A Christian Commonwealth I Flashcards

Question

What were the three major theological controversies during the Middle Ages?

Answer 1

“Semi-Pelagianism,” Orange (II) 529, and the Legacy of Augustine’s doctrine of Grace. 2. The Eucharistic Presence 3. The Filioque

Answer 2

This term is Latin for “and the Son” in the Nicene Creed, when we say “and I believe in the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.” This phrase was not in the original creed, but added in the Western church (probably at the court of Charlemagne in the 9th century) both as an anti-Arian formula and as an expression of peculiarly western (and Augustinian) understanding of the Trinity. The churches of the East found it to be very bad theology, and protested mightily against the addition (the Roman pope would not go along with it at first either). This difference contributed greatly to the schism between Rome and Constantinople in the ensuing centuries, continuing until today.

Answer 3

The only real internal controversy dealt with the presence of Christ in the elements in the Lord’s Supper (= the Mass). Two theories had been put forward in the early church: a symbolic presence and a “real” presence. Both are found in Augustine, but Ambrose of Milan had stressed the latter. Two monk/scholars debated the issue during the decade of the 840s: Rantramus (“real” presence) and Radbertus (“symbolic” presence). Rantramus and his forces won, and “symbolic” presence was rejected: when one ate the bread, one actually “chewed” the body of Christ in the form of bread. This controversy kept active until at least the 13th century, when the doctrine of “transubstantiation” was to be put forward as orthodoxy at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, thus sealing the “real” presence model. But in fact the focus of the debate between Rantramus and Radbertus was indicative of a revolutionary shift from the primitive and patristic conception of the Eucharist as a work of the people, themselves the “body of Christ” and participating in the one Eucharistic act of Christ their head by their liturgical action, to a priestly action repeating in some form the sacrifice on Calvary, with the laity reduced to seeing and hearing (and not much “hearing” eventually, since the mass was increasingly spoke in a murmur for the most part), tied to the special spiritual endowment of the priesthood by the grace of ordination. The performance of the mass produced its own “quantum” of grace, a work of merit that could be transferred to benefactors, etc., and as such often done privately without the need of the laity. This transformation began subtly in the 4th century, and achieved its full expression in the high and late Middle Ages; but it proceeded through both practical changes and theological reinterpretation. This 9th century debate on the Eucharistic presence is indicative of the shift of focus in the manner of Christ’s presence, and from the Eucharistic rite as a whole to a focus on the Eucharistic elements.

Answer 4

This controversy—really a hold- over of our previous period—was important for how Augustine’s theological legacy was appropriated in the larger western church, and hence in the Medieval Church of the future. In the aftermath of the condemnation of Pelagius, there was a movement—above all centered around the monasteries of Marseilles and Lerins, and whose ablest proponents were the eastern refugee monk John Cassian and bishop Faustus of Riez—to accept in general the position of Augustine against Pelagius, but still to assert the fundamental ability of even the fallen will to accept or reject that grace which Augustine had argued so necessary for salvation (and hence also opposed his hard line on predestination). They were opposed by more thorough-going followers of Augustine such as Prosper of Aquitaine. In modern scholarship this movement has received the moniker of “Semi-Pelagianism,” and the controversy—centered on southern Gaul—resulted in a conciliar decision largely delineating the legacy of Augustine’s view of grace for the future western church: in 529, the Second Council of Orange (in Southern Gaul) met, and was chaired by another follower of Augustine, Caesarius bishop of Arles. The “Semi-Pelagians” were not formally condemned, but effectively their position was, while Augustine’s view of faith as always a gift of God, and not to be derived from natural abilities such as the will, was upheld. However, the council condemned one of the more controversial entailments of Augustine’s rigid predestinarian position: God’s predestination of part of humanity to perdition apart from any foreseen merit or evil. The decisions of Orange (II) in 529 were subsequently ratified by Pope Boniface II in 531. Hence the western Latin Church ended endorsing Augustine’s emphasis on the devastating and enduring impact of Adam’s original sin on the religious and moral capacities of all his descendants. Endorsed, too, was the assertion that without some prior gift of divine grace a person can do nothing to please God, since even the desire to believe presupposed the prevenient workings of the Holy Spirit. But there was no mention of irresistible grace, and the idea that God has predestined some to damnation was roundly condemned. It was clearly in human power, then, to spurn God’s advances, and it was suggested only a little less clearly that we retain some power freely to cooperate with God’s grace and by such cooperation to do at least something to further our own salvation. Hence, though the doctrine of grace transmitted to the medieval church was fundamentally Augustinian in inspiration— and so understood by them—it left substantial room for differing interpretations, which were tested at various times throughout the medieval period. And disagreements often had the form of dissension with regard to the precise import of Augustine’s own views. Repeatedly the pastoral and missionary concerns of the original Pelagians surfaced in medieval debates and positions, leading some to emphasize human responsibility and the efficacy of natural human effort in the process of salvation. But correspondingly so did the fundamentally confessional urge that had moved Augustine to acknowledge the impulsion of divine grace at every critical juncture in his own life. This debate would continue into the Reformation (and beyond).

A Christian Commonwealth I Flashcards

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