SOURCE: Grant, Patrick. “Original Sin and the Fall of Man in Thomas Traherne.” ELH 38, no. 1 (March 1971): 40-61.

In the following essay, Grant examines Traherne's theology and concludes that his beliefs can be characterized as Pelagian.

The theology of Thomas Traherne on the questions of Original Sin and the Fall of Man has engaged critics for some time. The charge usually directed against Traherne is that he is Pelagian, and there are of course counter-arguments which claim that he is not.¹ The argument about Traherne's orthodoxy has, however, been based on false premises. To argue that Traherne is Pelagian is really to assume that he is not Augustinian, since the Pelagian heresy is defined in controversy with an Augustinian canon of orthodoxy. But Augustine's Fall theology is not the only type which is consistent with the specifications of the Thirty Nine Articles that “man is very far gone from...