Pelagian
1
9.9
- noun
- /pəˈleɪdʒən/
- Formal
- A Pelagian believes that humans can achieve salvation through their own efforts without the need for divine grace.
- Pelagian controversy
Examples
-
During the debate, the Pelagian argued that original sin does not affect human free will.
-
They are no more in communion with the Church than the Pelagians.
Blog text (29) -
The Pelagian option is to deny or temper what we have said about Total Depravity.
Blog text (9) -
For Semi-Pelagians, individuals have a real choice when presented with the gospel, but they are predisposed against it.
Blog text (9) -
Pelagian assumptions have forced the idea of original sin into subordination in every area of national thought except concepts of the future.
Academic text (1995) -
The Pelagian God was malignly indifferent; the orthodox God was fatally interventionist.
Academic text (2018) -
The Donatist and Pelagian controversies became, for Augustine, occasions to render explicit the implicit claims of revelation.
Academic text (2010) -
Pelagians, who derive their name from Pelagius, a fifth-century British ascetic, deny the doctrine of Total Depravity altogether.
Blog text (9) -
This is true of the Manichean elect, the Donatist saints, the self-disciplined Pelagians, and the virtuous pagan sages.
Academic text (1990) -
Many theologians are critical of the Pelagian perspective because it contradicts traditional views of sin and grace.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
Pelagian = Pelagius (transparent) = Pelagius + an
Regular nominal/adjectival formation from the proper name Pelagius; the noun sense ('a follower of Pelagius') follows directly from the name + '-an'.
Etymology
Pelagian comes from the name Pelagius, an early Christian teacher, and that name comes from the Greek pelagos meaning 'sea'. So a Pelagian is a person who follows Pelagius and believes people are born without original sin and can choose to do good without special help from God.