Augustinianism

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The theological system associated with the teachings and principles of St. Augustine focuses on concepts such as divine grace, original sin, and predestination
2. A doctrine derived from St. Augustine that emphasizes the necessity of grace for salvation, along with the belief in the fallen nature of humanity and predestined salvation
3. A religious framework rooted in the ideas of St. Augustine, highlighting the importance of grace, the corruption of humanity, and the predetermined fate of souls in the context of salvation

Etymology: Augustinianism is about as transparent as theological terms get: it is "Augustinian" with the suffix "-ism" attached, meaning a body of doctrine or a school of thought. The stem names Augustine of Hippo, the fourth- and fifth-century bishop whose writings on grace, sin and the human will shaped Western Christianity for centuries. The suffix does the same job it does in "Calvinism" or "Thomism," turning a person's name into the label for their system. The more interesting question is which Augustine the word refers to, since the teaching has been claimed by many camps. Its core ideas are that humanity inherited a corrupted nature from Adam, that salvation depends entirely on God's grace rather than human merit, and that God's choice of the saved is not based on foreseen faith. Later thinkers, especially in the Reformation and in debates with Pelagius and his followers, appealed to these views, which is why the term is often used polemically as well as descriptively.