The Pelagian Controversy: An Introduction to the Enemies of Grace and the Conspiracy of Lost Souls by Stuart Squires

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Pelagian Controversy: An Introduction to the Enemies of Grace and the Conspiracy of Lost Souls by Stuart Squires Walter Dunphy The Pelagian Controversy: An Introduction to the Enemies of Grace and the Conspiracy of Lost Souls. By Stuart Squires. (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2019. Pp. xxii, 366. $42.00. ISBN: 9781532637810). The ample bibliography given by Stuart Squires—the “secondary literature” alone extends to almost 30 pages—is witness to the fact that study of the Pelagian Controversy is flourishing, and also to the need for an introduction such as this to help the reader, whether student or scholar in the field (xxii), to see both the whole picture of the debate and evaluate the many details that contribute to the whole. The account is divided into two parts: part I (3–180) takes us through the history of the controversy. Chapter 1 (3–40) paints in broad strokes the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire before focusing on the more immediate context of the development of the ascetical movements in the fourth century in which the Pelagian debate emerged. The dispute between Jerome and Rufinus of Aquileia over the thought of Origen, which would mutate into the Pelagian debate, serves as a necessary introduction to the main account. The following chapters (2–4) introduce us in historical succession to Pelagius, Caelestius, and Rufinus the Syrian. Then the anti-Pelagian reaction as formulated by Augustine, Jerome, and Orosius is outlined (chapters 5–7). Some readers may think that Orosius is given more attention than he deserves, but the Spaniard played a significant role in how the early debate in Africa was presented in Palestine, and subsequently in reporting to the West (Africa) the Pelagian victory at Diospolis. Chapter 8 is a sober attempt to unravel the intricacies surrounding the condemnation of Pelagianism by Rome in 418. The disquiet caused by this found independent expression in the writings of Julian of Eclanum (chapter 8) and of John Cassian (chapter 9). Part II (pp. 183–277) gives a condensed but clear account of “the theology of . . .” the various protagonists in the controversy is an account of the theology of the protagonists insofar as it pertains directly to the debate. Clearly the theology of Augustine or the influence of Jerome cannot be outlined in a few pages. Squires divides his presentation of Augustine into two parts: Augustine in debate with Caelestius and Pelagius in the first phase of the debate, and his unfinished dispute with Julian of Eclanum in the later years. By concluding with Cassian at the end of the account in both parts, Squires reminds us that the controversy that had seemed to end in a fruitless impasse in the Julian-Augustine wrangle only set the scene for a fruitful tension between grace and nature that would imbue western Christendom. [End Page 172] This is a welcome addition to the bibliography on Pelagianism that lacks thorough overviews in English of the course of the whole controversy, and of the current scholarly consensus on a host of disputed details. Walter Dunphy Nanzan University Copyright © 2023 The Catholic University of America Press ...