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  • Salvation and Sin: Augustine, Langland and Fourteenth-Century Theology
  • Anne M. Scott
Aers, David , Salvation and Sin: Augustine, Langland and Fourteenth-Century Theology, Notre Dame, IN, University of Notre Dame Press, 2009; paperback; pp. xv, 284. R.R.P. US$38.00; ISBN 9780268020330.

In Salvation and Sin, David Aers examines with uncompromising clarity and depth the subject that inspires two of the greatest pieces of extant Middle English literature: Piers Plowman and the Showings of Julian of Norwich. His approach is to examine first selected writings of Augustine whom scholars quote as the foundation of medieval religious thought, then two fourteenth-century theologians, Ockham and Bradwardine, before embarking on the two literary works.

For this reader, the crux of the book is summed up in the statement on page 84 in which Aers promises to 'sketch the interpretation of sin, grace, and agency in current studies of Langland's theology. The dominant model has emerged out of a debate over whether Piers Plowman is "Augustinian" or "semi-Pelagian" and links Langland with the "modern" theology that Bradwardine sought to defeat'. The rest of the book works towards this statement, although the chapters can easily and usefully be read as separate essays, riveting in their own right. The first chapter on Augustine sets out to make a focused examination of Augustine's thought which goes far beyond what is usually implied by literary scholars who refer to 'Augustinianism' in medieval literature. Aers ranges widely and confidently through Augustine's works, driving towards the closely argued conclusion that Augustine's model is one of 'divine and human agency in which there can be no question of competition or rivalry' (p. 19).

The chapters on Ockham and Bradwardine make gripping reading: Aers is an accomplished teacher as well as unflinching scholar and these two chapters grapple with some teaching that to a modern reader can be difficult to grasp. Aers reads theology with the close attention of a literary scholar, and in these two chapters the processes of argument and elucidation of medieval thought and theology are as important as the conclusions reached about the work of the two thinkers. These chapters, which examine teaching on God's agency, the human will, the sacraments, modernism, and Pelagianism, by two widely divergent though contemporary theologians, are rich with material that can be revisited in connection with authors other than Langland and Julian, and with other medieval theologians. [End Page 269]

The discussion of Piers Plowman takes as its starting point an episode in the poem that is often given cursory treatment by Piers scholars, if not avoided altogether: the encounter between the Samaritan and Semivief. Aers uses it to highlight Langland's progressive treatment throughout the poem of the will (Wille) which has become habituated to and weakened by sin, and needs the healing agency of Christ in the sacraments. His discussion of Julian's Showings, by contrast, discovers discrepancies in her account of human agency and responsibility which 'generate serious difficulties for the doctrines of reconciliation and Christology' (p. 169).

Aers's evident excitement in the process of examining these authors is catching. His hope that the critical engagement with both the work of Julian and Langland will inspire further study of these great thinkers and writers has certainly spurred this reader to return to them with renewed vigour. The book is not an easy read but is a rewarding one and I recommend it for anyone who seeks to grasp further the profoundly theological foundations of medieval thought.

Anne M. Scott
English and Cultural Studies
The University of Western Australia
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