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Theologies, Rhetorics, and Receptions of the Pelagian Controversy Reappraised

In consequence of a paradigm shift in the study of ancient Christian doctrinal controversies that was pioneered by Walter Bauer and elaborated by Alain Le Boulluec, most contemporary scholars of ancient Christianity have agreed that the construction of orthodoxy was accompanied by and indeed entailed the definition as heretical of positions that had been regarded as apostolic, and hence orthodox, by prior generations of Christians. This scholarly realisation has resulted in the historiographical deconstruction of ancient heresiological categories such as Gnosticism, Marcionism, and Arianism. As for Pelagianism – to the degree that we can speak of a unified doctrine or movement – scholars have argued that it developed into a coherent system of thought only in the minds of Augustine or Jerome. The deconstruction of Pelagianism as a heresiological category has led some scholars to question the validity of Pelagianism as a historiographical construct – here it will suffice to mention Ali Bonner’s recent and not uncontested work, The Myth of Pelagianism. So how, then, did Christian authors who were considered pious and holy in their own day become the arch-heretics of Western Christianity? To answer this question, the present volume re-examines various facets of the so-called Pelagian controversy. In critical dialogue with standard works, specialists review the controversy’s possible sources and origins; the diverse theological positions concerning Christ, grace, and (original) sin; the rhetorical and heresiological strategies employed and their long after-effects; as well as matters of textual and theological afterlife. In this way, the volume reappraises the controversy’s myriad theology, rhetoric, and reception.

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