J.

Luis Dizon
WYP 1610 HS
16 February 2017

Essay Proposal: Luther as Interpreter of Augustine

Topic: Luthers use of Saint Augustine in Soteriology

Abstract

Apart from the New Testament, Martin Luthers chief theological influence in

formulating his soteriological views was Saint Augustine, particularly through his Anti-

Pelagian writings. Luther was exposed to the writings of Saint Augustine through his

career as an Augustinian monk and a student of the Schola Augustiniana Moderna, and

this helped him to interpret the passages in the New Testament (chiefly Pauls epistles to

the Romans and Galatians) that he would then use to formulate his soteriology,

particularly in the areas of Justification (which is by grace through faith and apart from

any works) and the nature of the will (i.e. the idea the bondage of the will and of

humanity being Homo Incurvatus In Se).

Methodology

In this essay, I will be looking at which of Saint Augustines writings Luther used

and how he used them to explain and defend his own views. I will argue that Luther was

directly influenced by the Schola Augustiniana Moderna, and also indirectly influenced

by the Humanist impulse of ad fontes though their production of original works of

Augustine, which allowed him to access his thought in a way that would have been much

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more difficult in previous centuries. He is particularly influenced by Augustines anti-

Pelagian writings, where the Latin father argues for the supremacy of Gods grace over

against human effort or willpower.

Through his exposure to Augustine, Luther was moved to do a fresh study of the

soteriology found in Pauls epistles, and through that, to re-evaluate the received

tradition regarding doctrines such as Justification and the human will. When he

presents his theology, for example, in the Heidelberg disputation, he frames his

arguments in the form of a defense of the soteriological views of Augustine. He presents

his theological opponents as latter-day Pelagians, and sees himself as reliving the

soteriological controversies of the early fifth century. The same thing happens when he

is forced to reply to Erasmus of Rottedrams Diatribe on Free Will. In his Bondage of

the Will, he reasserts Augustines teachings on the utter impotence of man and the

sovereign, electing grace of God, over against Erasmus Pelagian emphasis on human

willpower and effort.

Literature Survey

There is plenty of literature on the subject of Luther and his relationship with

Saint Augustine, especially in the last half-century or so. Historically, this subject (and

indeed, any subject relating to the person and work of Martin Luther) has mostly been

treated from a highly confessional perspectiveeither lionizing Luther, in the case of

Protestant scholarship, or vilifying him, in the case of Roman Catholic scholarship. One

need only look, for example, at the writings of a Hilaire Belloc or a John Henry Newman

to see how Luthers novelty and discontinuity with the early church has been

emphasized at the expense of the continuity of thought.

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 In the years following the Second Vatican Council, however, more positive

appraisals of Luthers work have begun to be published by Roman Catholic scholars and

historians (apart from more polemically-minded ones, such as the writers at Catholic

Answers), who have, on the whole, become much more willing to recognize the

continuity that exists between Luther and that patristic and medieval theologians, Saint

Augustine being chief among them, and even concede that the differences that exist

between Luther and the Roman Catholic Church over these doctrines arent as wide as

was once believed. On the Protestant side, there has also been a greater willingness to

acknowledge some of the shortcomings in Luthers thought and methodology

including, for purposes of our study, a greater willingness to see discontinuities between

the Reformers and Augustine on the doctrine of Justification (e.g. Hiestand and

McGrath), while maintaining the basic correctness of his ideas.

Also, as far as translations of the writings of Augustine and Luther go, there are

many good English translations from the original Latin and German writings that have

been published in the past two centuries, with helpful introductions and annotations

explaining the historical backgrounds behind the writings. I have endeavoured to use

the most up to date translations available, while consultng some older translations for

comparison purposes. Hence, for Luthers writings, I rely primarily on the Annotated

Luther series, which was published by Fortress Press in 2015. For Augustines writings, I

use the most up to date translations available, while using the older translation by Philip

Schaff for certain writings for which more up to date translations are not available.

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 Bibliography

Primary Sources

Augustine of Hippo. Anti-Pelagian Writings. In Schaff, Philip (ed.). A Select Library of

the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church. New York: The
Christian Literature Company, 1887.

____________. Confessions. Translated by Henry Chadwick. Oxford University Press,

1992.

____________. Four Anti-Pelagian Writings. Edited by William J. Collinge and

John A. Mourant). Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1992.

Luther, Martin. The Annotated Luther, 6 Volumes. Edited by Hans J. Hillerbrand, Kirsi
I. Stjerna, and Timothy J. Wengert. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2015.

____________. Works of Martin Luther, with Introductions and Notes, 2 Volumes.

Edited by Henry Eyster Jacobs, et. al. Philadelphia, PA: A. J. Holman Company,
1915.

Secondary Sources

Bonner, Gerald. Freedom and Necessity: St. Augustine's Teaching on Divine Power
and Human Freedom. Catholic University of America Press, 2007.

Cho, Dongsun. Divine Acceptance of Sinners: Augustine's Doctrine of Justification.

Perichoresis 12, no. 2 (2014): 163-184.

Hiestand, Gerald. Augustine and the Justification Debates. Trinity Journal 28, no. 1
(2007): 115-139.

Kraal, Anders. Luther's Necessitarian Argument in De Servo Arbitrio. Religious

Studies 52, no. 1 (March 2016): 81-95.

McGrath, Alister. Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification.

Cambridge Press, 1998.

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____________. Reformation Thought: An Introduction. Fourth Edition. Wiley-
Blackwell, 2012.

McKim, Donald K., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Martin Luther. New York:
Cambridge, 2003.

Oden, Thomas. The Justification Reader. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2002.

Price, Richard. Why We Still Need Augustine. New Blackfriars 95, No. 1056 (March
2014): 146-159.

Ramos, Michael M. In Between St. Augustine and Luther: Grace and Justification.
Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Vol. 2, No. 6 (December 2014):
34-39.

Rigby, Paul. Original sin in Augustine's Confessions. University of Ottawa Press, 1987.

White, Graham. Pelagianisms. Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies 20, no. 1:
233-254.

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