Fulgentius: Selected Works
Overview
Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspe (ca. 467–532), is considered the greatest North African theologian after the time of St. Augustine. When Fulgentius was born, North Africa had been under the rule of Germanic Vandals for several decades. His family was repeatedly victimized by Vandal persecutions, and Fulgentius himself suffered persecution and exile. While in exile, he continued his pastoral labors and became the theological spokesman of the displaced. Though he was not an original thinker, he propagated the Augustinian heritage and defended it against its adversaries, notably the Arians and Pelagians (or semi-Pelagians).
With thorough understanding and conviction, Fulgentius promoted the Trinitarian theology of Augustine. He also defended and explained Augustine’s difficult and controversial stance on the question of predestination. Fulgentius contributed greatly to the transmission and interpretation of a theological heritage that would dominate and shape the Church in the West for hundreds of years to come.
Unfortunately, many of Fulgentius’s writings have been lost. Of those that have survived, the most important are dated to the period of his second exile and the sixteen years from his return to North Africa from Sardinia until his death. This volume gives English readers for the first time an opportunity to study a representative selection of the writings of this early sixth-century author. It also presents Fulgentius’s biography, the Life, for the first time in English.
For The Fathers of the Church series in its entirety, see Fathers of the Church Series (127 vols.).
Key Features
- Initial English translations of Fulgentius’s writings
- Introduction provides background on both the theological positions of the author and his setting: 6th century north Africa
- One of 127 published volumes in a well-respected series on the Church Fathers
Top Highlights
“Above all, let faithful spouses always remember that they must stand firm in prayers and almsgiving; let them not always wish to wallow in the weakness of the flesh, but let them hasten to rise to the level of a more controlled life. And in order that the spirit may attain the virtue of continence, let the excesses of carnal lust be more and more suppressed so that while, with God’s help, they will have gone beyond that level in which conjugal weakness asks for forgiveness, they can praiseworthily reach a higher level, in which the virtue of continence awaits the palm of a better life.” (Pages 290–291)
“King Saul, ordered by God to destroy Amalek, incurred sin because he barely kept the precept of God. When the prophet Samuel had come to reprove him, he, terrified, confessed his sin but still did not obtain forgiveness because his heart was not right with God. That confession of sin came from fear; it was from a horror of punishment, not of sin. He did not hate what he had done but feared what he did not want; nor did he blame his guilt in conversion but, momentarily struck with terror of the divine fury, he trembled. King David as well, overcome by the snare of carnal desire, not only committed adultery with the wife of one of his soldiers but also killed the innocent husband who was not only guilty of no crime of his own but also unaware of his thoroughly dishonored wife.” (Pages 171–172)
“This was done in such a way that, if they adhered uninterruptedly to the love of the Creator, at the same time, they would remain eternally blessed; if, on the other hand, by a decision of their own free will, they would endeavor to do their own will against the command of the Most High Creator, blessedness would immediately depart from the recalcitrant, and there would be left for them as a punishment eternal misery, henceforward subjected to error and grief. Concerning the angels, God has decided this and carried it out, that, if any of them loses the goodness of will, he will never restore it by divine gift.” (Page 80)
About Saint Fulgentius
Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe (462 or 467-533 AD) was bishop of the city of Ruspe, North Africa, in the 5th and 6th century.