Appian Way Press

Anti-Pelagian Writings, Volume One: Original Sin, Nature, and Grace

by Saint Augustine

When Pelagius began teaching that human beings possess the natural ability to live righteously without the special grace of God, his ideas quickly sparked debate across the Christian world. Augustine of Hippo emerged as the most important theological voice responding to these claims, arguing that the Pelagian view underestimated the depth of human sin and misunderstood the necessity of divine grace. The treatises collected in this volume represent the early stage of Augustine’s response to Pelagian teaching. In them, he develops arguments that would become foundational for Western Christian theology: that humanity shares in the fallen condition of Adam, that the law cannot produce righteousness apart from the Spirit, and that salvation depends entirely on the grace of God given through Jesus Christ.