', () known by its short title ', is a theological work in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

Cornelius Jansen Cornelius Jansen (; ; Latinized name Cornelius Jansenius; also Corneille Jansen; 28 October 1585 – 6 May 1638) was the Dutch Catholic bishop of Ypres in Flanders and the father of a theological movement known as Jansenism. Biography He ...

. Published posthumously in

Louvain Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the sub-municipalities of ...

by Jacobus Zegers in 1640, it was in three parts: #On

Pelagianism Pelagianism is a Christian theological position that holds that the fall did not taint human nature and that humans by divine grace have free will to achieve human perfection. Pelagius (), an ascetic and philosopher from the British Isles, ta ...

(''De Hæresi Pelagiana'', "Concerning Peligian Heresy") #On

original sin Original sin () in Christian theology refers to the condition of sinfulness that all humans share, which is inherited from Adam and Eve due to the Fall of man, Fall, involving the loss of original righteousness and the distortion of the Image ...

(''De Gratia Primi Hominis'', "The Grace of the First Man" and ''De Statu Naturæ Lapsæ'', "The Fallen State of Nature") #On divine grace (''De Gratia Christi Salvatoris'', "The Grace of Christ the Savior") It began with the proposition that

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

was a man chosen by God to reveal the doctrine of grace. Thus, by this logic, any later

Catholic teaching Catholic theology is the understanding of Catholic doctrine or teachings, and results from the studies of theologians. It is based on Biblical canon, canonical Catholic Bible, scripture, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by ...

contrary to Augustine's work should be revised to match it. The text stoked the theological controversies that raged in France and much of Europe after the spread of

Jansenism Jansenism was a 17th- and 18th-century Christian theology, theological movement within Roman Catholicism, primarily active in Kingdom of France, France, which arose as an attempt to reconcile the theological concepts of Free will in theology, f ...

. Five of the books' propositions were condemned as

heretical Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

in the

apostolic constitution An apostolic constitution () is the most solemn form of legislation issued by the Pope.New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, pg. 57, footnote 36. By their nature, apostolic constitutions are addressed to the public. Generic constitutions use ...

' promulgated in 1653 by

Pope Innocent X Pope Innocent X (6 May 1574 – 7 January 1655), born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj (or Pamphili), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 September 1644 to his death, in January 1655. Born in Rome of a family fro ...

. In reaction to this condemnation,

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal (19June 162319August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. Pascal was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. His earliest ...

wrote his 17th and 18th ''

Lettres provinciales The (''Provincial Letters'') are a series of eighteen letters written by French philosopher and theologian Blaise Pascal under the pseudonym Louis de Montalte. Written in the midst of the formulary controversy between the Jansenists and the ...

'' in 1657. The five propositions were the focus of the Formulary Controversy, a 17th and 18th century recusancy by Jansenists of the '' Formula of Submission for the Jansenists''.

References

Bibliography

* M. Flick and Z. Alszeghy, ''Antropología teológica'', Ediciones Sígueme, Salamanca, 1971.

External links

Volumes 1, 2, and 3 combined
on Google Books (from

Ghent University Library Ghent University Library () is a university library located in the city of Ghent, Belgium. It serves the Ghent University community of students and scholarly researchers. History After Ghent University was founded in 1817, books confiscated by the ...

). {{Authority control Jansenism 1640 books Books about ancient Christianity 1640 in the Habsburg Netherlands