Marianne Djuth: Defending Augustine: How Augustinian is Faustus of Riez's De gratia dei?

Commonly thought to uphold the Semi-pelagian position on grace and human freedom, or the middle path between these two extremes, Faustus's royal way poses problems for scholars who wish to emphasize the Augustinian elements in the De gratia dei. Recently, T. Smith and C. Tibiletti have suggested that Faustus leans more towards Augustine than previously has been maintained. Their perception of Faustus's work raises the question, How Augustinian is Faustus of Riez's De gratia dei? While it is certainly true that there are Augustinian elements in Faustus's position, in this essay I argue that Faustus misinterprets Augustine's thought in three significant ways: First, Faustus's reconstruction of Lucidus's Augustinian predestinarianism fails to capture the essence of Augustine's doctrines of predestination and election because he reduces them to a form of Manichaean dualism. Second, Faustus bases his argument in defense of the royal way on both reason and scripture, but his selective use of scripture, especially Paul's letters, excludes 1 Cor. 3,7, a text central to Augustine's refutation of Semi-pelagiansim. Third, Faustus adopts Augustine's vocabulary of freedom but refashions it in keeping with his own thought in a way that distorts Augustine's intended use of it. I conclude the essay by suggesting that Faustus's borrowing of ideas from the early and late periods of Augustine's life does not free him from the charge of Semi-pelagianism.