
46. Sermo 233.4 (PL 38:1114)
47. see also Sermones 121.5 (PL 38:680) and 229H.1 (=Guelf. 12) (MA I:479-480).
48. See Suzanne Poque, "Christus Mercator," Recherches de Science Religieuse 48 (1960): 564-577.
49. Tractatus in Joannis evangelium 7.10-11 (CCL 36:72-73)
50. Sermo 58.1 (PL 38:393).
51. (Sermo 213.6 [MA 1:446; my own translation]).
52. Enarrationes in psalmos 58.2.11 (CCL 39:752); 102.5 (CCL 40:1454-1455)
53. Sermo 97A.2 (=Bibl. Casin. II,114) (PLS 2:533-534).
54. Enarrationes in psalmos 45.11 (CCL 38:525)
55. Sermo 346A.8 (=Caillau II, 19) (PLS 2:440).
56. Sermo 2290.1 (=Guelf. 17) (PLS 2:582).
57. Sermo 97A.2 (=Bibl.Casin. II,114) (PLS 2:533).
58. Tractatus in Joannis evangelium 3.3 (CCL 36:21).
59. Sermo 346A.6 (=Caillau II,19) (PLS 2:440-441)
60. Sermo 340A.5 (=Guelf. 32) (PLS 2:641)
61. Sermo 345.7 (=Frangipane 3) (MA 1:208).
62. Sermo 87.15 (PL 38:538-539).
63. Cf. Sermones 340A.5 (=Guelf. 32) (PLS 2:641); 345.7 (=Frangipane 3) (MA 1:208).
64. Sermo 299A.2 (=Mai 19) (PLS 2:463)
65. Enarrationes in psalmos 48.1.11 (CCL 38:560); 98.3 (CCL 39:1308).
66. Sermo 278.4-5 (PL 38:1270-1271)
67. cf. Sermo 113A.13 (=Denis 24) (MA 1:153)
68. Enarrationes in psalmos 93.7 (CCL 39:1308)
69. Tractatus in epistolam Joannis ad Parthos 6.8 (PL 35:2023).
70. Tractatus in epistolam Joannis ad Parthos 9.4 (PL 35:2048)
71. Sermo 2290.1 (=Guelf. 17) (PLS 2:582)
72. Sermo 286.2 (PL 38:1298).
73. Sermo 174.6 (PL 38:943)
74. Enarrationes in psalmos 35.17 (CCL 38:335).
75. Sermo 175.3 (PL 38:946)
76. Sermo 174.6 (PL 38:943)
77. Sermo 229E.2 (=Guelf. 9) (PLS 2:559)
78. Sermo 341 A. 1 (=Mai 22) (PLS 2:467).
79. Sermo 237.3 (PL 38:1124; trans., Hill, WSA III/7:53).
80. See also Sermo 88.2 (PL 38:539)
81. Sermo 242.3 (PL 38:1140)
82. Tractatus in epistolam Joannis ad Parthos 2.1 (PL 35:1989).
83. see Gerald Bonner, "Pelagianism and Augustine," Augustinian Studies 23 (1992) 33-51
84. "Augustine and Pelagianism," Augustinian Studies 24 (1993) 27-47.
85. See also the valuable treatment of the debate in Elizabeth A. Clark, The Origenist Controversy: The Cultural Construction of an Early Christian Debate (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), 194-244.
86. De gratia Christi et de peccato originali II.3.3 (CSEL 42:168-169), which gives the transcript of the trial.
87. See also De gestis Pelagii 11.23 (CSEL 42:76) and Epistula 157.22 (BA 21:78-80)
88. the list of charges are also given in a different order in Marius Mercator, Commonitorium super nomine Coelestii (PL 48:67-83).
89. J. Patout Burns, in The Development of Augustine's Doctrine of Operative Grace (Paris: Etudes Augustiniennes, 1980), 96, has mapped this out with terse precision. In particular, he has highlighted three "levels of assertion" within Augustine's doctrine of original sin: the first is christological, this fundamental claim that Christ alone is savior
90. De peccatorum meritis 1.18.23 (CSEL 60:22-23)
91. III.4.7 (CSEL 60: 133-134). This would become a stock objection, but its central place is articulated at a key moment in the controversy when Augustine (and Alypius) write a letter to the influential Paulinus of Nola noting Pelagius' De natura has convinced them that Pelagius "aims to set forth theories intended to destroy and remove from faithful hearts any belief in the grace of God bestowed on the human race through the one Mediator of God and men, Christ Jesus" (Epistula 186.1 (CSEL 57:45-46)
