1.  Meeting of Hebrew (Faith) and Greek (Reason) Thought: two Foundational roots of Western Civilization  Augustine: “I believe in order to Understand”  Centered on Nature of Sin and Forgiveness (Grace)

2.  Hebrew understanding of Creation, Sin, and grace shaped early Church’s understanding  Greek philosophy helped Church Fathers make greater sense of Hebrew Scriptures and form foundational doctrines of the Church

3. Modern/Scientific Perspective Religious Perspective  Philosophical (Greek)  What is the meaning of existence? Why anything?  Ontological: tends to the impersonal: the totality of existence  Explores relationships between material things in time  Religious (Hebrew)  Meaning taken from more personal, subjective perspective  Gilkey: “Creation as response to meaning”  Power of Myth/Story:  “Remember who your Patron is” and honor Covenant

4. Moderns (Scientific)Ancients (Religious)  Universe seen as setting for impersonal interactions over billions of years  Focuses on physical, observable phenomena  Creates/tests theories  Questions?: Does this fit into other previous systems?  Creation viewed more Personally, psychologically  Sought to understand and/or legitimize their society/govt  Told stories/Narratives to understand meaning of life  Questions?: Does this ring true to my experience?

5.  Complete dependence on God: Faith must proceed Reason  God does not give reasons….we must trust  *When trust is eroded, things go wrong (Covenant broke, evil ensues)

6.  Motif of Seduction  Original Sin: Pride: want to be like God  Hint of Grace present  Even when we distrust, rebel, God still cares, still loves  When humans are called to responsibility, God goes after them (Grace)

7.  Evil caused by own lack of trust  Meaning of Image and Likeness of God?  Through grace, we become more like God

8.  After Fall, still Image of God, not Likeness (Fallen, sinful)  Likeness? A gift of Grace  Christ as Perfect Likeness restores our likeness, or possibility of likeness

9.  God as Patron of Israel (more social sense)  God fulfills his responsibilities even when other party (us) does not  Grace as “Abundance of God’s favor”: Christians personalized idea of Grace

10.  Adam and Eve as innocent babes or kind of “Super-man and Super woman who committed the worst of all sins?

11.  Can God Suffer?  God makes self vulnerable, as opposed to Greek version of unchanging, intellectual god

12.  “It was grace that made me love and call out to God”  Was there even when didn’t want it  Doctor of Grace: central to all his writings  What is the actual relationship between God and humans?  Everything debated in the Church after and including now were covered by these two

13.  Pelagius  A lay monk  Wealthy  Spiritual director around Rome  Urged Christian perfection  Be counter-cultural  Manicheans major opponent  Historical Background  Emperor Constantine converted Empire to Christianity  Many superficial conversions  Pelagius shocked and dismayed

14.  1. Human Freedom and Responsibility  2. Life of Love and Virtue  3.Need for Good Works  4. Example of Christ: “Be Perfect like Christ”  5. Rewards of Difficulty and Suffering  Tended to isolate individuals: tended to overlook how interconnected we are  Gift of Grace?  Augustine: given to faithful  Pelagius: given to those who choose to be holy

15.  Augustine  If grace doesn’t transform, no hope of redemption  Knowledge not enough  Is an inherent poverty of the human heart  Free will but, before grace, no freedom  Pelagius  When talks of grace, talking mainly of knowledge