For centuries many Christians have been concerned that the biblical God as a loving relational father has been deformed by Reformed Theology. While studying at Oxford for my doctorate in philosophy, I was privileged to uncover the foundation of that Reformation deformation. By studying the ancient philosophies and religions alongside the early Christian authors (Patristics) and then all of Augustine’s writings chronologically, the deformation path became obvious. Augustine’s theological train jumped off the Christian tracks in 412 CE while battling the Pelagians due to his earlier Stoic, Manichaean, and Neoplatonic fatalistic training.
My research resulted in the 2018 publication of Augustine’s Conversion from Traditional Free Choice to “Non-free Free Will’: A Comprehensive Methodology in the series Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum by Mohr Siebeck. Professor Karla Pollman of the University of Bristol called it “ground-breaking and thought-provoking, and indispensable for every serious student of hugely influential core aspects of Augustine’s thought.” After a podcast interview with Dr. Leighton Flowers on February 26, 2019 (Soteriology 101), he asked me to write a short book summarizing that research in plain English for the average reader.
The result of that request is The Foundation of Augustinian-Calvinism, a recently published 118-page Reader’s Digest version of my Oxford thesis. In it, I expose how early Christian authors (fifty of them) unanimously taught the doctrine of free will against Stoic, Gnostic, Manichaean, and Neoplatonic fatalism. Until 412 CE, Augustine also taught this free will to respond to God with human faith (not a divine unilateral infusion of faith and grace). But he also continued to believe his Stoic Sovereignty view after his conversion: God foreordained and micromanages every detail of the universe (except free will). He simultaneously held these two opposing positions in tension for decades. But in 412 while writing about infant baptism and forgiveness of sin against the Pelagians, Augustine’s heavy-handed Stoic Sovereignty view crushed his Christian free choice view. This resulted in a non-Christian caricature of a god (Manichaean) who created and then damned innocent babies to Hell for being born as Adam’s descendants—a God who did not love every human, but only the (Manichaean) elect. The Christian loving relational God was disfigured into a non-relational tyrannical “Sovereign” dictator.
Nevertheless, the source of an idea should not automatically condemn it as erroneous. Even some pagans had excellent morals and ideas that we can accept today. The problem with Augustine’s later theology runs far deeper than its pagan origins. One catastrophic breach in the Christian track that derailed him was his non-Christian interpretations of scripture. The scripture verses used by Calvin and modern Calvinists to prove “God’s Sovereignty in election” were the very ones used by the heretical Gnostic-Manichaeans. Those interpretations were refuted as heresies by every Christian author who wrote on the topic. Augustine spent ten years living and training in the Manichaean sect. After his Christian conversion, he argued against those pagan fatalistic interpretations for decades. But in 412, he reverted to his Manichaean interpretations of Psalm 51:5, John 6:44–45, 6:62–66, 14:6, Romans 9:11–13, 11:1–36, Eph. 2:1–3, 2:8-9, and Phil. 2:13. John Calvin admitted that all of his theology rested upon Augustine’s theology (his interpretation of these verses). The other intriguing circumstances surrounding Augustine’s invention of his later fatalistic theology are shocking. Yes, I confess, I am using that as a teaser.
The Foundation of Augustinian-Calvinism is available on Amazon for $5 for the Kindle version and $10 for the print version—priced to sell for education, not for a profit margin. It is currently being translated into Spanish and Portuguese. Reading this book will provide you with a crucial key to helping other Christians understand God’s grace. I have been quoted as saying that discussing Scripture and theology with a Calvinist is a waste of time; because, they embrace fatalistic interpretations from Manichaeans that the famous Augustine constructed within Christianity as his impressive new building. We need to graciously take Calvinists back outside of that building and show them the cracked and crumbling non-Christian foundation of Reformed theology. When these brothers and sisters realize they have built upon pagan sand, we pray that our Lord opens their eyes to his extravagant grace equally available to every single person on earth. Read The Foundation of Augustinian-Calvinism and boldly rejoice once again in our relational loving God of grace!
This article is written by:
Kenneth Wilson, MD., M.Div., Th.M., D.Phil.
Professor of Systematic Theology and Church History
Grace School of Theology
Great article. We have run up against a seemingly insurmountable wall with our strict Calvinist brethren in recent times. Your book sounds like a beneficial read. Thank you.
Thank you for your feedback.