He did not accept that original sin corrupted human nature, and argued that man could live a Christian life (although not "void of slips and falls") and be entitled to justification. Nelson argues that the drive for rational justification of religion, rather than a symptom of secularization, was actually "a Pelagian response to the theodicy problem" because "the conviction that everything necessary for salvation must be accessible to human reason was yet another inference from God's justice". In Pelagianism, libertarian free will is necessary but not sufficient for God's punishment of humans to be justified, because man must also understand God's commands. As a result, thinkers such as Locke, Rousseau and Immanuel Kant argued that following natural law without revealed religion must be sufficient for the salvation of those who were never exposed to Christianity because, as Locke pointed out, access to revelation is a matter of moral luck. Early modern proto-liberals such as Milton, Locke, Leibniz, and Rousseau advocated religious toleration and freedom of private action (eventually codified as human rights), as only freely chosen actions could merit salvation. 19th-century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard dealt with the same problems (nature, grace, freedom, and sin) as Augustine and Pelagius, which he believed were opposites in a Hegelian dialectic. He rarely mentioned Pelagius explicitly even though he inclined towards a Pelagian viewpoint. However, Kierkegaard rejected the idea that man could perfect himself. Contemporary responses John Rawls was a critic of Pelagianism, an attitude that he retained even after becoming an atheist. His anti-Pelagian ideas influenced his book A Theory of Justice, in which he argued that differences in productivity between humans are a result of "moral arbitrariness" and therefore unequal wealth is undeserved. In contrast, the Pelagian position would be that human sufferings are largely the result of sin and are therefore deserved. According to Nelson, many contemporary social liberals follow Rawls rather than the older liberal-Pelagian tradition. The conflict between Pelagius and the teachings of Augustine was a constant theme throughout the works of Anthony Burgess, in books including A Clockwork Orange, Earthly Powers, A Vision of Battlements and The Wanting Seed. Scholarly reassessment During the 20th century, Pelagius and his teachings underwent a reassessment. In 1956, John Ferguson wrote: Thomas Scheck writes that although Pelagius' views on original sin are still considered "one-sided and defective": References Notes Citations Sources Further reading External links Pelagius Library: Online site dedicated to the