Augustine's writings against the Pelagians are some of the most debated texts in the Christian tradition. Many readers treat them as the place where Augustine went too far. Luther read them and was captivated. Dr. Alex Pierce explains why.

Episode summary

In their second conversation with Dr. Pierce, David and Maurice turn to Augustine, one of Alex's areas of expertise. Alex describes how he first found in Augustine a thinker who holds the faith together, and why many scholars read him instead as a dualist shaped by his Manichaean past and his Platonist sources. Alex argues that Augustine was a creative and faithful receiver of the tradition before him.

The conversation then turns to the Pelagian controversy. Alex walks through Augustine's life, from his baptism in Milan to his ordination in Hippo, and shows that Augustine affirmed the priority of grace years before the controversy began. He takes up the charge that the anti-Pelagian Augustine is a pessimist, and makes the case that a strong theology of creation requires a strong theology of sin. The episode closes with how the Lutheran confessions receive Augustine, setting guardrails against both Pelagianism and Manichaeism.

Main themes

• Augustine as a receiver and synthesizer of the tradition
• The priority of grace at the beginning of faith
• The relationship between the doctrines of sin and creation
• Human agency as most fully itself in dependence on God
• How the Lutheran confessions receive the Augustinian tradition

Key discussion points

• Why many scholars read Augustine as a dualist, and why Alex disagrees
• Neoplatonism, causality, and what is at stake for the sacraments
• Augustine's reply to Simplician and his change of mind on grace
• How the Pelagian controversy reached North Africa
• Pelagius's reaction to a line in Augustine's Confessions
• Augustine on Romans 7 and our daily need for grace
• “100% of God's grace and 100% of the human will”
• Christ as gift and example in Luther, and as sacrament and example in Augustine

Mentioned in this episode

• Augustine: Confessions, On the Trinity, On Christian Teaching, On the Punishment and Forgiveness of Sins, On the Spirit and the Letter, Retractations
• Martin Luther, A Brief Instruction on What to Look For and Expect in the Gospels
• Philip Melanchthon, Apology of the Augsburg Confession
• Dr. Alex Pierce, Augustine on the Mystery of Christ and the Sacramental Economy (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming)

Coming up

The season continues as we keep company with the lecturers from the 2025 NALC Clergy Retreat, turning to the next voice on the theme of the confessions as a way into the riches of Scripture.

Next episode: Lara Bhasin’s lecture: Confessions as Missional Engagement with Culture, releasing October 9.

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Cardigan & Collar is a podcast of the North American Lutheran Seminary. Find us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.