A Muslim Convert Once Before

The Council of Carthage declared Pelagius a heretic in 418 CE. The argument he was condemned for has not stopped since.  It resurfaces in every theological tradition that takes seriously the question of human moral responsibility — including Islam, which arrived centuries later and proceeded to have the same argument with considerable vigour. The Man and the Controversy Pelagius was a British monk — his origins are debated, but the sources consistently place him as coming from the British Isles — who arrived in Rome around 380 CE and built a significant reputation as an ascetic and moral teacher.  His public life was austere.  His rhetoric was persuasive.  Bishop Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis called him a saintly man before calling him a heretic.  The transition between those two assessments tells you something about the intensity of the theological stakes involved. Bishop Augustine of Hippo summarised it in The Spirit and the Letter IV : “There is an opinion ...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   One of the more famous stories cited by Christians is from the Gospel according to John:   John 8:3-9 3 And now the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman who had been found committing adultery, and made her stand there in full view; 4 “Master,” they said, “this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.   5 Moses, in his law, prescribed that such persons should be stoned to death; what of you?   What is your sentence?”   6 They said this to put him to the test, hoping to find a charge to bring against him.   But Jesus bent down, and began writing on the ground with his finger.   7 When he found that they continued to question him, he looked up and said to them, “Whichever of you is free from sin shall cast the first stone at her.”   8 Then he bent down again, and went on writing on the ground.   9 And they began to go out one by one, beginning with the eldest, until Jesus was left...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Bishop Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis of Hippo Regius said, “Indeed, people wish to be happy even when they so live as to make happiness impossible.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Bishop Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis of Hippo Regius prayed, “Come, Lord, into my soul, which You have Prepared for Your Own Reception by Inspiring in me a longing for Your Goodness.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Bishop Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis of Hippo Regius wrote, “Does God Proclaim Himself in the wonders of Creation?   No.   All things proclaim Him, all things speak.   Their beauty is the voice by which they announce God, by which they sing, ‘It is You Who Made me beautiful, not me myself but You.’”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The problem of free will was discussed by Bishop Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis of Hippo Regius in De Civitate Dei contra Paganos before the rise of Islam, and it is possible that the ideas of this Christian thinker later influenced Islamic theology, particularly groups such as the Mu’tazilah .   Bishop Augustine’s idea was developed in response to Marcus Tullius Cicero, who rejected God’s Foreknowledge of the future, meaning there would be no prediction of events, and human actions would be free.   Cicero’s argument is quite simple to understand, as it asserts that if predestination prevails, then there can be no free will. Against Cicero, Bishop Augustine argued that God, as the Creator of all beings, has Bestowed power in them to will, but that all wills, including wicked wills, are human products because wickedness cannot be ascribed to God; that it is not then the case that since God Foreknows what will happen to an individua...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The Augustinian hypothesis, named after Bishop Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis, is an old solution to the synoptic problem.   It contends that the Gospel according to Matthew was written first, by Matthew the Apostle ( r.a. ); the Gospel according to Mark was written second, by Mark the Evangelist, who used the Gospel according to Matthew and the sermons of Peter ( a.s. ) as sources.   It then contends that Luke the Evangelist wrote the Gospel according to Luke, and was aware of the two Gospels that preceded him.   Unlike the Two Gospel hypothesis, the Four Document hypothesis and the Farrer hypothesis, the Augustinian hypothesis does not rely on, or argue for, the existence of any further document not explicitly mentioned historically.   Instead, it draws upon textual criticism and the writings of the Church Fathers dating to the first half of the 2 nd Century.   There are two main two areas of contention concer...