Peter van Egmond: The Pelagian Debate in the East

Contributions:

Walter Dunphy (Japan), The Pelagians and Antioch

Peter van Egmond (the Netherlands), Pelagius and the Origenist Controversy in Palestine

Hans van Loon (the Netherlands), The Pelagian Debate and Cyril of Alexandria's Theology

The Pelagian debate is usually seen as a typically Western controversy. Say ‘Pelagius’, and immediately the name ‘Augustine’ is mentioned as well. Nevertheless, to a considerable extent, the context of the debate was the Greek-speaking world. If, however, historians of the Pelagian controversy turn their attention to the East, they usually look to Latin-speaking communities. Only a few surveys focus on the Greek side.

This workshop is intended to go beyond these surveys with three in-depth case-studies. Geographically, they range from Antioch, through Jerusalem, to Alexandria. The first attempts to reconstruct the strands of contacts between Pelagian authors and writers from the sphere of Antioch. The second looks into the relation between Pelagius and his protector John of Jerusalem, against the background of the Origenist controversies of the day. The third explores Cyril’s position on two essential ‘Pelagian’ themes.

Part of the debate at the end of the workshop will be the question: have we seen motives or patterns that may be called ‘characteristic for the Pelagian debate in the East’?