Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Augustine and Pelagius
The first time I read Augustine, I saw the part where he wished that his old Manichean buddies could WATCH (see) him praying ... I found that passage a real turn-off. Augustine laid the foundations for the Reformation and no one really scrutinized him until the counter-Reformation. The Greeks have always called Augustine a heretic. The Russians who were heavily influenced by the West called Augustine "Blessed" but not "Saint." As the years passed I came to see Pelagius as more convincing than Augustine. It is interesting to read Steinbeck's "East of Eden" and see how pelagian Steinbeck was. The final poisoned apple from Augustine's tree of knowledge is Charles Stanley's "Eternal Security of Salvation"
