Example Of Pelagius Research Paper

In St. Augustine’s Confessions, Augustine explains how his parents give up a lot for him and his education. Although his father was acknowledged for his financial attribution to Augustine’s education, he never cared if his sons character would mature through the educational system. St. Augustine’s dad paid more than a richer man would pay for their son’s education because he wanted to provide Augustine with the proper education. (Confessions, II, 5). St. Augustine showed very little respect toward his father but had a great deal of respect to his mother, Monica, since she was a practicing Christian (II,60). In spite of his respect for her as a Christian, Augustine criticized his mother for getting in the way of his sexual desire (II,8). But his father arranged his marriage and encouraged him to have children (II,6). Unlike Confucius’s teachings of remaining reverent to your parent, Augustine openly criticized his family’s wrong doings because God was his heart and only truth (II,5).

Augustine challenged the claims of pagans, including those who sacked Rome. He wished to refute the claims which accused the Christian God as the source of turmoil in Rome. Augustine assured his fellow Christians , through his writing, of the false notions these pagans believed in. Furthermore, he showed the way in which pagans worshipped their gods, including the practice of offering sacrifices, was not the way to eternal salvation. In a time of Chaos and uncertainty, Christians could look to Augustine’s writing in order to find solace in their faith. Therefore, the invaders held no power over them, since

The belief that morality requires God remains a widely held moral maxim. In particular, it serves as the basic assumption of the Christian fundamentalist's social theory. Fundamentalists claim that all of society's troubles - everything from AIDS to out-of-wedlock pregnancies - are the result of a breakdown in morality and that this breakdown is due to a decline in the belief of God. This paper will look at different examples of how a god could be a bad thing and show that humans can create rules and morals all on their own. It will also touch upon the fact that doing good for the wrong reasons can also be a bad thing for the person.

When we look back at Christianity over the years, there are several people who are remembered for their impact on the religion. The first most important figure was Jesus Christ. However, if we travel forward a bit, into the 4th Century we come across Constantine. Historians agree that Constantine served as an important component in the spread of Christianity. Although he spread the religion in a massive way, others wonder if his methods were more harmful then anything. In this paper I will be discussing Constantine in his rise to power and his impact on Christianity. Constantine provided a mean for the word of God to be spread, which is a major benefit. However, He also used violence and hate as

In East Of Eden, a main theme that is displayed is the freedom to overcome evil in the world. The hebrew word that Lee uses to convince Cal to overcome sin is timshel, which is the freedom of choice. The word timshel translates to “thou mayest” and is used by God in the Cain and Abel story telling Cain that he has the opportunity to overcome sin. Free will does not just come easily, but it will come if you have the will to fight for it.

The morality of a person can be affected by the person’s circumstances. This can cause them to act in a way that they will never have acted. A person’s circumstance can affect them negatively. In The Clouds, Strepsiades was in a situation where his son, Pheidippides, had accumulated a lot of debt for him and his creditors were after him. Strepsiades, stressed and desperate about having his property taken, tried to convince his son to learn the Inferior Argument because, “…the Inferior Argument can debate an unjust case and win. All you have to do is learn this Inferior Arguments for me, then you can talk your way out of all the debts I’ve

In this paper I will write about Augustine and his thoughts and ideas on sin in the Confessions, where sin originates and whether or not I believe that Augustine’s conception of sin has a place in modern society. From all of this I will conclude that through Augustine's work and findings, Augustine’s conception of the human person and their human actions are somewhat relevant today, due to the fact Augustine set a standard for what human nature is, known as the ability to desire, think and do, yet, people see the human differently today than Augustine did. At the same time his ideas of original sin and how the evil nature of humans is associated with original sin are still very relevant today.

In Divine Right’s Trip by Gurney Norman, there are many things happening that not only you shows you but also teaches you various aspects of life. Instead of talking about humor, modernity, ecology, or religion, I am going to talk about the philosophy that is vastly enriched in this novel. Divine Right Davenport starts his journey from Kentucky and travels all over the country in order to find his identity. Even he doesn't realize that his personality is splitting into two identical halves of himself, Divine Right and David Ray. He is Divine Right when he is traveling, and he becomes David Ray when he is not traveling, for example when he is with his family. He sets out on his journey in his 1963’s Volkswagen microbus, Urge. Along the way, he meets several different kinds of people that help Divine Right to some extend. When he first started his quest, he met a girl named Estelle, whom Divine Right liked very much. He invited her to be his traveling companion and maybe a life partner. Divine Right and Estelle cruise along the countryside, helping each other by taking turn driving and sleeping.

In conclusion, we can say that Pelagianism rejects the belief and the doctrine of the Original Sin and claim that humans have not been corrupted, so people are capable of deciding to do good and avoid sin without the help of God. In summary, humans are capable of merit salvation on their own without God’s grace. Pelagius believed that the only thing that can affect us to obey God would be the human ignorance of God’s will.

The theological problem of evil is a problem that many philosophers have tried to solve. The problem is stated as, "if one believes that god is omnipotent and wholly good, why does evil still exist?" In this writing I will discuss the solutions/propositions of John L. Mackie in his work, "Evil and Omnipotence." I will do this in order to illustrate the concept of free will for understanding or resolving the problem, and to reveal how and why Mackie arrives at his conclusions.

     Before one can properly evaluate the entire debate that enshrouds the Free Will/Determinism, each term must have a meaning, but before we explore the meaning of each term, we must give a general definition. Determinism is, "Everything that happens is caused to happen. (Clifford Williams. "Free Will and Determinism: A Dialogue" pg 3). This is the position that Daniel, a character in Williams’ dialogue, chooses to believe and defend. David Hume goes a little deeper and explains in his essay, "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding of Liberty and Necessity," that determinism is this: "It is universally allowed, that matter, in all its operations, is actuated by a necessary force, and

When you think about Augustine’s confession, you think about the new generation. In other words, the conversion that happened over a thousand years ago can be closely related to teenagers of the 21st century. Before Christianity was developed, a lot of people, especially the Roman emperors could not accept it. They condemned and harassed the Christians who would claim their faith. When Christianity was finally accepted, there were still people who contradict with the Christian faith.

Through the years, it has been known that sin is bad and is at the root of evil. Many claim that it causes feelings of guilt; feelings that do not easily go away. Nathaniel Hawthorne stated his feelings by stating “Show freely to the world, if not (their) worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred.” to say how he felt people should react after they commit sins. He tells future posterity of how they can be redeemed of their sins, and though he may have been correct on some of the ways to repent, he may have also missed some key details. While we do need to come forward from our sins to be completely forgiven, it may not be necessary to become a living embodiment of the sin like Nathaniel believes that we should be.

Thirdly, Augustine was involved with his battle against Pelagianism. The Pelagians denied original sin and the fall of humanity and believed that a person could obtain salvation by good works alone. The implication of this aroused Augustine, who held that humanity was corrupt and helpless and that God’s grace was essential in order to overcome one’s sins. He firmly believed that one cannot obtain salvation by their own efforts alone.

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) is among the most influential thinkers in Christianity. He contributed a great number of ideas and notions to Christian theology that would have lasting effect on belief systems in Christian churches. One of his most notable contributions is the notion of “original sin” and his concept of “evil.” These notions evolved over the years. Augustine traces their evolution in his Confessions, a thirteen-volume autobiography he wrote when he was in his forties.