As far as I am aware there is really no dispute about whether or not Augustine’s understanding of predestination is the same as subsequent Calvinist thinkers. As I said, Augustine never articulated the doctrine of limited atonement, and there are other big areas of divergence (especially when it comes to the doctrine of the church), so I’m not simply arguing that Augustinianism and Calvinism are identical in every respect. But when it comes to the issue of predestination (and total depravity), they are.

For example, I can agree that God predestines us. Any faith that I have, was given to me by the grace of God. But I cannot go so far as to say that Christs atonement was limited to the elect. I believe in the universality of redemption. Are we all redeemed? Yes. Will all be saved? No. Why? Because of free will. You quoted Augustine as saying something like “the only way to know for sure if one is counted among the elect is to persevere to the last breath.” Are all the saints counted among the elect? Yes.

The funny thing about this is that you will say that your point of view is Calvinist/Augustinian and I will say that mine is Catholic/Augustinian.

It comes down to this for me: God is a family: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is Love. Love is the gift of self. If God is eternally Love, then He must have someone to give the gift to (ie the Son). The Son then reciprocates the gift back to the Father and from the mutual gift of love procedes the Holy Spirit. (This is why Catholics say that the Spirit procedes from the Father and the Son which is a point of departure with our Orthodox brethren.)

So the entire History of Salvation can be summed up as Divine Pedagogy. God raising up a family. Look at the covenants that God made throughout history. He makes a covenant with Adam and Eve (married couple), then with Noah (Family), next is Abraham (Patriarch: head of many families), then Moses (Nation of Israel), then David (Kingdom: ruling many nations) and finally he makes his universal (catholic) covenant through Christ. I have often wondered why God took so long to fulfill the Protoevangelium (First Gospel) of Genesis 3:15. That was because he was revealing himself to humanity gradually. First to a couple, then to a family followed by many families which grows into a nation that will later include all nations.

We can understand how God’s grace works here the same way that it works in my own earthly family. I didn’t become part of my own family because of any choice or merit of my own. However, I can walk away from my family. I can disown myself. That is how I view predestination. God called me to himself way before I could even think to answer the call. I can also walk away from God. But to say that there are some that he didn’t call (or elect), in some way limits God. You mentioned “logical outworking.” I see Gods gift being universal as a very logical outworking, especially is you see how God has expanded his family through each covenant he has made.

The Calvinist position definitely holds to irresistible grace (it is the “I” in TULIP).

Augustine and Calvin basically say the same thing about human corruption and the absolute need of grace to do anything. Calvin didn’t say anything new or extreme that Augustine didn’t already say, at least when it comes to predestination. I don’t think that Augustine ever articulated anything like the doctrine of Limited Atonement, but it’s simply a logical outworking of predestination and eternal security. So, I think Calvin sits pretty much in the same place on the spectrum as does Augustine. It is Hyper-Calvinism that sits at the opposite extreme.

As I read more of Augustine, it seems to me that Augustine is between Calvin and Arminius. The Pelagians were to the extreme when it comes to Free Will, so Augustine’s arguments against Pelagianism necessitated the focus on Grace (ie. Predestination). Is it possible that Calvin took some liberties with Augustine’s arguments and ended up on the opposite extreme?

As to the second question, I’m not the best person to ask. I haven’t formally studied much Reformed theology yet. But I do know that there is sort of a debate within Reformed circles over whether God created hell for sinners or sinners for hell (there’s a technical name for each position that I can’t remember at the moment). I believe it has to do with His disposition. He doesn’t actually want to send people to Hell, as if He derives some sort of pleasure out of it, but it is a part of His sovereign plan that He lets some people send themselves there.

I would recommend reading R. C. Sproul’s “What Is Reformed Theology?” for a short but more detailed introduction to all these subjects.

In other words: We are all born in a state of sin which means we can choose nothing but that which is wicked…God gives grace to His elect, thereby allowing them to overcome this predisposition to sinning…God passes over some, allowing them to remain in their sin, thereby condemning them.

If one is incapable of choosing something other than sin and is not given the grace necessary to combat this, how can we say that God in effect didn’t create them for Hell?

2) According to Augustine, Adam was free both to sin and to refrain from sinning before the fall. But after the fall, Adam and all mankind lost the ability to refrain from sinning. Men still have free wills in the sense that they are free to choose whatever they want to choose, or whatever they believe is good or best, but because their hearts and minds are corrupted by sin they will always choose what is wicked, save for the grace of God.

3) “On Free Will” would probably be the best place to start. Any introduction to his thought or overview of his debate with Pelagius would also work.

4) More or less, yes. Because God’s decree of salvation is eternal, there is no time when one of the elect is not elect. Of course, this can manifest itself in different ways in someone’s life. Someone might be raised a Christian, renounce his faith, and then return to it later in life. This is precisely why Augustine said that the only real way to know if you are elect is to persevere to the last breath.

Predestination in an Augustinian/Calvinist sense is the idea that God chooses, based solely on His own good pleasure and for reasons having nothing to do with any foreseen merit, an unknown (to us) number of people for salvation (the elect). And, also for reasons unknown to us, He chooses to pass over others, allowing them to receive the just end for their sin. It is usually acknowledged that God’s ways are unfathomable to us, but one explanation for His allowing some to remain in their sin is so that He might show forth his justice.

Perseverance is the idea that God will not allow any of His elect to fall away from Him or to fail to attain salvation. Those whom He calls and justifies He will glorify.