On the Grace of Christ and on Original Sin
Two books written after the condemnation of Pelagius and Caelestius in 418. The first quotes Pelagius’s own statements on free will and grace; the second copies parts of the minutes of Caelestius’s trial at Carthage and of the dealings of the bishops of Rome with both men.
Read the text at newadvent.org ↗Book 1, On the Grace of Christ (New Advent) ↗Book 2, On Original Sin (New Advent) ↗
Augustine wrote these books for three friends in Palestine who had spoken with Pelagius and reported that he now professed the necessity of grace. The first book answers by quoting what Pelagius had written, above all his distinction between the ability to do good, which is God’s gift, and the will and the act, which are man’s (1.4–5). The second book turns to original sin and reproduces extracts from the acts of the council of Carthage that tried Caelestius, with the questions put by Bishop Aurelius and the deacon Paulinus (2.2–4), and from the letters of Innocent and Zosimus of Rome.
For the words of Pelagius and Caelestius it is a hostile witness that nevertheless quotes verbatim; the works and records it cites are mostly lost. For the sequence of events in 417–418 it is the account of the leading figure on the winning side, written within months.
Cited in
- AD 411 to AD 418, estimated date