92. De natura et gratia 6.6, 7.7, 19.21 (BA 21:252, 254, 275).
93. De natura et gratia 21.23 (BA 21:282; my own translation).
94. De nuptiis et concupiscentia I.1; II.3.9; II.23.38; II.33.56
95. Contra Iulianum V.1.2
96. Sermones 115.4; 176.2-5; 293.11.
97. De perfectione iusticiae hominis 3.5; 4.9; 21.44
98. De gratia Christi et depeccato originali I.50.55; II.29.34; II.29.35
99. Epistula 157.7
100. Sermo 299.6
101. The conjunction of Rom 5:12 and the Christus medicus image appears in De peccatorum meritis III.4.8 (CSEL 60:134), III.7.14 (CSEL 60:141)
102. Sermo 115.4 (PL 38:657)
103. see J. Patout Burns, "The Interpretation of Romans in the Pelagian Controversy," Augustinian Studies 10 (1979) 43-54.
104. See O'Connell, Soundings, esp. pp. 7-11.
105. Sermo 293.11 (PL 38:1333)
106. Sermo 176.2 (PL 38:950)
107. Epistula 157.7 (BA 21:44). By contrast, the quoting of Luke 5:31-32 (or its parallel, Mt 9:12-13) is not as common in texts before the Pelagian controversy; a few cases, however, are Sermones 88.7 (PL 38:542-543); 97A.3 (PLS 2:533-534); 278.5 (PL 38:1270-1271).
108. Contra Iulianum II.6.15; III.5.11,12; III.6.13; III.19.37 (PL 44:684, 708, 722).
109. The term is also used by Cyprian, Epistula 64, cited in Contra Iulianum I.3.6 (PL 44:644) and by Ambrose, Apologia prophetae David 11, cited in Contra Iulianum I.3.10 (PL 44:646).
110. Sermo 294.12 (PL 38:1342; trans., Hill, WSA III/8:187).
111. Sermo 294.12 (PL 38:1342)
112. Sermo 176.2 (PL 38:950-951; trans., Hill, WSA III/5:273)
113. Sermo 293.10 (PL 38:1333; trans., Hill, WSA III/8:155): "testis est mater fideliter currens cum parvulo baptizando ad ecclesiam
114. Enarrationes in psalmos 50.10 (CCL 38:606; my own translation): "Si infantes omni modo innocentes sunt, cur matres ad ecclesiam cum languentibus current?"
115. See also Sermo 176.2 (PL 38:950)
116. Contra Iulianum 1.7.31 (PL 44:662).
117. Tractatus in Joannis evangelium 38.6 (CCL 36:341; trans., John Rettig, FC 88:109).
118. Sermo 393.1 (PL 38:1715).
119. Sermo 324 (PL 38:1446-1447; trans., Hill, WSA III/9:165)
120. They also received eucharist, as is clear from Sermo 174.7 (PL 38:944) and Epistula 217.16 (CSEL 57:415)
121. implied also in Depeccatorum mentis I.24.34 (CSEL 60:33-34).
122. Sermo 324 (PL 38:1446-1447; trans., Hill, WSA III/9:166).
123. I treat these matters in considerable detail in my recent book Augustine and the Catechumenate (Collegeville: the Liturgical Press, 1995). For an analysis of the delay of baptism in the 4th and 5th centuries, see pp. 59-61, 170-172, 229-234
124. see also the mock dialogue in Sermo 294.14 (PL 38:1343). He discusses the sign of the cross on the forehead in De catechizandis rudibus 26.50 (CCL 46:173)
125. Sermo 32.13 (CCL 41:405)
126. Sermo 97A.3 (MA 1:417)
127. Sermo 301A.8 (=Denis 17) (MA I:88-89)
128. see De peccatorum meritis et remissione 2.26.42 (CSEL 60:113)
129. Sermo 46.31 (PL 38:288)
130. Sermo 97A.3 (=Bibl. Cas. 2.114) (PLS 2:534)
131. Sermo 301A.8 (=Denis 17) (PL 46:880).
132. Tim G. Parkin, Demography and Roman Society (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), 84. Parkin traces out the complex methodological problems of such study and offers a valuable survey of the literature.
133. The often-cited study of Bruce W. Frier, "Roman Life Expectancy: Ulpian's Evidence," Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 86 (1982): 213-251, gives an even higher rate than Parkin's - 358.22 per 1,000 -, but Parkin is critical of key assumptions governing Frier's study.
134. Other important older studies include: M.K. Hopkins, "On the probable age structure of the Roman population," Population Studies 20 (1966):245-264
135. A.R. Burn, "Hie Breve Vivitur: A Study of the Expectation of Life in the Roman Empire," Past and Present 4 (1953): 1-31.
