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

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

by Cornelius Jansen. Published posthumously in

Louvain Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) 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 historic c ...

Jacobus Zegers Jacobus Zegers (died 14 January 1644) was an academic printer and bookseller in Leuven, with many clients among the faculty of Leuven University. He was the printer of Cornelius Jansen's ''Augustinus'' (1640). Life Zegers settled in Leuven aroun ...

in 1640, it was in three parts: #On Pelagianism (''Dē Hæresī Pelagiana'', "Concerning Peligian Heresy") #On

original sin Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (t ...

(''Dē Gratiā Prīmī Hominis'', "The Grace of the First Man" and ''Dē Statū Nātūræ Lāpsæ'', "The Fallen State of Nature") #On

divine grace Divine grace is a theological term present in many religions. It has been defined as the divine influence which operates in humans to regenerate and sanctify, to inspire virtuous impulses, and to impart strength to endure trial and resist temptati ...

(''Dē Gratiā Chrīstī Salvātōris'', "The Grace of Christ the Savior") It began with the proposition that

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

was a man chosen by God to reveal the doctrine of grace. Thus, by this logic, any later Catholic teaching 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 an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by t ...

. Five of the books' propositions were condemned as heretical in the apostolic constitution ' promulgated in 1653 by Pope Innocent X. In reaction to this condemnation,

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal ( , , ; ; 19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pa ...

wrote his 17th and 18th '' Lettres provinciales'' in 1657. The five propositions were the focus of the

Formulary Controversy The formulary controversy was a 17th- and 18th-century Jansenist refusal to confirm the ''Formula of Submission for the Jansenists'' on the part of a group of Catholic ecclesiastical personnel and teachers who did not accept the charge that their ...

, a 17th and 18th century recusancy by Jansenists of the ''

Formula of Submission for the Jansenists ' is an apostolic constitution in the form of a papal bull promulgated by Pope Alexander VII in 1665 which required, according to the ''Enchiridion symbolorum'', "all ecclesiastical personnel and teachers" to subscribe to an included '' formu ...

''.

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

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