Augustine’s Doctrine of Consoling Grace

Augustine’s doctrine of predestination has often been considered to be at odds both with his understanding of divine love and with his pastoral sensibilities. This has been concluded primarily on the basis of Augustine’s later works on grace and predestination, most notably De praedestinatione sanctorum (praed. sanct.) and De dono perseuerentiae (perseu.). Less attention has been paid to Augustine’s use of the doctrine of predestination in his preaching, however. This article explores the relationship between predestination and Augustine’s pastoral practice through attention to his preaching of predestination in the In Iohannis euangelium tractatus (Io. eu. tr.). The article begins with a brief summary of Augustine’s teachings on predestination in praed. sanct. and perseu., and then turns to an examination of Augustine’s pastoral uses of predestination in several homilies of his Io. eu. tr. This examination reveals a variety of pastoral ends for which Augustine employed predestination, including inspiring humility, love for one’s enemies, perseverance in faith, and consolation for sinners. This pastoral side of predestination may provide a lens through which to see Augustine’s later treatises on predestination in a more nuanced and complicated light, since it is from this pastoral history that Augustine later writes on predestination

Doctrine · Epitaph · Predestination · Variety (cybernetics) · Augustinian Studies and Theology · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · Religious, Philosophical, and Educational Studies