My research project is to create a critical edition of a work by the
first known British author, Pelagius, famous for his defence of human free will;
in his Letter to Demetrias he made a
comprehensive case for human free will. Pelagius was excommunicated in 418 AD
because of his statements that human nature was inherently good and that human
free will was a necessary component in God’s justice. Pelagius’ Letter to Demetrias occupies a special
position in his surviving canon because it can be securely attributed to him,
and also because it presents a summation of his thought written at a crucial
time in his career, when he was aware that he was under attack for maintaining
that the principle of free will was integral to the Christian message of
salvation. No critical edition, based on a wide comparison of manuscript
copies, has ever been made of this Latin text; scholars have had to use a text that
was created from just a few manuscripts, has no critical apparatus, and thus has
no real authority. As a result scholars have been unable to draw from the
letter definitive conclusions about Pelagius’ thought or style. The large
number of surviving copies testifies to the influence of Letter to Demetrias throughout the Middle Ages. A critical edition
will present the data on the number of surviving witnesses to this text. I will
also seek to ascertain whether or not Pelagius was read more widely in Britain
than elsewhere in Europe.
Absence under overload
2 weeks ago
I too am on a mission to rehabilitate Pelagius. The new story of the origin and history of the Universe helps me to understand Pelagius' position.
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