Augustine

Question 1

rousseau view on human nature

Answer 1

o French Philosopher
o Argued humans act generously and act otherwise when circumstances cause them to.
o ‘Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains’
o Purpose of life is to cut free from these chains and rediscover who we are born to be by cooperating with eachother etc.

Question 2

hobbes view on human nature

Answer 2

o In a ‘state of nature’ man is selfish and brutish.
o We are animal-like, yet still have ability to reason.
o Purpose of life is to conquer animal side.

Question 3

augustine summary

Answer 3

• One of the early Church fathers lived from 354-430AD.
• Lived in Algeria and worked as a Christian writer and teacher in Africa
• Influenced by Plato.
• Wrote autobiographical writings, which tell us about his life and conversion to Christianity.

Question 4

augustine manicheanism

Answer 4

o Believed universe is in a cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil, we do bad when the evil forces are winning, we are therefore not responsible for our own moral actions.
o Rejected these ideas when he became a Christian.

Question 5

augustine neo-platonism

Answer 5

o They believe that humans are able to contemplate the one i.e. God by ascending to different levels of reality from the material world to God.
o The soul and body should work together but the soul cannot control the body and this is the reason for evil and suffering.
o Truth, wisdom and happiness can only be achieved when the soul is separated from all material influences through contemplation.
o Merged ideas of Plato with NT, didn’t believe JC was SofG, purely an enlightened being.

Question 6

augustine scandalous life

Answer 6

o He ran ‘wild with lust’ in his adolescence, had a concubine and a child with her. Dismissed her when he was married, sex was influential part of life, reflected in his equating sin with lust in his beliefs.
o Lied to his parents and teachers, even stole a pear for the fun of it!!!

Question 7

plagiarism influence

Answer 7

o Pelagius was a GB monk, taught the salvation of JC = sins forgiven.
o Believed man did not tend towards evil, it is our responsibility to do well and rely on our autonomy and ourselves.
o Should pray and fast to attain salvation without need for God to give it to us through grace.
o Emphasis on autonomy meant he believed Adam’s sin was personal and could not be passed on, no Original Sin and therefore no need for baptism.
o Augustine spent much of his life condemning Pelagius.

Question 8

genesis view of humanity pre fall

Answer 8

• Augustine agreed with the idea that men and women are both immortal as indicated in Genesis 1:27.
• Didn’t think humanity was immortal; so therefore does not think that sin was reason for human mortality.
• Genesis 1:28 instructs man and woman to ‘increase and multiply’, which Augustine sees as God instructing carnal intercourse, therefore must be mortal.

Question 9

pre fall - imago dei

Answer 9

• Imago dei means that women were also created with a rational mind, argues ‘man, therefore, before the fall, was good…’
o Viewed men and women as equal in that they both had rational minds.
o However, Eve being made from Adam suggests Adam should rule her as well as be his helpmate.
o She is still the archetype of how God intended women, however.
• States of Adam

Question 10

pre fall adam original state

Answer 10

• State of righteousness, had the capacity and was responsible to avoid sin and the subsequent spiritual and physical death.
• Man had the capacity to not sin and die.
• ‘Posse non peccare et mori’ - Able to not sin and die

Question 11

pre fall adam potential state

Answer 11

• If Adam has remained obedient to God then God could have made him forever confirmed in holiness and apart from sin.
• If he had remained sinless, he would have been immortal.
• ‘Non posse peccare et mori’ - Not able to sin and die

Question 12

pre fall harmony

Answer 12

• Humans enjoyed a state of harmony: body, will and reason all in agreement.
o Will was God-given, could choose to do good or evil.
o Will is synonymous with love, which can pull us in various directions.
• Will is driven by Cupiditas (self-love) and Caritas (generous love).
• Both necessary to love your neighbour, as you must love yourself also which in turn will lead to love of God.

Question 13

pre fall adam and eve relationship

Answer 13

• Adam and Eve had a sexual relationship as married friends, had potential to produce children. Sex was under full control of the mind, based on love and desire to procreate, with childhood being painless.
o Sex is secondary to friendship, would occur without lust, Adam would be able to summon erection as his will was so in tune with his body.
o Augustine felt true friendship is possible if you love Christ first.
o ‘Adam and Eve were in a state of righteousness or friendship with God. They were also immune to physical illness and death.