136. See Paul Veyne, "The Roman Empire," History of Private Life, vol. 1: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium, trans. Arthur Goldhammer (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987), 9-12.
137. Epistula 98.6 (CSEL 34:527-528).
138. The clearest example of bringing healthy infants is in Sermo 115.4 (PL 38:657) where Augustine notes that while the children being presented that day for baptism might be healthy physically, they still suffer from the disease of original sin.
139. Contra Iulianum 1.4.14 (PL 44:649).
140. Epistula 217.6.17 (CSEL 57:417)
141. De dono perseverantiae 12.31 (PL 39:1012).
142. Burns, Development of Augustine's Doctrine of Operative Grace, 95.
143. Sermo 293.10 (PL 38:1333; trans., Hill, WSA 111/8:155): "Quid ergo, ait aliquis, et infans indiget liberatore? Plane indiget: testis est mater fldeliter currens cum parvulo baptizando ad ecclesiam. Testis est ipsa mater Ecclesia suscipiens parvulum abluendum, et aut liberatum dimmittendum, aut pietate nutriendum. Quis audeat dicere testimonium contra tantam matrem?"
144. See also De Genesi ad litteram 10.23.29 (BA 49:216)
145. Sermo 174.9 (PL 38:945)
146. Sermo 294.14 (PL 38:1343).
147. De gratia Christi et de peccato originali 1.32.35 (PL 44:377)
148. Sermo 293.11 (PL 38:1334). The creed as Augustine knew it can be reconstructed from the sermons he gave during Lent to competentes (Sermones 212-215). For a discussion of the North African creed and its function in baptism
149. see Harmless, Augustine and the Catechumenate, 274-286
150. J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, 3rd ed. (London: Longman, 1972), 172-181.
151. Cyprian, Epistula 64.5 (CSEL 3:720; trans., G.W. Clarke, ACW 46:112)
152. Sermo 294.19 (PL 38:1347-1348)
153. Contra duas epistulas Pelagianorum 4.8.23 (PL 44:625)
154. Contra Iulianum 1.3.6 (PL 44:644)
155. Epistula 166.23 (CSEL 44:579).
156. De symbolo ad catechumenos 1.2 (CCL 46:186)
157. Epistula 194.46 (CSEL 57:212)
158. Contra Iulianum III.5.11 (PL 44:708), VI.5.11 (PL 44:829)
159. Prosper of Aquitaine, Auctoritates 8-9 (PL 51:209-210).
160. See Rebecca Harden Weaver, Divine Grace and Human Agency: A Study of the Semi-Pelagian Controversy, Patristic Monograph Series 15 (Macon GA: Mercer University Press, 1996).
161. Sermo 293.10 (PL 38:1333; trans., Hill WSA III/8:155-156). Cf. Sermo 294.12 (PL 38:1342)
162. Contra Iulianum 6.7.21 (PL 44:835).
163. Cf. De gratia et libero arbitrio 22.44 (PL 44:909).
164. De coniugiis adulterinis I.26.33 (PL 40:460-470). In Confessiones IV.iv.7-8 (CCL 27:43-44), he records the remarkable transformation of a teenage friend of his who was baptized while unconscious.
165. Epistula 98.7 (CSEL 34:528).
166. Sermo 294.12 (PL 38:1342; trans., Hill, WSA III/8:187).
167. Confessions I.vii.11 (CCL 27:6; trans., Chadwick, 9).
168. Enchiridion 13.42-43 (CCL 46:73).
169. Contra Iulianum III.4.10 (PL 44:707).
170. Contra Iulianum III.5.11 (PL 44:707-708; trans., M. Schumacher, FC 35:116)
171. Contra Iulianum III.6.13 (PL 44:709; trans., Schumacher, FC 35:118).
172. Contra Iulianum III.3.9 (PL 44:706; trans., Schumacher, FC 35:113-114): "Natura ista in tantas et tarn manifestas collapsa miserias, salvatorem, liberatorem, mundatorem, redemptorem Christum habet necessarium, non Julianum, non Caelestium, non Pelagium laudatorem."
173. See also Contra Iulianum V.1.2 (PL 44:783)
174. Sermo 293.11 (PL 38:1335)
175. Sermo 176.2 (PL 38:950-951).
176. Sermo 293.11 (PL 38:1335; trans., Hill, WSA III/8:157).
177. Sermo 176.2 (PL 38:951).
178. Sermo 294.5 (PL 38:1338).