Gratia in Augustine's Sermones Ad Populum During the Pelagian Controversy: Do Different Contexts Furnish Different Insights?

During the last decades, the doctrine of grace of Augustine of Hippo (354-430) has been studied in depth. The occurrence of grace in Augustine's ca. 580 sermones ad populum has not yet been systematically analysed. This monograph studies the presence of grace in sermones preached during the period of the Pelagian controversy - a debate precisely on the relation between divine grace and human freedom. Does Augustine deal with grace differently in these sermones and his anti-pelagian tractates? First, the gratia content of the sermones does not differ from that of the systematic treatises. Second, the treatment of this topic differs on occasion, a difference determined by the biblical, liturgical, rhetorical and contextual framework of the sermones. This book explores the anthropological-ethical perspective of grace in Augustine, which results in a correction of the image of an Augustine overemphasising God and neglecting man, and in a plea to see continuity in his thinking on grace.

Review:

Ein Paradestuck der neueren Augustinus-Forschung... Insgesamt bestatigt die Arbeit von Dupont die Fruchtbarkeit des eingangs skizzierten Neuansatzes in der Augustinus-Forschung, speziell in der Gnadenlehre. Die Erhellung augustinischer Texte vor dem Hintergrund ihrer historischen und pragmatischen 'Kon-Texte' erweist sich als uberaus ertragreich, nicht zuletzt beim Bemuhen, wirkliche oder vermeintliche Antinomien des augustinischen Bergmassivs - bzw. besser: des augustinischen Organismus - der 'Gnadenlehre' besser zu verstehen und sich produktiver an ihnen abzuarbeiten. Christof Muller in Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichte 124 (2013)