I only recently came across Pelagius on another forum. The mention of his name instantly put the few who responded into opposing camps. I read the Wiki and viewed this video
He seems to be a very interesting character. Has anybody else got an opinion of him?
I've run across the name Pelagius and the concept of Pelagianism (so-called "heresy" of "Pelagianism") quite bit over the last 20ish years that I have been doing the deep dive into religious doctrine and theology.
The understanding of Pelagianism in a nutshell seems to be that The Fall didn't make human nature impossibly corrupt, but that human free will played a role in salvation. This gets perceived as a problem by theologians because it doesn't share the viewpoint that humanity is hopeless and helpless "totally depraved" and apparently this leads to not seeing people as completely dependent on God's grace. Or that it makes it seem as if humans were free to choose between good and evil. Or it makes it look like human action could have something to do with salvation. Orthodox theologians did not endorse that idea, or any idea that denies "total depravity" - and Pelagianism is seen as denying total depravity.
If I understand correctly.
At the very least, Pelagius is seen as an intellectual rival to Augustine.
However the orthodox view, that CLAIMS it rejects Pelagian ideas outright, is hard to square with ideas that many modern Christians uphold or at least seem to uphold- about people having free will and personal responsibility. It seems as if the Pelagian view would be more in line with that.
Now, some say Arminianism is a form of Pelagianism. Arminianism is a branch of Protestantism that is sort of a family of denominations, mostly various Methodist, Holiness, or Pentecostal denominations, occasionally a Baptist or Anabaptist denomination falls in there. But many in the Arminian camp have a whole different view of things.
Introduction When asked the difference between Arminianism and Pelagainism, I always have trouble knowing exactly where to start. It is a bit like being asked about the difference between Republicanism and Monarchy: the simple answer being "Everything!"1 However, for some reason, we Arminians...
evangelicalarminians.org
