The History of Christian Theology

Lecture 12: The Doctrine of Grace

but that it has the reality of a privation, something lacking where it should be

present, like a shadow or a hole or something twisted, broken, or disordered.

Grace causes the will to fall in love with what makes us truly, eternally

happy—our one true love. In healing the disorder of the will, grace restores

true freedom of the will, which had been undermined by sin. Given his view

of the nature of the will, evil, and grace, it makes perfect sense for Augustine

to assume that grace and free will are always compatible with each other. Ŷ

Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter, found in Answer to the Pelagians I.

Cary, Inner Grace.

Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, chaps. 13 and 14.

Pelikan, The Christian Tradition, vol. 1, chap. 6.

1. What is most attractive about Augustine’s doctrine of grace?


2. What is least attractive about Augustine’s doctrine of grace?

Suggested Reading

Questions to Consider