semi-Pelagianism
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What is semi-Pelagianism?
Semi-Pelagianism was an anti-Augustinian movement in southern France from about 429 to about 529. It was founded by monks who emphasized ascetic practices and were highly respected leaders in the church.
Unlike the Pelagians, the Semi-Pelagians believed in the universality of original sin as a corruptive force that could only be overcome with God's grace, which they insisted was necessary for Christian life. However, they also taught that humankind's innate corruption wasn't so great that the initiative toward Christian commitment was beyond a person’s native will.
The Second Council of Orange condemned semi-Pelagianism in 529.
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In what way does semi-Pelagianism differ from Pelagianism?
While both semi-Pelagianism and Pelagianism relate to beliefs about human nature, free will, and salvation, they differ substantially. Pelagianism, founded in the 5th century by Pelagius, asserts the basic goodness of human nature and emphasizes free will, holding that humans can choose good or evil and are responsible for their actions against God's law.
Semi-Pelagianism, which emerged later, acknowledges original sin as a corrupting force but maintains that humans can still initiate faith in God through their own will, though divine assistance is needed for conversion. Unlike Pelagians, semi-Pelagians recognize the necessity of God's grace but believe humans can take the first step towards salvation on their own.
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When and where did semi-Pelagianism begin?
Semi-Pelagianism, an anti-Augustinian movement, began in southern France around 429 CE and lasted until about 529 CE. The fathers of semi-Pelagianism were monks who emphasized ascetic practices and were highly respected leaders in the church. Key figures included St. John Cassian, who founded monasteries in Massilia (Marseille); St. Vincent, a monk of the Abbey of Lérins; and St. Faustus, bishop of Riez.
Semi-Pelagians believed in the universality of original sin but held that humans could initiate Christian commitment through their own will, a concept known as initium fidei. This view differed from Pelagianism, which denied original sin and affirmed perfect human free will. Semi-Pelagianism was condemned as a heresy in the Roman Catholic Church at the Second Council of Orange in 529.
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How does semi-Pelagianism explain human free will and grace?
Semi-Pelagianism, emerging in the 5th century, mediates between Pelagianism and Augustinianism. Unlike Pelagians, semi-Pelagians affirmed original sin's corrupting influence, necessitating God's grace for Christian life, including infant baptism.
However, diverging from Augustine, they posited that human will, though weakened, could initiate faith, termed initium fidei by John Cassian, or credulitatis affectus by Faustus of Riez. This view suggests humans possess the innate capacity to desire the gospel, though divine aid is essential for actual conversion. Semi-Pelagians emphasized God's justice, arguing that humans must have the native ability to take the first step towards salvation.
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Why did some church leaders criticize semi-Pelagianism?
Church leaders criticized semi-Pelagianism because it seemingly denied the necessity of God’s empowering of human will for salvation, contradicting St. Paul and St. Augustine. Augustine, deemed the approved Catholic authority on grace by papal declaration, was thus beyond challenge.
Semi-Pelagianism held that humans could desire to accept salvation by their own will but not convert without divine help. God's justice was a focal point: semi-Pelagians believed God wouldn't be just if humans couldn't take the first step towards salvation.
St. Prosper of Aquitaine and St. Hilary of Arles initially opposed semi-Pelagianism, and St. Caesarius of Arles later condemned it at the Second Council of Orange in 529. Pope Boniface II approved this condemnation, leading to the Roman Catholic Church recognizing semi-Pelagianism as heresy.
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What impact did semi-Pelagianism have on later Christian teachings?
Semi-Pelagianism, which flourished in southern France from about 429 to 529, affirmed the necessity of God's grace for Christian life while also holding that humans could initiate faith in God through their own will.
Though initially influential, semi-Pelagianism was eventually recognized as a heresy in the Roman Catholic Church after being condemned at the Second Council of Orange in 529. This condemnation, approved by Pope Boniface II, reaffirmed Augustinian doctrines of corruption, human inability, prevenient grace and baptismal regeneration, becoming the Roman Catholic norm for doctrines on grace, predestination and free will.
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semi-Pelagianism, in 17th-century theological terminology, the doctrine of an anti-Augustinian movement that flourished from about 429 to about 529 in southern France. The surviving evidences of the original movement are limited, but it is clear that the fathers of semi-Pelagianism were monks who stressed the need of ascetic practices and who were highly respected leaders in the church. The writings of three of these monks had positive influence on the history of the movement. They were St. John Cassian, who had lived in the East and who founded two monasteries in Massilia (Marseille); St. Vincent, a monk of the celebrated Abbey of Lérins; and St. Faustus, bishop of Riez, a former monk and abbot at Lérins, who at the request of Provence bishops wrote De gratia (“Concerning Grace”), in which semi-Pelagianism was given its final form and one more naturalistic than that provided by Cassian.
Unlike the Pelagians, who denied original sin and believed in perfect human free will, the semi-Pelagians believed in the universality of original sin as a corruptive force in humanity. They also believed that without God’s grace this corruptive force could not be overcome, and they therefore admitted the necessity of grace for Christian life and action. They also insisted on the necessity of baptism, even for infants. But contrary to St. Augustine, they taught that the innate corruption of humankind was not so great that the initiative toward Christian commitment was beyond the powers of a person’s native will.
This commitment was called by St. John Cassian initium fidei (“beginning of faith”) and by St. Faustus of Riez credulitatis affectus (“feeling of credulity”). According to this view, an individual by unaided will could desire to accept the gospel of salvation but could not be actually converted without divine help. In later semi-Pelagianism, divine help was conceived not as an internal empowering graciously infused by God into a person but as purely external preaching or the biblical communication of the gospel, of the divine promises, and of the divine threats. The strong point for all semi-Pelagians was the justice of God: God would not be just if humans were not natively empowered to make at least the first step toward salvation. If salvation depended initially and unilaterally only on God’s free election of the saved, those not chosen could complain that they were doomed by the mere fact of being born.
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The result of semi-Pelagianism, however, was the denial of the necessity of God’s unmerited, supernatural, gracious empowering of human will for saving action. It contradicted St. Paul and St. Augustine, and the latter was by papal declaration the approved Catholic doctor in the question of grace and thus beyond attack.
In its early stages, semi-Pelagianism was opposed in Gaul by two polemicists, St. Prosper of Aquitaine and an otherwise unknown St. Hilary of Arles. After Faustus’s death (c. 490), semi-Pelagianism was still highly respected, but the doctrine declined in the 6th century, primarily through the action of St. Caesarius of Arles. At the instigation of Pope Felix IV (526–530), Caesarius condemned semi-Pelagianism at the Second Council of Orange (529). The condemnation was approved by Pope Boniface II, Felix’s successor. From that point on, semi-Pelagianism was recognized as a heresy in the Roman Catholic Church.