The case for grace

After years of writing speculative theology, Augustine returned in later life to the causa gratiae,* the case for grace. He was convinced that humanity, despite our many achievements, could be most aptly compared to a little child before God: totally dependent. Why did he write so much about grace?

First and foremost because no subject gives me greater pleasure. For what ought to be more attractive to us sick men, than grace, grace by which we are healed; for us lazy men, than grace, grace by which we are stirred up; for us men longing to act, than grace, by which we are helped?

- Augustine, Epistle 186.7.39.

It is his insistence of the priority of divine grace that was Augustine's most significant legacy, particularly once a brilliant young Augustinian monk caught onto the idea...
*I include the Latin to show jm and MPJ that I am learning/can copy things out of books.