Annotations for Pelagius

Bibliography

Primary sources

 

St. Augustine.  Four Anti-Pelagian Writings.  trans. John Mourant and William Collinge.             Washington, DC:  Catholic University Pr, 1992. (Fathers of the Church series # 86)

_____ Letters 1*-29*. trans. Robert Eno. Washington, DC :  Catholic University Pr,    1989.   (Fathers of the Church series # 81)

_____ The Retractations.  trans. Sister Mary Inez Bogan. Washington, DC :  Catholic   University Pr, 1968.  (Fathers of the Church series # 60)

The Life of Melania the Younger.  trans. Clark, E. A.  New York: Edwin Mellen Pr, 1984.

The Letters of Pelagius and His Followers.  trans. Brinley R. Rees. Rochester, NY:        Boydell Pr, 1991.

The Letters of St. Jerome (v. 1 letters 1-22.) trans. Charles Christopher Mierow.  London:        Longmans, Green and Co. 1963.  (Ancient Christian Writers series # 33)

Modern Sources

 

Brown, Peter. 

Augustine of Hippo. Los Angeles:  University of California Pr, 1967.

"Aspects of the Christianization of the Roman Aristocracy." Journal of Roman Studies number 51, 1961, pp. 1-11.

 "The Patrons of Pelagius: The Roman Aristocracy between East and West."  Journal of Theological Studies, n.s. vol. 21, 1970, pp. 56-72.

"Pelagius and His Supporters:  Aims and Environment." Journal of Theological Studies, n.s. vol. 19, 1968, pp. 93-114.

Brown's three articles provide background to Pelagius and his time, while the section on Pelagius in his biography of Augustine is an extension of these articles.  All four cite primary sources extensively.  For my project, the most useful of these is "Patrons of Pelagius." It outlines the debates between Pelagius and Jerome, and introduces the conflict over John Chrysostom.  Oddly enough "Pelagius and His Supporters" had little light to shine on the identity of those supporters.  "Aspects" deals with the degree of conversion of the Roman Aristocracy, and concludes that after 410 the aristocracy was able to become fully Christian due to the withdrawal of Imperial authority.

 

Clark, Elizabeth A.

Jerome, Chrysostom and Friends.  New York: Edwin Mellen Pr,1979.

This is a study of the writings and sometimes contradictory actions towards women of Jerome and John Chrysostom.  This has no direct bearing on my project, but indirectly it does, as it relates to the writings of both men towards a group who were Pelagius' supporters.

 

Duchesne, Louis. 

Early History of the Christian Church From Its Foundation to the End    of the Fifth Century. V III: The Fifth Century. London:  John Murray, 1951.

The section on Pelagius is a comprehensive survey of Pelagius, his supporters, his opponents,  and his teachings.  Duchesne is cited by many authors who have worked on Pelagius.  The book also outlines many of the religious movements of the fifth century, as well as a short survey of the Empire, East and West, and the place of the Roman Church in that Empire.

 

Grossi, Vittorino.  

"Pelagius" in The Encyclopedia of Early Christianity ed. Angelo  Di Berardino.  Cambridge: James Clarke and Co. 1992.

Patrology  IV:  The Golden Age of Latin Patristic Literature. ed. Angelo Di Berardino. Westminster, MD:  Christian Classics, 1988.

The section dealing with Pelagius is a good survey of Pelagius and his followers.  Details the major debates with Augustine and has a useful bibliography, however much of it is for sources not to be found at UK. . "Pelagius" is an encyclopedia entry on the life and thought of Pelagius.  Very useful for the bibliography.

 

Liebeschuetz, J.H.G.W.

"Fall of John Chrysostom" Nottingham Medieval Studies 29 1985 pp. 1-31

"Friends and Enemies of John Chrysostom" Maistor Canberra:  Australian Association for Byzantine Studies 1984.

"Pelagian Evidence on the Last Period of Roman Britain?" Latomus 26 1967

"Did the Pelagian Movement Have Social Aims?"  Historia 12, 1963, pp. 227-241.

 Articles dealing with John Chrysostom, a leading Christian figure of the late 4th/ early 5th centuries, and the movement based on the teaching of Pelagius, mostly through Julian of Eclanum.  Little direct information on followers or supporters of Pelagius himself, other than Julian. "Social Aims" put forth an assumption that the Pelagians had another goal in mind than just being good Christians.

 

Markus, R.A.

 "Augustine's Confessions and the controversy with Julian of Eclanum:  Manicheism revisited"  Collectanea Augustiniana 1990.

End of Ancient Christianity.  New York: Cambridge University Pr, 1990.

"Legacy of Pelagius." in R.D. Williams The Making of Orthodoxy Cambridge: Cambridge University Pr, 1989.

"Pelagianism:  Britain and the Continent" Journal of Ecclesiastical History 37 1986

These put Pelagius and Pelagianism in the context of the Late Antique/Early Christian world. Again not much direct evidence to followers of Pelagius. "Legacy" points out support given to Pelagius by Nestorius, and the general lack of enthusiasm for the doctrine of the North Africans.  Markus claims the promotion of Pelagius as a heretic amounted to a take-over bid by the North African church.  "Pelagianism:  Britain and the Continent" deals with the origin of Pelagian thought, and the question:  Was Britain Pelagian or Augustinian in the 4th and 5th centuries?--Did Pelagius shape British theology or did British theology shape Pelagius?

 

Meyers, J.N.L.

"Pelagius and the End of Roman Rule in Britain" Journal of Roman Studies number  50, 1960, pp. 21-36.

This article is concerned simply with  the spread of Pelagianism through Britain.  Useful information in footnotes and bibliography. This was the most cited article that I found.  It's position was mostly attacked by contemporary and later scholarship.

 

Rees, Brinley R. Pelagius:  A Reluctant Heretic. Rochester, NY:  Boydell Pr, 1988.

This has been called the best modern source on the life of Pelagius in the new Oxford Classical Dictionary. (Philip Rousseau, Univ. Auckland) Rees is the only modern biographer of Pelagius.