Your browser does not fully support modern features. Please upgrade for a smoother experience.
Submitted Successfully!
Thank you for your contribution! You can also upload a video entry or images related to this topic. For video creation, please contact our Academic Video Service.
Version Summary Created by Modification Content Size Created at Operation
1 handwiki Dean Liu -- 2373 2022-11-18 01:36:34

Video Upload Options

We provide professional Academic Video Service to translate complex research into visually appealing presentations. Would you like to try it?
Cite
If you have any further questions, please contact Encyclopedia Editorial Office.
HandWiki. Synergism (Theology). Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36347 (accessed on 03 October 2026).
HandWiki. Synergism (Theology). Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36347. Accessed October 03, 2026.
HandWiki. "Synergism (Theology)" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36347 (accessed October 03, 2026).
HandWiki. (2022, November 24). Synergism (Theology). In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36347
HandWiki. "Synergism (Theology)." Encyclopedia. Web. 24 November, 2022.
Synergism (Theology)
Edit

In Christian theology, synergism is the position of those who hold that salvation involves some form of cooperation between divine grace and human freedom. It stands opposed to monergism, a doctrine most commonly associated with the Lutheran and Reformed Protestant traditions, whose soteriologies have been strongly influenced by the North African bishop and Latin Church Father Augustine of Hippo (354–430). Lutheranism, however, confesses a monergist salvation and synergist damnation (see below). Synergism is upheld by the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, and by the Methodist and Pentecostal traditions of Protestantism. It is an integral part of Arminian theology. Synergism and semipelagianism each teach some collaboration in salvation between God and man, but semipelagian thought teaches that the beginning half of faith is an act of human will. The Council of Orange (529), Lutheran Formula of Concord (1577), and other local councils each condemned semipelagianism as heresy.

divine grace semipelagianism synergism

References

  1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Reader's Guide to Themes (Burns & Oates 1999 ISBN:0-86012-366-9), p. 766 https://books.google.com/books?id=cymM4xEM76wC&pg=PA766&dq=Catechism+Catholic+Church+synergy&hl=en&ei=cu4dTLPRE8qHOLbolPEL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
  2. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 405 http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p1s2c1p7.htm
  3. Glenn F. Chesnut, Changed by Grace (iUniverse 2006 ISBN:978-0-59585044-0), p. 145 https://books.google.com/books?id=v4BA7BoFTrUC&pg=PA145&dq=Catholic+%22free+will%22+synergy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0Zx5U7_3LKje7AaryIGoCg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Catholic%20%22free%20will%22%20synergy&f=false
  4. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1742 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P5O.HTM
  5. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2001 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c3a2.htm
  6. Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_31101999_cath-luth-joint-declaration_en.html
  7. Council of Trent, quoted in Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1993 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c3a2.htm
  8. Payton Jr., James R. (14 January 2010) (in English). Light from the Christian East: An Introduction to the Orthodox Tradition. InterVarsity Press. p. 151. 
  9. Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church (Penguin UK 1993 ISBN:978-0-14192500-4 https://books.google.com/books?id=ckkRoFrW_dQC&pg=PT274&dq=Ware+synergeia&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ov15U5GIDszA7Abq7oH4CQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Ware%20synergeia&f=false
  10. Pan-Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem (1672), Decree 14 http://www.crivoice.org/creeddositheus.html
  11. Stamoolis, James J. (5 October 2010). Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism. Zondervan. p. 138. ISBN 9780310864363. "A further concession is made, one that could easily be made by an Arminian Protestant who shared the Orthodox understanding of synergism (i.e., regeneration as the fruit of free will's cooperation with grace): "The Orthodox emphasis on the importance of the human response toward the grace of God, which at the same time clearly rejects salvation by works, is a healthy synergistic antidote to any antinomian tendencies that might result from (distorted) jurdicial understandings of salvation." 
  12. Heitzenrater, Richard P. (20 August 2013) (in English). Wesley and the People Called Methodists: Second Edition. Abingdon Press. p. 18. ISBN 9781426765537. "The primacy of grace was central to their position, though the implication of divine/human cooperation (synergism) led many to criticize the Arminians for stressing human activity in salvation. The controversies that developed over this issue toward to end of the seventeenth century led to some interesting name calling that is important to an understanding of the name "Methodist."" 
  13. What is Monergism? http://www.monergism.com/what_is_monergism.php
  14. "Some Remarks on Mr. Hill's Review" by John Wesley
  15. Predestination Calmly Considered by John Wesley https://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:8FHZ-rIUTw0J:evangelicalarminians.org/files/Wesley.%2520PREDESTINATION%2520CALMLY%2520CONSIDERED.pdf+wesley+predestination+calmly+considered&hl=en&gl=us
  16. John Wesley's Scriptural Christianity: A Plain Exposition of His Teaching on Christian Doctrine (1994) by Thomas Oden, chapter 8: "On Grace and Predestination", pp. 243-252 (ISBN:031075321X)
  17. Semipelagianism, Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13703a.htm
  18. Conferences, John Cassian, 3rd Conference, 19th Chapter, http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/04z/z_0360-0435__Cassianus__The_Conferences_Of_John_Cassian__EN.pdf.html
More
Upload a video for this entry
Information
Subjects: Religion
Contributor MDPI registered users' name will be linked to their SciProfiles pages. To register with us, please refer to https://encyclopedia.pub/register :
View Times: 5.3K
Entry Collection: HandWiki
Revision: 1 time (View History)
Update Date: 24 Nov 2022
Notice
You are not a member of the advisory board for this topic. If you want to update advisory board member profile, please contact office@encyclopedia.pub.
OK
Confirm
Only members of the Encyclopedia advisory board for this topic are allowed to note entries. Would you like to become an advisory board member of the Encyclopedia?
Yes
No
${ textCharacter }/${ maxCharacter }
Submit
Cancel
There is no comment~
${ textCharacter }/${ maxCharacter }
Submit
Cancel
${ selectedItem.replyTextCharacter }/${ selectedItem.replyMaxCharacter }
Submit
Cancel
Confirm
Are you sure to Delete?
Yes No
Academic Video Service