Before Nature and Grace

Modern theology has an enduring and often intense interest in the relationship between God and creation, expressed commonly as the interplay of nature and grace. Literature on the topic abounds and often appears as fierce polemic about the relevance of such concepts as "pure" nature and "gratuitous" grace, with implications for topics ranging from theological anthropology to modern politics. This study traces the emergence of such thinking in classical and biblical sources. The writing of authors, including Philo and Paul, give evidence of two distinct but related traditions of nature and grace, one "graded" and the other "filial," which shape the origins of reflection on the bond between God and creation. Many sources present nature as a stable essence that God's grace sustains and gradually elevates, while other sources view nature primarily in light of the term's linguistic roots, as that which is inborn, and that which can be transformed through the grace of adoption in the Holy Spirit. The mutual influence and the tension between those two traditions appears in famous trinitarian and Christological debates of the early Church and remains even as the pairing of nature and grace becomes formulaic in the late fourth century. The prehistory informs the first great debates specifically related to nature and grace, in Augustine's debate with Pelagius. This study provides some background to the emergence and formalization of nature-grace thinking, and clarifies the issues behind contemporary debates on dependence, autonomy, and God's generosity.