Francis Gumerlock

Scholarship often regards the predestinarian ninth-century monk, Gottschalk of Orbais, as one who stood virtually alone promoting the sovereignty of God in a time when Semi-pelagian soteriology ruled supreme. An investigation of eighth and early ninth-century literature challenges that view. Some writings in the century before Gottschalk do reveal an influence of Pelagian and Semi-pelagian theology of grace, but the era also abounds with theological literature proclaiming the inability of human freedom to make salvific decisions and the priority of grace over free will.

Many commentaries on the Apocalypse were produced in the early Middle Ages. This book provides translations of two Apocalypse commentaries from the seventh and eighth centuries. On the Mysteries of the Apocalypse of John is part of a large one-volume Reference Bible composed about 750. Written probably by an Irish teacher residing in northern France, it answers difficulties arising from the biblical text. The Handbook on the Apocalypse of the Apostle John, attributed erroneously to Jerome and written before 767, contains brief moral and allegorical interpretations of particular words and phrases of the Apocalypse. The introduction highlights the unique features of each commentary and the interrelationship of the three texts.https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/mip_teamscs/1007/thumbnail.jp

The Book of Revelation is arguabley the most difficult book of the Bible to understand, yet the opinions of its earliest interpreters are almost entirely unavailable to English-language readers. At least thirty commentaries on the Book of Revelation were written in the first millennium of Christianity’s history, but only four are translated into English, and three of these are virtually

Scholarship often regards the predestinarian ninth-century monk, Gottschalk of Orbais, as one who stood virtually alone promoting the sovereignty of God in a time when Semi-pelagian soteriology ruled supreme. An investigation of eighth and early ninth-century literature challenges that view. Some writings in the century before Gottschalk do reveal an influence of Pelagian and Semi-pelagian theology of grace, but the era also abounds with theological literature proclaiming the inability of human freedom to make salvific decisions and the priority of grace over free will. 38 Agobard of Lyons, De fidei veritate, 14. L. Van Acker, ed., Agobardi Lugdunensis opera omnia. CCCM 52 (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1981), 265: Haec est fides et spes catholicae Ecclesiae, quae est columna et firmamentum veritatis, in lege et prophetis, psalmis et hymnis praedicata, per apostolos evangelizata, per martyres testificata, per doctores exposita. Quicquid huic fidei contrarium invenitur...doctrina demon...

The question of predestination and its nature, which drew strong protests from the monks of Provence in the early fifth century against the teaching of Augustine of Hippo, was initially settled by the Council of Orange in 529. But in the Carolingian renaissance in the ninth century, the Benedictine monk, Gottschalk of Orbais, brought the teachings of the late Augustine to the forefront of theological debate and greatly disturbed the clergy and faithful with his doctrine of double predestination of some to the joy of heaven and of others to the eternal punishment of hell -- a doctrine that he claimed was that of Augustine and the Catholic faith. The present volume provides for the first time an English translation of Gottschalk's key writings on predestination and various reactions and comments from leading theologians of the ninth century, as well as a learned introduction to Gottschalk's life and controversies. - Publisher.

Scholarship often regards the predestinarian ninth-century monk, Gottschalk of Orbais, as one who stood virtually alone promoting the sovereignty of God in a time when Semi-pelagian soteriology ruled supreme. An investigation of the literature of the eighth and early ninth centuries challenges that view. Many church leaders in the century before Gottschalk taught divine predestination as a decree that prepares, grants, and secures the salvation of God’s elect rather than a decree based upon divine foreknowledge of human decisions regarding salvation. Based upon evidence that debate about predestination existed and intensified in the decades prior to Gottschalk’s ministry, an alternative view of Gottschalk’s role in the history of Christianity is suggested. It is probably more accurate to view him as a ‘fall guy’ than a theological maverick.

The Book of Revelation is arguabley the most difficult book of the Bible to understand, yet the opinions of its earliest interpreters are almost entirely unavailable to English-language readers. At least thirty commentaries on the Book of Revelation were written in the first millennium of Christianity’s history, but only four are translated into English, and three of these are virtually