Influence of the dualist ‘Encratite’ tradition helps account for the pessimistic colouring of Augustine’s view of human nature, but this is far from being the whole story, in which a turning point was his attempt to explain what it could mean to say that God hated Esau. The sacred books which both Augustine and Pelagius accepted without question could bear either of their probably honest interpretations of grace. Even modern scholars can react strongly in opposite directions to this fifth-century controversy, on a spectrum from barely concealed dislike of Augustine’s idea of grace to apparently heartfelt eloquence in presenting it. While twenty-first-century society is comfortable with pluralism, at least on these topics, fifth-century Christianity was not. Contradictory certainties must have generated both uncertainty and unease among those not committed to either side.

This important chapter focusses on the development and core characteristics of Augustine of Hippo’s views on justification, which were one of the most significant factors in shaping the western theological tradition’s reflections on this theme in the Middle Ages and during the Reformation debates of the sixteenth century. The chapter opens by considering the overall trajectory of Augustine’s views on grace, and how Paul’s concept of justification fits into this development. Augustine consistently interprets the Pauline concept of ‘justification’ to mean ‘a making righteous’, and does not develop a reputational or forensic approach to the concept. Augustine’s concept of the ‘righteousness of God is considered in some detail, with particular attention being paid to the manner in which Augustine distinguishes this theological use of the concept from its secular counterparts – as seen, for example, in the works of Cicero. The chapter also considers the ways in which Augustine’s approach to justification was affected by the Pelagian controversy, which tended to focus on the framework within which the concept of justification was set, rather than the notion of justification itself.

Tensions arising from the establishment of monasteries in Gaul by John Cassian get associated in a long decretal of Celestine I with Cassian’s mild but firm critique of Augustine of Hippo’s views on grace and free will. These topics are the only core theological subjects discussed at length in the Dionysiana and Quesnelliana collections: the latter has three fascinating letters of Innocent I to African bishops, apparently endorsing their hard-line views on grace and (corrupted) nature, but in fact significantly silent on key points, stoppping short of some hard-line Augustinian positions.