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9780199948697

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Students of Augustine s thought will find this a helpful introduction to the complexity of his doctrine as it relates to original sin. Constructive theologians will marvel at its informed, careful, and constructive use of historical sources. Recommended. --CHOICE Couenhoven's careful analysis of Augustine's final response to the ablest of the Pelagian writers, Julian of Eclanum, makes those ancient writers participants in the modern analysis and understanding of human freedom and responsibility. The presentation adapts Augustine's vocabulary and arguments so that his perspective becomes intelligible to readers in a radically different cultural context. --J. Patout Burns, Jr. Malloy Professor of Catholic Studies, emeritus, Vanderbilt Divinity School Couenhoven's argument is calm and careful, unapologetic but not blustery, acknowledging the several worthwhile concerns about Augustine's doctrine of original sin, while yet insisting that those concerns do not outweigh that doctrine's singular virtue of being true, and that it does not legitimate moralistic blame, but funds gracious compassion. A truly impressive achievement, combining philosophical acuity, historical learning, and theological profundity in equal parts, occasionally leavened with a wry sense of humor. We have been waiting for this book for some time, and it proves to have been worth the wait. --Charles Mathews, Carolyn M. Barbour Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia The project of this book is to defend a version of Augustinian compatibilism, based on Augustine's later work. The book does not defend this view as a whole, but selects the more plausible parts and mounts a surprisingly effective reply to the usual objections, connecting this reply to contemporary philosophical treatments of related questions. It is well-written, and a sensitive and nuanced treatment of the texts. --John Hare, Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology, Yale Divinity School

Couenhoven offers a significant and provocative contribution to moral philosophy and a needed corrective in Augustinian studies to discussions of original sin. In this, his book traverses the domains of historical scholarship and contemporary moral debates, and should be read both by experts interested in the latter as well as by theologians attempting to balance accounts of human agency with the depth and pervasiveness of sin. --Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Students of Augustine's thought will find this a helpful introduction to the complexity of his doctrine as it relates to original sin. Constructive theologians will marvel at its informed, careful, and constructive use of historical sources. Recommended. --CHOICE Couenhoven's careful analysis of Augustine's final response to the ablest of the Pelagian writers, Julian of Eclanum, makes those ancient writers participants in the modern analysis and understanding of human freedom and responsibility. The presentation adapts Augustine's vocabulary and arguments so that his perspective becomes intelligible to readers in a radically different cultural context. --J. Patout Burns, Jr. Malloy Professor of Catholic Studies, emeritus, Vanderbilt Divinity School Couenhoven's argument is calm and careful, unapologetic but not blustery, acknowledging the several worthwhile concerns about Augustine's doctrine of original sin, while yet insisting that those concerns do not outweigh that doctrine's singular virtue of being true, and that it does not legitimate moralistic blame, but funds gracious compassion. A truly impressive achievement, combining philosophical acuity, historical learning, and theological profundity in equal parts, occasionally leavened with a wry sense of humor. We have been waiting for this book for some time, and it proves to have been worth the wait. --Charles Mathews, Carolyn M. Barbour Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia The project of this book i

<br> Couenhoven's careful analysis of Augustine's final response to the ablest of the Pelagian writers, Julian of Eclanum, makes those ancient writers participants in the modern analysis and understanding of human freedom and responsibility. The presentation adapts Augustine's vocabulary and arguments so that his perspective becomes intelligible to readers in a radically different cultural context. --J. Patout Burns, Jr. Malloy Professor of Catholic Studies, emeritus, Vanderbilt Divinity School<p><br> Couenhoven's argument is calm and careful, unapologetic but not blustery, acknowledging the several worthwhile concerns about Augustine's doctrine of original sin, while yet insisting that those concerns do not outweigh that doctrine's singular virtue of being true, and that it does not legitimate moralistic blame, but funds gracious compassion. A truly impressive achievement, combining philosophical acuity, historical learning, and theological profundity in equal parts, occasionally leavened with a wry sense of humor. We have been waiting for this book for some time, and it proves to have been worth the wait. --Charles Mathews, Carolyn M. Barbour Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia<p><br> The project of this book is to defend a version of Augustinian compatibilism, based on Augustine's later work. The book does not defend this view as a whole, but selects the more plausible parts and mounts a surprisingly effective reply to the usual objections, connecting this reply to contemporary philosophical treatments of related questions. It is well-written, and a sensitive and nuanced treatment of the texts. --John Hare, Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology, Yale Divinity School<p><br>

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Jesse Couenhoven is Associate Professor of Moral Theology in the Humanities Department at Villanova University.

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