Question 14

stephen duffy pre fall quote

Answer 14

o ‘The body was wholly subject to the soul, carnal desires to reason and will, and the will of God’. (Stephen J Duffy)

Question 15

change in adam and eve post fall

Answer 15

• Adam and Eve’s disobedience led to the awareness of their sexual bodies; saw they were naked and hid.
• It was their desire for autonomy and power that led to their fall, they wanted to be like God.
• Post-Fall, sexual pleasure and the will came apart. Sexual desire within individuals reminds us of the original sin of mankind.
• Status of Adam and Eve’s relationship changed, man must now dominate his wife and be her master, as the Fall was Eve’s fault.
o It was Satan that placed the idea of disobedience in Eve’s mind, but it was human free will that caused the act of rebellion.
• Adam became enslaved by sin, pitiful and damnable before God.
• They could never again enjoy a harmonious relationship with eachother of God as their cupiditas now separate from their caritas.

Question 16

post fall concupiscence

Answer 16

• Man now dominated by concupiscence:
o Man no longer able to control his libido, dominates human experience.
o Spontaneous erections, wet dreams and lack of sexual control are evidence of the body mocking the will as if it is an ‘unwanted intruder’.
o Recognised this idea in Romans 7: 15-20 by Paul
• Paul speaks about inner desire to do the right thing, but that he is constantly drawn to do the wrong thing.
• ‘I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do’.
• ‘It is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me’.

Question 17

akrasia post fall

Answer 17

o Idea that we do things that we are know are wrong.
o Could potentially support the idea that our will cannot be controlled by our reason.
o Augustine argues the human will is God given ad is synonymous with cupiditas and caritas.
o Fall made our will distorted and motivated by desire rather than good.
o Describes the will in Confessions Book 8 as ‘half-wounded and divided’ as well as ‘at war with itself and unable to obey its own orders’.

Question 18

socrates view of akrasia

Answer 18

o Socrates argues this does not exist
• When we act we do what gives us pleasure (evaluative hedonism)
• Reason is used to calculate short and long-term happiness; we may choose a painful short term to have a long-term pleasurable result.

Question 19

aristotle view of akrasia

Answer 19

o Aristotle argues the reason we might do something wrong is because we don’t know all the facts and therefore may act for what we think is the best.
• However… if I am motivated by deeper desires, am I not fully in control? Augustine would argue that this is because our wills are weak.

Question 20

original sin post fall

Answer 20

o Everyone is born sinful in the post-lapsarian world.
o Adam’s sin is passed on from generation to generation through sexual intercourse.
o ‘Augustine understands humanity to be born with a sinful disposition as part of human nature, with inherent bias towards acts of sinning’ (McGrath)

Question 21

how is original sin a reflection of augustine’s own experience

Answer 21

• Drew connection between the habit of his sexual activity and the freedom of his will.
• Conversion to Christianity convinced Augustine that he must renounce his life and enter the monastic life. However he found it extremely difficult to give up his involvement in sexual pleasure.
• Described this status as one of ‘moral paralysis’, meaning a lack of freedom brought on by the accumulation of his own wrong choices.
• Interpreted his sexual desire as the point of resistance to the will of God.
• Believed the real conflict was between the two wills: a will to love and serve God as well as a will to love and serve only himself. (Cupiditas vs. caritas).
• Reason for his emphasis on concupiscence. Truly believed that everywhere we look, we can see evidence of the rebellious will, proof of all post-fall sex involving lust, with babies being born with a divided will.

Question 22

original sin - double death

Answer 22

• First death is caused by Adam’s rebellious will, symbolised by nakedness of Adam and Eve.
• Second death is the mortal state of every human being and is punishment for the first disobedience.

Question 23

original sin - transmission of sin

Answer 23

• Original act of disobedience transmitted by a ‘chain of disasters’, we all bear Adam’s rebellious nature.
• This excludes Mary, who was conceived without lust.

Question 24

original sin as cause of lack of free will

Answer 24

o When young, believed humans have free will, followed Platonist view.
o Changed viewpoint as came to believe that the sex drive etc. meant there was no way humans could overcome this punishment.
o Believed we prefer falsehood to truth due to our souls being fettered and chained by sin.
o Used the term ‘liberum arbitrium captivatum’ (the captive free will) to describe the influence of sin on our free will.
o Even believed monks and nuns were not strong to resist concupiscence.

