The pelagic argosy

*THAT* Matt Weber · 08 May 2003, 00:58 · from urth-v0305.mbox · original

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From: *THAT* Matt Weber <mweber at library.berkeley.edu>
Subject: Re: (urth) The pelagic argosy
Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 17:58:56 -0700
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>While rereading Lem, I was suddenly caught by "no more than any genuine
>heresy such as the Manichaean or the Pelagian."  And yes, the Pelagians
>"emphasize human free will as the decisive element in human
>perfectibility and minimize or deny the need for divine grace and
>redemption".  Well, it *might* be a coincidence.
>
>
>
>--
>| David Duffy (MBBS PhD)                                         ,-_|\
>| email: davidD at qimr.edu.au  ph: INT+61+7+3362-0217 fax: -0101  /     *
>| Epidemiology Unit, Queensland Institute of Medical Research   \_,-._/
>| 300 Herston Rd, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia  GPG 4D0B994A v
>
>--
>

Pelagius is usually seen as the counter of Augustine's views on free=20
will and human perfectibility.  Pelagius held that human beings=20
could, through the exercise of free will, choose good over evil=20
independent of God's help; Augustine's somewhat more pessimistic view=20
was that without God's grace men were irredeemably depraved.  Of=20
course, Augustine's became the official Church party line and later=20
led to the excesses of Calvin, Knox, et al.

Anthony Burgess is pretty obviously Pelagian in his view of human=20
perfectibility, btw...

Matt

poll oid alwphx, all exinos en meya.
	Archilochus, fl. c. 650 B.C., in E. Diehl (ed.), Anth. Lyr. Gr.

--=20

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