WJEC/Eduqas RS for A2/Yr2: Religion and Ethics (DRAFT)

T4 Determinism and free will

excuse for their immoral behaviour and so encouraged people not to even try to control their urge to sin. Sins could be confessed and be forgiven. Pelagius insisted that people were responsible for their own action through freedom to choose good or evil. He wrote two major treatises on free will: ‘On Nature’ and ‘Defense of the Freedom of the Will’. Pelagius was partly influenced by early Christian writers such as Saint Justin (100–165). Saint Justin had written in the 2nd century: ‘every created being is so constituted as to be capable of vice or virtue. For he can do nothing praiseworthy, if he had not the power of turning either away.’ Pelagius was eventually declared a heretic by the Catholic Church at the Council of Carthage in 418. This was mainly due to the writings of Augustine against Pelagius; Augustine was petrified of the implications that a teaching of For Pelagius, the force of sin does not result from degraded human nature (as for Augustine), but from a corruption and ignorance of righteousness that results from the long-term habit of sin. As Evans writes, ‘Pelagius’ theology finds its centre of gravity in the problem of man – his nature, his relation to God, and his moral obligation.’ Pelagius argued that human beings were created as rational creatures and had the ability to distinguish between good and evil; this ability, however, is God- given. Natural goodness in human beings is voluntary goodness, goodness that is spontaneously willed. This autonomy, albeit given by the grace of God, is the only way to make virtue meaningful. However, the crucial thing here for Pelagius was the fact that human beings cannot take credit for their freedom to choose, this is not willed by humanity but the creative activity of God. In other words, a human being may be able to do good, but they can only do this good because God has allowed them to. Pelagius’ free will theory starts with an interpretation of ‘the fall’ when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, against the explicit instructions of God. This act of disobedience was the original sin. Firstly, Pelagius restated that one of God’s attributes is an omnibenevolent nature. Therefore, according to Pelagius, God would not punish all human beings for the sins of Adam and Eve. Therefore, Pelagius argued that Adam’s sin only affected Adam and is not inherited by all human beings. Pelagius rejects the doctrine of original sin. Pelagius pointed to Deuteronomy 24:16 as evidence to support this claim: ‘Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sins.’ Pelagius argued this was a very important point because human beings should not be punished through no direct fault of their own. As he stated: ‘we (humanity) may not seem to be forced to do evil through a fault in our nature’. This is the crucial point at which Augustine and Pelagius depart. Both thinkers accept free will, however, Augustine is wary that God’s sovereign nature is upheld. For Augustine, it is a kind of restricted free will that is demonstrably within the control of the Almighty God otherwise it would imply human beings have achieved their own salvation but also that human beings could become perfect like God. Key quote Pelagius is indeed perfectly clear that Adam was in fact the first sinner… that sin entered the world through the one man Adam. By this he means simply that men allowed themselves to follow the example set by Adam in disobeying the will of God. (Evans) unfettered free will would bring for the doctrine of salvation. Pelagius and the role of original sin

Key term Heretic: a person whose beliefs are against the laws and beliefs of a speci c religion

4.17 Why did Pelagius believe that predestination theory was

responsible for the debauchery he found in Rome?

Specification content Religious concepts of free will, with reference to the teachings of Pelagius. The role of original sin.

DRAFT

Confession is a key aspect of Roman Catholic religious tradition.

Key quotes Will is irreducibly characterised by its own freedom of choice as it is related both to the will of God and to the non-human creation. (Stranglin and McCall) Looking into the face of a newborn child is not to see a soul already corrupted but alight with the beauty of God’s goodness. Each child is corruptible to be sure, and quickly, since evil is real and humanity bears the burden of free moral choice. But everything newborn is a gift already cherished by God. This is Pelagian doctrine. (Bishop Bennett Sims)

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