Can someone explain Pelagianism to me in simple terms?

[PrayingDuck]

I’m not a philosophy or theology student or anything, just a twenty-something who needs it dumbed down I read somebody’s comment somewhere that Pelagianism is the biggest heresy in the Church today, so curious about what it is, I decided to look it up on Wikipedia, which is usually fairly easy to understand, but I was still confused by it. Can anyone simplify it for me? Thanks!

 

[NHInsider]

Essentially, Pelagianism denies that we are all afflicted with original sin, and so posits that it is possible for a person to choose to live a sinless life without the need of redeeming grace.

Over-simplified, but that’s what you requested!

Sally

 

[Abu]

From the Modern Catholic Dictionary by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
PELAGIANISM.
Heretical teaching on grace of Pelagius (355-425), the English or Irish lay monk who first propagated his views in Rome in the time of Pope Anastasius (reigned 399-401). He was scandalized at St. Augustine’s teaching on the need for grace to remain chaste, arguing that this imperiled man’s use of his own free will. Pelagius wrote and spoke extensively and was several times condemned by Church councils during his lifetime, notably the Councils of Carthage and Mileve in 416, confirmed the following year by Pope Innocent I. Pelagius deceived the next Pope, Zozimus, who at first exonerated the heretic, but soon (418) retracted his decision. Pelagianism is a cluster of doctrinal errors, some of which have plagued the Church ever since. Its principal tenets are: 1. Adam would have died even if he had not sinned; 2. Adam’s fall injured only himself and at worst affected his posterity by giving them a bad example; 3. newborn children are in the same condition as Adam before he fell; 4. mankind will not die because of Adam’s sin or rise on the Last Day because of Christ’s redemption 5. the law of ancient Israel no less than the Gospel offers equal opportunity to reach heaven. As Pelagianism later developed, it totally denied the supernatural order and the necessity of grace for salvation.
therealpresence.org/cgi-bin/getdefinition.pl

 

[DavidFilmer]

For what it’s worth, the Catholic Church teaches that a person may live a sinless life (ie, attain complete aversion to all sin, both mortal and venial, which is called “Spiritual Perfection”), but (obviously) only with God’s Grace. One Doctor of the Church, St. Therese, was made a Doctor for her teaching that Spiritual Perfection does not require a life of heroic virtue, but may be attained in the workaday lives of ordinary laypeople (this teaching is called her “Little Way.”)

So Pelagius taught a partial truth long before the possibility of Spiritual Perfection was generally recognized. If he had included God, he would be a profound Saint and Doctor of the Church, instead of a heretic!

 

[Johann_du_Toit]

Pelagianism is the belief that we can achieve salvation solely through our own merits without God’s assistance. The Catholic Church teaches that faith in God plus our works (in that order) are necessary for salvation.

 

[DavidFilmer]

The Catholic Church teaches that faith in God plus our works (in that order) are necessary for salvation.

This is true only if you count Baptism as a work (which it is, but it’s not what most people think about).

The Catholic Church teaches that a Baptized person who has not committed a mortal sin is saved. Nothing else is required.

The Catholic Church teaches that a Baptized person who has committed a mortal sin and attends Sacramental Confession (which is a work, but is not what most people think about) is restored to salvation. Nothing else is required.

The Catholic Church teaches that the failure to perform a work (such as an act of mercy) might constitute a sin of omission, and might rise to the status of mortal sin under certain very specific circumstances. But, like any mortal sin, such a sin of omission is completely absolved through Sacramental Confession. Nothing else is required (aside from completing the penance imposed by the Confessor).

The Catholic Church teaches that each and every person can be absolutely assured of salvation by just one or two particular works: Reception of Christian Baptism (really important) and attending Sacramental Confession (important if we have fallen into mortal sin, either of commission or omission). Neither of these “works” are what most people think about. Valid Confession requires a “resolve” to sin no more, but it is not invalidated if we fail to uphold our resolve (it is invalid only if we only pretended to have this resolve in the first place).

There are no “good works” (the “works” that most people think about) that are required for salvation, according to Catholic doctrine. Christian Baptism without any accountability for mortal sin is the ONLY requirement for salvation, according to the Catholic Church.

 

[grannymh]

I’m not a philosophy or theology student or anything, just a twenty-something who needs it dumbed down I read somebody’s comment somewhere that Pelagianism is the biggest heresy in the Church today, so curious about what it is, I decided to look it up on Wikipedia, which is usually fairly easy to understand, but I was still confused by it. Can anyone simplify it for me? Thanks!

Don’t know about Pelagianism being the biggest heresy in the Church today, but it looks to me that it is one of the supports for the most damaging heresy, which is the Heresy of Modernism.