Theological Anthropology

by J. Patout Burns

"Treated thematically under the headings 'The Gnostic Movement,' 'Christian Platonism,' and 'Fourth Century Developments,' it is possible to see how different ideas of humanity could lead to varieties of theological interpretation."
--Donald Skyes

Genres: Theology, History, Church History, Anthropology, Philosophy, Religion, Textbooks

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 1981

Reviews

[Logan Augustine]

Great collection of early writings on human nature, Adam, free will, and especially, God’s Grace. This was my first time reading longer sections of Saint Augustine!

A few quotes that are impactful:

“Imagine how it must feel to peer out over the open sea from a high mountain ridge. That is what my mind feels when it appears down from the loftiness of the Lord’s saying, as from a mountain peak, upon the infinite depth of thought to which it gives vantage… [In this way] God offers himself as a spectacle for those whose hearts are purified.” -Gregory of Nyssa

“The God and Lord of all, who created all things exceedingly good, both foreknew that evils would arise from these goods and knew that it was more appropriate for his sovereign goodness to deal well with these evils than to prevent their occurrence. He so arranged the life of angels and humans that he showed first what their free choice could achieve and then what the favor of his grace and the judgment of his justice could accomplish.” -Augustine

“Freedom will be greater once free choice is unable to serve sin. Human beings were to have attained this…. Now, however, good merit has been lost to sin, and what was to be a reward for merit has become a gift of grace to those who are liberated.” -Augustine

***The best one:
“Thus the original freedom of will was to be able not to sin; the final freedom will be much greater—not to be able to sin. The original immortality was to be able not to die; the final will be greater—not to be able to die. The original power of perseverance was to be able not to abandon the good; the final will be the blessedness of perseverance itself—not to be able to desert the good. Nor should we infer that the original goods were either insignificant or not really good, because the final ones will be better and stronger.” -Augustine

“How God loves us. God loves us as we will by his own gift, not as we are by our own merits.” -The Synod of Orange, AD 529

[Scott Meadows]

The work is commendable but overly saturated with Augustine’s perspectives, leading to a loss of engagement midway. Its significant contribution lies in acquainting readers with Gnosticism, Asceticism, Christian Platonism, and Augustinian thought. Particularly benefitted by diving into primary sources like Irenaeus, Gregory of Nyssa, and Pelagius.

[Taylor Swift Scholar]

This was a strange book. Supposedly a collection of writings about what it means to be human (what is free will? grace? the fall? etc.,) a HUGE chunk of this book is just Augustine. It was interesting to see how the Church's doctrine of grace developed over time, though.

[G Walker]

Probably the weakest volume in the series... too Western, too Augustinian, and not very catholic or ecumenical... doesn't take into account the much richer and more comprehensive anthropology that was in place by the time Augustine was even on the scene... Ehhh... Don't waste your time.

[Scott]

Decent collection of ancient writing about the effects of sin on humankind. A bit biased toward Augustine.

[Micah999]

From this book I read Irenaeus: “Against Heresies”, Pelagius: “Letter to Demetrias”, and Augustine: “On the Grace of Christ” and “On Rebuke and Grace”. I'm honestly not too sure about the formatting of this because I didn't have the physical copy cuz something happened with the bookstore so Prof. Upton sent us the excerpts that we needed to read in an email. So I dunno but a good to think about what theology/philosophy was going around at that time.

[Welton Bonner]

Helpful reader.

It sets out the development of the doctrine well and gives primary source materials from Pelagius, Augustine, and others. Reading Pelagius firsthand makes you see his charisma and also his deception.

[Luke Daghir]

Here are my thoughts:

1. I recommend reading the first few chapters of the Church Fathers. There writing is clear and easy to understand.

2. The section with Pelagius and Augustine is helpful but I found it to be dense and an uphill read for me.

[Brit]

This book is largely a reproduction and translation of Augustine with a small nod to the surrounding context of his writings. While it's an insightful work, it doesn't effectively reproduce the richness of the conversation by sufficiently providing varying viewpoints.

[Wendyle Andrews]

A good introduction to theological anthropology

[Zach Hollifield]

Augustine’s treatises here have proved to be some of the most formative in my theological thinking.

[January]

skimmed