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A New Style of Argument in Christian Polemic: Augustine and the Use of Patristic Citations

By a progressive and careful construction during his controversy with the Pelagians, Augustine provides Christian polemic with a new kind of argument: the citation of patristic authorities who have reached an agreement on a doctrinal question. A careful reading of the different treatises shows that Augustine is struggling to find a way to argue from patristic citation without being bound to the authority of any one of his predecessors. This is why he tries to work within the authority of a consensus of Catholic authors. This creation is more than a response to the attacks of the Pelagians and reflects that Augustine is conscious of the difficulty of claiming scriptural warrant for doctrine and of the necessity of introducing other factors into this search.