Ali Bonner is Associate Professor of Celtic History in the Medieval period in the Department for Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, Cambridge University. She is a Fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge. Bonner is a specialist on Pelagius and the manuscript transmission of his writings, as well as ascetic literature of the fourth and fifth centuries CE.
Bonner was awarded her PhD from the Department for Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at Cambridge University in 2012. Her doctoral thesis was The Scale, Context, and Implications, of the Manuscript Transmission of Pelagius' Ad Demetriadem. [1] She studied for a BA and MA at Cambridge, as well as reading Classics at Oxford University. [2]
Bonner published a monograph, The Myth of Pelagianism, with the British Academy in 2018. [3] The volume was reviewed by Professor Josef Lössl as 'important and valuable' and can 'be recommended as a substantial contribution to the study of Pelagius and his works and thought.' [4] Bonner wrote the article, 'In Praise of Pelagius', for the Church Times on the publication of her monograph. [5]
Pelagianism is a Christian theological position that holds that the fall did not taint human nature and that humans by divine grace have free will to achieve human perfection. Pelagius, an ascetic and philosopher from the British Isles, taught that God could not command believers to do the impossible, and therefore it must be possible to satisfy all divine commandments. He also taught that it was unjust to punish one person for the sins of another; therefore, infants are born blameless. Pelagius accepted no excuse for sinful behaviour and taught that all Christians, regardless of their station in life, should live unimpeachable, sinless lives.
Pelagius was a British theologian known for promoting a system of doctrines which emphasized human choice in salvation and denied original sin. Pelagius was accused of heresy at the synod of Jerusalem in 415 and his doctrines were harshly criticized by Augustine of Hippo, especially the Pelagian views about mankind's good nature and individual responsibility for choosing asceticism. Pelagius especially stressed the freedom of human will. Very little is known about the personal life and career of Pelagius.
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The Myth of Pelagianism (2018) is a book by Ali Bonner which asserts that the Christian heresy known as Pelagianism was a "deliberately invented fiction" of its opponent Augustine, rather than an actual doctrine promoted by Pelagius. Bonner also asserts that Pelagius' actual positions were orthodox in contemporary Christianity of his time. The book is based on Bonner's doctoral and postdoctoral research and was published by Oxford University Press. It received mixed reviews; some reviewers were not convinced by Bonner's arguments.