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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2015 Opinion 23 Christianity itself, theological di- versity prevailed. The Pelagian (Pe- lagius 354-427) controversy is one good example. In this controversy, Augustine arrives at the clear posi- tion that all the good in man's life is the result of God's grace, due to the fact that man, weakened by Origi- nal Sin, was no longer capable of performing morally good actions unaided. Thus, if everything is indeed grace, what form of role and re- sponsibility is then left for human freedom? Initially, Augustine's ideas of an all-determining divine grace because of Original Sin did not meet with approval outside of North Africa. In the East the bish- ops, as well as John II, Patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 417), sided with the 'Pelagians', while in the West, Pope Zosimus (d. 418) too was nearly persuaded to do so initially. Only with the support of the Roman Catholic Emperor again (fearing that religious quarrel would dis- rupt the fragile political unity of the moribund Roman Empire) did Augustine succeed in getting the West to condemn Pelagianism. After this condemnation Augus- tine's thoughts on grace, particu- larly on predestination, the doc- trine namely that God has already determined beforehand that only a limited number of believers, re- gardless of their personal merits, would be saved, were not accepted in the Western Catholic Church outside of North Africa, even dur- ing his own lifetime. Prominent theologians such as John Cassian (b. 354- d. after 430) and Vincent of Lérins (d. before 450), as well as some monastic communities from Gaul argued, for instance, that divine grace in- teracts with human responsibility, so that human freedom does have an essential role to play, and that every human being – and not just a limited predestined number – can be saved. After Augustine's death, Catholic theologians such as Faustus of Riez (d. ca. 490), as well as ecclesiastical synods, such as those of Orange (Arausio), in 529, Quierzy (Palatium Carisiacum, near Laon) in 853, and Valence, in Dauphiné, in 855, will reject the extreme consequences of Augustine's doctrine of predes- tination. Another example is the medieval creation of the concept of 'limbo', the edge of Hell, where un- baptized infants and virtuous pagan philosophers were being kept. This concept is entirely at odds with Au- gustine's view on grace, according to which unbaptized infants and virtuous pagan philosophers are placed in hell and not in a separate place apart from heaven and hell. Post-modern forms of decon- struction of prejudices, even con- cerning Augustine, warn us that prevalent opinions on theologians and their texts should always be placed in their historical and intel- lectual context and are to be discon- nected from later interpretations and interpolations. Hence, not all prejudices are cor- rect. After all, it was later Christian- ity that pictured Augustine as being the hammer of heresies and the champion of orthodoxy, whereas he himself confessed himself to be a committed and fervent searcher for Truth within an extensive spectrum of Christian movements and theo- logical outlooks. His ideas on peace, justice, reli- gious tolerance, the female sex and sexuality, are certainly not as nega- tive as they are often presented to be. On the contrary, they contain many positive impulses. At the same time, however, one needs to concede the fact that some other of Augustine's ideas, despite these positive inten- tions, also contain problematic ele- ments which are no longer tenable. For instance, his views on sexuality as intrinsically sinful, the condem- nation of unbaptized babes and vir- tuous adherents of other religions to hell, reducing the love of God to a limited number of predestined faithful. The least we can conclude, therefore, is that Augustine invites us to debate on issues which even in contemporary debates have not lost their momentum at all. Augustine himself was very much aware of the contextual situation. He also realized that his thinking too eventually underwent evolu- tion and changes, and that his ideas too developed throughout, and all along, the discussions with his op- ponents. He readily admitted that as a young theologian he did not think in the same way as the later older and more experienced bishop. The two books of his Revisions (composed ca. 426), are sufficient proof. In these he put pen to pa- per and went over all his previous writings chronologically as he had composed them. In this exercise Augustine proved himself humble enough to correct or revise all those theological flaws he found in them. He also recommended to his readers that wherever he may have erred, they may also correct his thinking. In a short text On the gift of perseverance composed around 428/9, Augustine confessed: "And yet, I would not want anyone to embrace all my views in order to be my follower, but only those points on which he sees that I am not mis- taken. [...] I have not always held the same views, rather, I think that, as I wrote, I made progress by the mercy of God, but not that I have started off with perfection. [...] We can, of course, have good hope for some- one if the last day of this life finds him making progress." (21, 55). According to the Bishop of Hippo, though in many aspects human life is subject to a great number of con- straints, still, however, it is not en- tirely a case of either subjection or autonomy, in which the one ought to exclude the other. For instance, God's grace does not annihilate hu- man freedom or responsibility for actions. Man has his own role to play even in this area. Grace, how- ever, has the order of primacy. God's grace is actually the frame in which human freedom happens and de- velops and it is precisely God's grace that makes human freedom possi- ble. In this sense, it can be claimed that human autonomy is built on heteronomy through God. Augustine does not exclude hu- man autonomy. He considers, how- ever, that very few people could actually handle and attain such autonomy. Many are 'addicted' to their worldly life. This is, according to Augustine, wrong in two ways. Firstly, such people let their life be dictated by the world instead of by God, thus, in simple theological terms Augustine holds that they are turning their faces towards creatures and giving their backs to the Creator. He also holds that an incorrect form of subjection to the wrong impulses, is therefore equal to sin. The world has taken the place of God: this is the meaning of idolatry. He also argues that it is, after all, a wrong form of autonomy, because it does not acknowledge the complete otherness of God, and of one's fellow human being either, and this is egoism or egocentrism. The 'I' takes up the place of God, and this is pride. In short, the fact that Catholic Christianity in the West would gain the upper hand and that Augus- tine's ideas would exert such a big influence in defining Catholic the- ology, was for his contemporaries – as well as for himself, after all – not so evident. The presentation of Au- gustine as father of Christian theol- ogy is the result of a development which took place after Augustine's death. It is wholly anachronistic and distortive to read Augustine from this perception. Moreover, the religious diversity prevalent at the time, and of which Augustine himself was a product, is very comparable with our present- day religious plurality. What Au- gustine sought was a wholesome balance between the good forms of subjection and autonomy. Good autonomy is built on heteronomy. This is one of Augustine's great- est discoveries in his Confessions (composed ca. 399). He who is not with God is outside himself. In oth- er words, there can only be a self in relation to God. Through God I am 'myself'. This interaction heterony- mous/autonomous of human life, as well as the capacity to live by it, is, according to Augustine, also the result of God's grace. Rev. Prof. Salvino Caruana OSA is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Malta of St Augustine's true God of Jesus Christ Antonello da Messina's Santo Agostino (c. 1472) The presentation of Augustine as father of Christian theology is the result of a development which took place after Augustine's death. It is wholly anachronistic and distortive to read Augustine from this perception