1640–1713

Jansenism: Jansen's Augustinus, Arnauld, Pascal and the Condemnations from In eminenti to Unigenitus

Cornelius Jansen (1585–1638), bishop of Ypres, troubled by moral decline and by the church's departure from Augustine's teaching on grace, left the Augustinus, published posthumously in Louvain (1640) – according to González, a defense of the most radical interpretation of Augustine, directed against Molinism. After the fall the will is enslaved and capable only of evil; what is needed is "healing grace", irresistible and infallible, yet acting so gently that the will does not know it is being led; predestination is absolute and double. Antoine Arnauld carried these principles over into piety and church discipline, and the movement took on the character of resistance to church authority. Condemnations followed – from the bull In eminenti (1643) and the five propositions (1653) to the bull Unigenitus (1713); Pascal defended Arnauld in the Provincial Letters.