Letter 14

From: Braulio of Zaragoza, bishop To: Reccesuinth, Prince (later King) of the Visigoths Date: ~644 AD Context: Braulio writes to the young prince Reccesuinth on doctrinal matters, providing spiritual and intellectual guidance to the heir to the Visigothic throne. To the most noble and Christ-loving Prince Reccesuinth, You have asked me a question about the relationship between grace and free will that has occupied better minds than mine for three centuries, and I want to give you a serious answer rather than a pastoral brush-off. The key insight, which Augustine established and which I believe to be correct, is that grace and free will are not opposites — they operate in different registers. Grace does not replace the will; it heals the will, restoring to it the freedom that sin had damaged. When you choose to do good, you are choosing freely, and it is grace that has made genuine freedom possible for you. Without grace, what we call freedom is really just the ability to choose between different kinds of self-interest. This has practical consequences for how you think about your own conduct and about the governance that lies ahead of you. The laws you will one day give your people cannot make them virtuous — only grace can do that — but good law can create conditions in which virtue is possible, in which people are protected from the worst consequences of each other's vices, and in which the Church can do its work. A Christian king is not a priest, but he is called to serve the same ultimate end. I am conscious that you are young and that what you need is not a theological lecture but a framework for living. I hope this letter is at least a beginning of one. Your brother in Christ, Braulio of Zaragoza