University of St. Thomas Associate Professor Stuart D. Squires took on The Pelagian Controversy (411-431) in a new book. The Pelagian Controversy was one of the most important theological controversies in the history of Christianity.

“It was a bitter and messy affair in the evening of the Roman Empire that addressed some of the most important questions that we ask ourselves: Who are we? What does it mean to be a human being? Are we good, or are we evil? Are we burdened by an uncontrollable impulse to sin? Do we have free will?” Squires writes. “It was comprised by a group of men who were some of the greatest thinkers of Late Antiquity, such as Augustine, Jerome, John Cassian, Pelagius, Caelestius and Julian of Eclanum.”

Dr. Squires takes this book about sin, grace, free will and salvation from a topic that only interests historians and theologians of Christianity to a wider audience because it was the primary event that shaped the way Christians came to understand the human person for the next 1,600 years.

“The fifth-century controversy about sin, grace, free will and salvation was a complicated affair,” writes Thomas Humphries of Saint Leo University on the books jacket cover. “The Pelagian Controversy helpfully introduces students to the important people involved and explains the key ideas.”

The book is available at Amazon.com.

Dr. Squires also serves as the Associate Director of the Center for Faith & Culture at University of St. Thomas in Houston. He earned his BA from DePaul University, his MA from the University of Chicago, and his PhD from The Catholic University of America. He has been published in Augustinianum, The Heythrop Journal, the Scottish Journal of Theology, Cistercian Studies Quarterly, and Augustiniana. He also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.