Inner Grace Augustine in the Traditions of Plato and Paul

by Cary, Phillip

• ISBN13: 9780195336481
• ISBN10: 0195336488
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-03-26
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book is, along with Outward Signs (OUP 2008), a sequel to Phillip Cary's Augustine and the Invention of the Inner Self (OUP 2000). In this work, Cary traces the development of Augustine's epochal doctrine of grace, arguing that it does not represent a rejection of Platonism in favor of a more purely Christian point of view a turning from Plato to Paul, as it is often portrayed. Instead, Augustine reads Paul and other Biblical texts in light of his Christian Platonist inwardness, producing a new concept of grace as an essentially inward gift. For Augustine, grace is needed first of all to heal the mind so it may see God, but then also to help the will turn away from lower goods to love God as its eternal Good. Eventually, over the course of Augustine's career, the scope of the soul's need for grace expands outward to include not only the inner vision of the intellect and the power of love but even the initial gift of faith. At every stage, Augustine insists that divine grace does not compromise or coerce the human will but frees, heals, and helps it, precisely because grace is not an external force but an inner gift of delight leading to true happiness. As his polemic against the Pelagians develops, however, he does attribute more to grace and less to the power of free will. In the end, it is God's choice which makes the ultimate difference between the saved and the damned, and we cannot know why he chooses to save one person and not another. From this Augustinian doctrine of divine choice or election stem the characteristic pastoral problems of predestination, especially in Protestantism. A more external, indeed Jewish, doctrine of election would be more Biblical, Cary suggests, and would result in a less anxious experience of grace. Along with its companion work, Outward Signs, this careful and insightful book breaks new ground in the study of Augustine's theology of grace and sacraments.

Author Biography

Phillip Cary is Professor of Philosophy at Eastern University in St. Davids, PA, where he is also Scholar-in-Residence at the Templeton Honors College.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Platonist Grace: Inner Help to Love

Wisdom and Virtue

Conversion and Purification

Beauty and Love

Free Will against Autonomy

From Fear to Love

Against Augustine on the Jews

Dialogue with Plato

The Widening Scope of Inner Help

Connections of Love

Pauline Grace: Human Will and Divine Choice

Divine Good Will

The Inward-Turning Will

Willing Becomes Difficult

Four StagesThe Place of Merit

Early Inconsistency

Jacob and Esau

The Call to Faith

Assent or Delight?

No External Cause of Grace

Reading Paul's Admonition

Anti-Pelagian Grace: Clarifying Prevenience

The Shape of Controversy

The Grace of Participation

Uncovering Pelagian Evasions

Augustine's Evasiveness

The Missing Piece of the Puzzle

Taught by God

Predestined Grace: Conversion and Election

The Grace of Beginnings

Converting Paul's Will

Coercion on the Damascus Road

The Experience of Grace in Disarray

God Turns Hearts

Problems of Perseverance

Biblical Election

Conclusion

Appendix: Phases of Augustine's Anti-Pelagian Writings

Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Index

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