The Treatise on Divine Predestination was written by Johannes Scottus Eriugena, a scholar ‘of no ecclesiastical rank’, in 850AD to refute the heretical teaching of Gottschalk of Orbais (c 808-867AD) who was promulgating a theology of a divine predestination that saw some men destined for heaven, some destined for perdition. Gottschalk founded his theory on the teaching of St Augustine and Eriugena, at the invitation of Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims and Pardulus, Bishop of Laon, and possible Charles the Bald, wrote his treatise to offer a reasoned argument against Gottschalk’s thesis, using St Augustine as the authority for his argument.
So original was this response that Eriugena immediately came under intense criticism, not only from the supporters of Gottschalk, but also the prelates in the service of Hincmar himself. The latter, abashed at this turn of events, chose silence rather than support as the best response, and Eriugena’s treatise was itself condemned at Valence in 855AD.
What stood Eriugena apart from his contemporaries was his deployment of the dialectical method of argument, his theology rested on firm philosophical underpinnings. This incensed his critics, who regarded the profane world as having nothing useful to say, and definitely nothing to offer, by way of interpreting Scripture, nor the works of St Augustine.
His treatise is a commentary not only on the subject of human destiny, it is also a commentary on the teachings of the African Doctor, and one which is ultimately and extraordinarily optimistic. For this reason if no other, it is worth serious consideration when so many seem to so readily assume that Augustine’s influence on the development of Christian doctrine is fundamentally pessimistic in outlook.
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