AUG SECULARIZER OF PAGAN PAST Flashcards
Augustine rejects a sacred conception of the Roman Empire and instead perceived Rome as a historical representative of ‘Babylon’ …. similar 2?
the Donatists of the 4th century
Rome as Babylon embodies….
the ‘earthly city’ that experiences both the ‘profane’ and ‘sacred’
pagan past fails to be defined as sacred history due to the existence of the profane that existed alongside
the sacred
Through his theological interpretations of pagan history, Augustine explores the conflict between
sin and holiness
which penetrates the substance of all human groups, including the Christian present which can find only ‘temporal peace’ due to preoccupations with material needs and the self, rather than divinely and exclusively with God
Unlike the Donatists Augustine rejects the dichotomy of the
sacred and profane as distinct spheres each contained within the pagan or Christian milieu, represented in his Christian philosophies of the ‘earthly’ and ‘heavenly’ cities
In The City of God Augustine secularises BOTH the
the pagan past and Christian present, linking the two by their similar secular identities – that of their akin distractions from the ‘heavenly city’
Augustine proclaims that both the pagan past and Christian present are organised around loyalties with no ???????? relation to God
positive
thus narrates each by debunking their secular natures
HOW DOES Augustine assimilate the pagan past to the ‘New Babylon’, suspended in a limbo between the ‘righteous’ and ‘unjust’
Portrayed in his dwellings on the idolatry of pagan Rome and within his commentaries on the Roman lust for power and corrupted quest for human glory
How does the topic of the present thus come into play?
as he condemns the unchanged moral footing of the ‘earthly’ Christian Roman citizens, of whom ‘swarm to the dissipation of the theatres whilst the rest of the world mourns the fate of Rome’
(Markus, Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of St Augustine, 1970)
Rome of the pagan past and present are representative of
civitas terrena
as well as the future of Rome which he argues could claim ‘no prophetic insight’
AUG NOT RELIG INDIFFERENT - agnostic attitude to history as he empties the idea of
Rome’s universally accepted religious significance – the Empire, like any ‘earthly’ society was neither ‘holy’ nor diabolical
He argues that its ultimate value is determined by the ultimate allegiances of its creators and members, of either piety or impiety… thus argues the existence of both…
neutralises the defining of the pagan past by either piety or impiety, and thus religion
main factors which deem the pagan past as disconnected from religion - central to Augustine’s perception of pagan Rome
moral corruption
Whilst Augustine recounts the Roman ‘love of glory, freedom, mastery and dominion’ he argues such values were
corrupted, and consequently bore corruption, by the moral wrongs of its patricians
the ‘good arts’ of the pagans were motivated
‘by deceitful intrigue’ rather than virtue
The distraction from virtuous motivation thus sets up the ‘objective of the earthly city’ – that of
‘temporal peace’
secularises the pagan past in this way, as a virtuous motivation towards the ‘heavenly city’ was
absent, as the pagan past placed no supreme value of God and his subordinates on earth
Empire organised around loyalties and motivations with no
positive relation to God
The pagan past pursued an ‘unnecessary’ ‘reliance on
human conjecture’ (XVIII), subsequently condemning their rejection of scripture as a mode to guide and motivate the success of the Roman Empire
In Book XVIII Augustine argues that the only clue to sacred history is within
the Bible, instructing ‘for there is nothing in them that can claim the support of firm scriptural authority’
how does he repudiates the application of any prophetic scheme to the pagan past, rejecting Eusebius’ glorification of Rome as an example of sacred history
secularises the natures of the creators and members of the pagan who do not abide by the sacred word and history of the Bible – thus their actions, despite the sacred presence available in scripture, are disconnected from God and thus religion
how does a argue: the severing of the bond between human law and natural law – an important factor in Augustine’s secularisation of the pagan past
Idolatry and the ‘vain’ pursuit of ‘wealth’ by pagan Rome
Markus (THE LATIN FATHERS) stresses the importance of the ‘rejection of natural law’ in pagan Rome, as they idolised
idolised false Gods and thus a governing by natural law, provided by the Christian ‘one and true God’, did not exist
The ancient Romans were members of ‘civitas terrena’- only of the ‘earthly, earthly’ – and thus their actions in history were not consciously led by
God, and not at least by a set of ‘natural laws’ governed by the ‘only true God’
idolatry quote
the ‘impudent, sacrilegious and ungodly argument’ of pagans ‘persuaded that the Roman empire was propagated and preserved by the worship of these gods’, rather than ‘to the all-powerful will of the most high God’
AUG belief of how Rome was established… which pagan Rome and present dissenters rejected
the Roman realm established by God, from Whom all power comes, and by Whose providence all things are ruled’