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9 - Pelagianism and the Papacy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2022

D. L. d'Avray
Affiliation:
University College London
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Summary

That papal responses about Pelagianism belong to a specifically legal domain is a secondary conclusion of the chapter. The primary conclusion can be integrated with a central argument about the origins of the first papal jurisprudence, viz., that it was demand-driven, and that the demand was driven by uncertainty. We should not be surprised at uncertainty in late Antiquity about grace and free will when modern scholars write in such different terms about Augustine. Many modern people prefer Pelagius, but Augustine’s understanding of grace won the assent of intellectuals like Gottschalk in the ninth century, Bradwardine in the fourteenth, and Luther and Calvin in the sixteenth, and it continued to have adherents within Catholicism, even after the Council of Trent. Self-evident the solution to the argument was not. Given the violently opposed views, in this apparently purely Western controversy, it is not surprising that the apostolic see was asked for a response. Baffled by the paradox of divine omnipotence and human free will, it did what it would do in subsequent centuries: step back from acceptance of Augustine’s late views, without breathing a word of criticism against him.

Type
Chapter
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Papal Jurisprudence, 385–1234
Social Origins and Medieval Reception of Canon Law
, pp. 96 - 105
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Pelagianism and the Papacy
  • D. L. d'Avray, University College London
  • Book: Papal Jurisprudence, 385–1234
  • Online publication: 10 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108595292.010
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  • Pelagianism and the Papacy
  • D. L. d'Avray, University College London
  • Book: Papal Jurisprudence, 385–1234
  • Online publication: 10 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108595292.010
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Pelagianism and the Papacy
  • D. L. d'Avray, University College London
  • Book: Papal Jurisprudence, 385–1234
  • Online publication: 10 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108595292.010
Available formats
×