John Zaleski: John Cassian on Grace and Free Will: A Reappraisal of Conference 13

This short communication will present a reappraisal of John Cassian’s discussion of grace and free will in Conference 13. To many of Cassian’s readers, he failed to produce a coherent understanding of divine grace. His claim that grace sometimes, but not always, precedes the human will to be saved has been seen as an awkward attempt to chart a middle course between Augustine and Pelagius. However, recent scholarship, especially that of Columba Stewart and Augustine Casiday, has done much to rehabilitate Cassian’s theology, by emphasizing its monastic roots (Stewart) and its contribution to anti-Pelagian arguments (Casiday).
Like Stewart and Casiday, I understand Cassian to be offering a coherent and compelling theology of grace. While acknowledging its monastic and anti-Pelagian elements, I nevertheless argue that Cassian’s understanding of grace should be viewed first and foremost in light of his reflection on God’s universal salvific will, a reflection supported by exegesis of such key scriptural passages as 1 Timothy 2:4. By comparing Cassian’s exegesis of these passages with that of Augustine, I will attempt to show that Cassian saw both Pelagian and Augustinian understandings of grace as incompatible with God’s desire to save all human beings. For Cassian, a theology of grace must encompass different types of relations between divine grace and human will. It must allow both for “prevenient grace” and for human effort unprompted by grace, for only in this way could it make room for the diversity and universality of God’s salvific plan.