Author

Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe

462–533

Fulgentius of Ruspe (c. 462 – 1 January 533; some scholars date his death to 527) was bishop of Ruspe in Roman North Africa and the leading Augustinian voice of the early sixth-century Latin West. Exiled by the Arian Vandal king Thrasamund, he wrote against Arianism and later against Semi-Pelagianism. Ad Monimum, his three-book reply to the correspondent Monimus on predestination, grace, scriptural difficulties, and Trinitarian doctrine, is printed in Patrologia Latina 65 (1861), the edition transcribed here.

Works

Texts currently available in the library.

Ad Monimum

1861

Ad Monimum is a theological work by Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe (c. 462–527), written in response to questions posed by a certain Monimus concerning difficult points of Christian doctrine. Composed in three books, the treatise addresses the relation between divine predestination and human sin, the meaning of the scriptural expression concerning the “double-edged sword,” and the proper interpretation of several passages involving the Trinity and the divine nature. The work is particularly important for understanding the Augustinian theological tradition in the early sixth-century Latin West. Fulgentius carefully distinguishes God’s predestination of the good from human responsibility for evil, while defending divine justice, grace, and Trinitarian orthodoxy. Ad Monimum thus provides a concise but substantial example of his method: close engagement with Scripture, precise theological distinctions, and a strong dependence on the thought of Saint Augustine.