Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Pelagius

I've been studying Pelagius, the 4th/5th century stout British scholar/monk and arch-heretic who, it turns out, wasn't such a heretic after all. Much of Pelagius's writings were destroyed but, ironically, were also preserved in quotes within the writings of his opponents (such as Jerome and Augustine) and have been stitched back together. Jerome, who could be quite caustic to those who disagreed with him, referred to Pelagius as "a huge, bloated, Alpine dog, weighed down with Scottish oats..." Interesting that these revered ancient saints were not above cheap shots and argumentum ad hominem, not unlike modern exchanges on Facebook and the Internet.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home