Jansenism

Jansenism was a Catholic theological movement emphasizing humanity’s fallen nature, the necessity of divine grace, and rigorous moral discipline. It drew on Augustine and became embroiled in disputes over predestination, papal authority, and the limits of human freedom.

Augustine of Hippo: A late antique Christian theologian whose writings shaped Western doctrines of sin, grace, and salvation. Jansenists treated Augustine’s account of grace as their chief theological authority.
Cornelius Jansen: A Dutch Catholic bishop and theologian whose posthumous work Augustinus became the foundation of Jansenism. His interpretation of Augustine supplied the movement’s defining theological program.
Antoine Arnauld: A French Catholic theologian and philosopher who defended Jansenist ideas and became a leading Port-Royal intellectual. His writings carried Jansenist arguments into disputes with Jesuits and church authorities.
Cum occasione: A 1653 papal bull by Innocent X condemning five propositions attributed to Cornelius Jansen. Its condemnation became the central official judgment against Jansenist doctrine.
Molinism: A Jesuit theological system that explains divine foreknowledge and human freedom through God’s knowledge of possible choices. Its account of grace and free choice opposed the stricter Augustinian emphasis associated with Jansenism.
Original sin: The Christian doctrine that humanity inherits a condition of sin or estrangement from God. Jansenism stressed how deeply original sin impaired human moral capacity.
Augustinus (Jansen): Cornelius Jansen’s posthumously published study of Augustine, which argued for a demanding doctrine of divine grace. This book triggered the doctrinal controversy that made Jansenism a distinct movement.
Blaise Pascal: A French mathematician, physicist, and religious writer whose Provincial Letters attacked Jesuit moral theology. His polemics made the Jansenist controversy influential in French literary and religious life.
Unigenitus: A 1713 papal bull by Clement XI condemning propositions drawn from Pasquier Quesnel’s New Testament commentary. It renewed the conflict and made acceptance of papal authority a French political issue.
Congruism: A Catholic account of grace holding that God gives effective assistance suited to each person’s circumstances. It offered a Jesuit alternative to Jansenist explanations of efficacious grace.

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