4
worldwide church in communion with Rome."
8
But especially in his later writings, Augustine
goes beyond even this to contend that having never heard the gospel does not deliver one from
the consequence of damnation for a lack of faith in Christ. The development of his doctrines of
original sin and predestination resulted in a framework for extra ecclesiam which, for Augustine,
was fairly exclusive. Those outside the Catholic Church are not saved.
There is, however, in the complexity of his theology, a place in Augustine still for the
possible salvation of at least some who are outside the Church. While Augustine is quite harsh
in his condemnations of the Donatists, he may leave room for some of them being saved. In a
letter he writes to some of them, he says:
The Apostle Paul said: "As for a man that is a heretic, after admonishing him once or
twice, have nothing to do with him" (Tit 3:10). But those who maintain their own
opinion, however false and perverted, without obstinate ill will, especially those who
have not originated the error by bold presumption, but have received it from parents who
had been led astray and had lapsed . . . those who seek the truth with careful industry and
are ready to be corrected when they have found it, are not to be rated among heretics.
9
Roman Catholic theologian Michael Cameron summarizes Augustine this way:
Those he condemned were the leaders who knew better. But most Donatist Christians
sucked in error with their mothers milk. They did not understand that the Catholic
Church was the true Church. Thus, according to Augustine, Donatists could be saved,
but if a Donatist clearly understood that the Catholic Church was the one true Church and
still rejected it, he was condemned.
10
The importance of this idea for current Roman Catholic thought is enormous. It suggests that a
heretic can be saved if his rejection of the Church is fundamentally an issue of ignorance rather
than rebellion.
The next important figure in the development of extra ecclesiam is Thomas Aquinas.
Aquinas affirms the declaration of Pope Innocent at the Fourth Lateran Council that there is no
8
Sullivan, Francis. Salvation Outside the Church? Tracing the History of the Catholic Response. (New York:
Paulist, 1992) 31.
9
Schaff, Philip. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. vol 1. (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994) 276.