Matthew Pereira: A Reassessment of General Grace in Prosper’s De vocatione omnium gentium

Around 450, Prosper of Aquitaine composed a poem, which stands as his mature and one of his most comprehensive works, titled De vocatione omnium gentium (The Call of all Nations). By locating De vocatione omnium gentium within the fifth century debates over divine grace and human free will, this paper reevaluates the uniqueness of Prosper’s theology of general grace. De Letter once claimed that Prosper was the first to explicitly state that there is a general grace given to all humanity, which he advanced in collaboration with his interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:4, that often debated biblical passage declaring God wills for all of humanity to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. This reassessment establishes parallels and differences between Prosper’s reading of 1 Timothy 2:4 and antecedents and contemporaries with a particular emphasis on the notion of general grace.