The Pelagian Controversy

Pelagius and his disciple Celestius taught that Adam's sin harmed only Adam and that people can obey God fully by their own free will. Augustine, catholic bishop of Hippo, answered in a long series of writings. Councils of African catholic bishops condemned the teaching, decisively at Carthage in 418, where they also condemned anyone who denied that newborns should be baptized for the remission of sins. The state church council at Ephesus condemned the Pelagians again in 431.