Written work
On Free Choice of the Will
De libero arbitrio libri III
A dialogue with Evodius begun in Rome in 388 and finished at Hippo around 395. It asks about the origin of evil and answers that moral evil comes from the free will turning away from unchanging good. Book II contains a proof of God's existence from unchanging truth; book III, a reflection on divine foreknowledge and freedom. The Pelagians later quoted it in their favour, and Augustine qualified it in the Retractationes.
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Authorship note
Reviewed in book I of the Retractationes (works before his episcopate). Critical text: W. M. Green, CCSL 29 (1970).
Editions and translations
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English
On Free Choice of the Will
Hackett Publishing, 1993
Translation: Thomas Williams
ISBN 9780872201880
Other works by Augustine of Hippo
- Confessions · 397
- The City of God · 413
- On the Trinity · 400
- On Christian Teaching · 396
- Enchiridion on Faith, Hope and Charity · 421
- Expositions of the Psalms · 392
- Tractates on the Gospel of John · 406
- Homilies on the First Epistle of John · 407
- Letters · 386
- Sermons · 391
- Retractations · 426
- On the Beautiful and the Fitting · 380
- Against the Academics · 386
- On the Happy Life · 386
- On Order · 386
- Soliloquies · 387
- On the Immortality of the Soul · 387
- On Grammar · 387
- On Dialectic · 387
- On Music · 388
- On the Morals of the Catholic Church and of the Manichaeans · 388
- On the Greatness of the Soul · 388
- On Genesis against the Manichaeans · 388
- On the Teacher · 389
- On True Religion · 390
- On the Advantage of Believing · 391
- On the Two Souls · 391
- Debate with Fortunatus the Manichaean · 392
- On Faith and the Creed · 393
- Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis · 393
- On the Lord's Sermon on the Mount · 394
- Psalm against the Party of Donatus · 393
- Against the Letter of Donatus the Heretic · 393
- Against Adimantus, a Disciple of Mani · 394
- Exposition of Some Propositions from the Letter to the Romans · 394
- Commentary on the Letter to the Galatians · 394
- Unfinished Commentary on the Letter to the Romans · 394
- On Eighty-Three Varied Questions · 388
- On Lying · 395
- To Simplician, on Various Questions · 396
- Against the Letter of Mani called 'The Foundation' · 396
- On the Christian Combat · 396
- Against the Party of Donatus · 397
- Reply to Faustus the Manichaean · 400
- Against Felix the Manichaean · 404
- On the Nature of the Good · 399
- Against Secundinus the Manichaean · 399
- Against Hilarus · 399
- Questions on the Gospels · 399
- Notes on Job · 399
- On Catechising the Uninstructed · 400
- On the Harmony of the Evangelists · 400
- Against the Letter of Parmenian · 400
- On Baptism · 400
- Against What Centurius Brought from the Donatists · 400
- Replies to the Enquiries of Januarius · 400
- On the Work of Monks · 400
- On the Good of Marriage · 401
- On Holy Virginity · 401
- The Literal Meaning of Genesis · 401
- Answer to the Letters of Petilian · 401
- Against Cresconius the Donatist Grammarian · 405
- Proofs and Testimonies against the Donatists · 406
- Against an Unknown Donatist · 406
- Admonition to the Donatists concerning the Maximianists · 406
- On the Divination of Demons · 406
- Six Questions against the Pagans · 408
- Exposition of the Letter of James · 400
- On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and the Baptism of Infants · 411
- On the One Baptism, against Petilian · 410
- On the Maximianists, against the Donatists · 410
- On the Grace of the New Testament, to Honoratus · 412
- On the Spirit and the Letter · 412
- On Faith and Works · 413
- Summary of the Conference with the Donatists · 411
- To the Donatists after the Conference · 412
- On Seeing God · 413
- On Nature and Grace · 415
- To Orosius, against the Priscillianists and Origenists · 415
- To the Priest Jerome · 415
- To Emeritus, Donatist Bishop, after the Conference · 415
- On the Perfection of Human Righteousness · 415
- On the Proceedings of Pelagius · 417
- On the Correction of the Donatists · 417
- On the Presence of God, to Dardanus · 417
- On the Grace of Christ and on Original Sin · 418
- Sermon to the People of the Church of Caesarea in the Presence of Emeritus · 418
- Proceedings with Emeritus, Donatist Bishop · 418
- Against an Arian Sermon · 419
- On Marriage and Concupiscence · 419
- Expressions in the Heptateuch · 419
- Questions on the Heptateuch · 419
- On the Soul and its Origin · 419
- Against Lying · 420
- Against Gaudentius, Donatist Bishop · 420
- Against the Adversary of the Law and the Prophets · 420
- Against Two Letters of the Pelagians · 420
- Against Julian · 421
- On the Care to be Taken for the Dead · 421
- On the Eight Questions of Dulcitius · 424
- On Grace and Free Will · 426
- On Rebuke and Grace · 426
- The Mirror · 427
- Debate with Maximinus, Arian Bishop · 427
- Against Maximinus the Arian · 428
- On Heresies, to Quodvultdeus · 428
- On the Predestination of the Saints · 428
- On the Gift of Perseverance · 429
- Unfinished Work against Julian · 429
- Treatise against the Jews · 429
- On Continence · 412
- On the Good of Widowhood · 414
- On Patience · 417
- On Faith in Things Unseen · 400
- On the Creed, to the Catechumens · 425
- On the Usefulness of Fasting · 408
- On the Sack of the City of Rome · 410
- Sermon on Christian Discipline · 410
- Rule of Saint Augustine · 397
- Letter to Catholics on the Donatist Sect (On the Unity of the Church) · 402
- Soliloquies of the Soul to God (pseudo-Augustinian) · 1250
- Meditations (pseudo-Augustinian) · 1050
- Manual (pseudo-Augustinian) · 1150
- On the Spirit and the Soul · 1160
- Questions on the Old and New Testaments · 375
- Hypomnesticon against the Pelagians and Caelestians · 430
- Sermons to the Brothers in the Desert · 1300
- On True and False Penance · 1050
- Book of Ecclesiastical Dogmas · 480
- On the Faith, to Peter · 523
- On the Wonders of Holy Scripture · 655
- The Ten Categories (Themistian Paraphrase) · 380
- On Rhetoric · 400
- The Ladder of Monks · 1150
- Mirror of the Sinner · 1300
- Against Felician the Arian, on the Unity of the Trinity · 480
- On the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary · 1100
- Spurious Sermons of the Appendix · 500
Sources
- Agustín de Hipona. Retractationum libri II. Ed. Almut Mutzenbecher. Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 57. Turnhout: Brepols, 1984.
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