Question 25

analogy used for original sin as cause of lack of free will

Answer 25

o However, did not think free will had been destroyed, simply that it had been distorted by sin.
• Used analogy of two balance pans.
• One represents good, the other evil.
• Scales still work, but are seriously biased towards evil.
o Only God knows who is deserving of his grace to get to heaven (the elect), must have hope and faith.
• However… does this not deny the idea of God’s benevolence and the idea of JC’s death for us all?

Question 26

original sin as cause of human selfishness

Answer 26

o Sin darkens the human mind.
o Result is that we are all vessels of pride, greed and selfishness.
o We are prone to seek happiness in pleasures of the flesh and power over others, even though we know it is not right.

Question 27

original sin as cause of instability and corruption analogy

Answer 27

o Speaks of two cities
• City of God
• Those who glorify and love God completely
• Unified by common love of God
• Earthly City
• Created by selfishness, people put themselves first
• Members look for self-glory
• Believes Original Sin has led to a restless lust for power in the Earthly City and is full of arrogant people who will not rest until they have dominated over others.

Question 28

original sin as cause of corruption and instability generically

Answer 28

o Original Sin has led people not to be able to live together in peace; we have a strong tendency towards conflict.
o View of Original Sin has led to instability in all human societies and this is reflected in the CCC. It looks towards John 1:29 which speaks of the ‘sin of the world’ and says this can be interpreted to mean the ‘negative influence exerted on people by communal situations and social structures that are the fruit of men’s sins’.

Question 29

god’s grace

Answer 29

• Plagued by his previous life ‘who will rescue me from this body of death?’ (Romans 7:24). Felt that the only answer was God.
• Also believed the only cure for sin was Jesus’ death, ‘by his wounds we are healed’ (Isaiah 53:5)
• We are completely dependent on God for salvation; only God’s grace can heal us.
o ‘Apart from me you can do nothing’ (John 15:5)
o God’s grace for Augustine is God’s unmerited attention and divine assistance.
o It is a gift not a reward and is not given to us all. The chosen few are predestined for salvation, with the rest being condemned to damnation.

Question 30

3 functions of grace

Answer 30

o Prevenient Grace
• God’s grace active in our lives before conversion
• Conversion is where God’s grace is operative
o Operative Grace
• God converts sinners without any assistance on their behalf
• Completely from God, does not rely on human cooperation
o Cooperative Grace
• Once God has converted a sinner, he collaborates with that human in order for them to grow in holiness.

Question 31

power of grace

Answer 31

o Grace is a liberating force; it can remove the weight to evil as well as heal our human nature.
• Clear that Augustine dismissed the Platonist idea of sophrosyne; meaning through self-control humans can live life without struggle.
• Via God’s Grace, people will be able to achieve the summum bonum.
o ‘Eternal life is the Supreme Good and eternal death the Supreme Evil, and in order to achieve one and avoid the other, we must live rightly’.
o Summum bonum cannot be achieved now.

Question 32

RCC view on original sin

Answer 32

o CCC: ‘we must know Christ as the source of grace in order to know Adam as the source of sin’.
o CCC teaches that we are created Imago Dei, yet the ‘whole of history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents’
o Also agree that because of the Fall, tension occurs now between man and woman, marked by lust and domination.
o Church teaches ‘the world is virtually inundated by sin’.
o However, CCC states that ‘human nature has not been totally corrupted’ as baptism eradicates Original Sin.
o Still weakened and inclined to evil, must battle against evil.

Question 33

karl barth criticism

Answer 33

• Karl Barth argues that ‘Adam has no existence on the plane of history and of psychological analysis’, the Fall doesn’t happen because of Adam’s sin but sin is the first apparent effect of the fall. Barth feels that Adam represents a figure of one to come e.g. Jesus. Adam represents sin and death whilst Christ represents righteousness and life.

Question 34

schleimacher and kant criticism

Answer 34

• Schleimacher and Kant also argue that the fall is not a literal story, should take a non-historical approach to the story.

Question 35

edward t oakes criticism

Answer 35

• Edward T Oakes puts forward 3 arguments against original sin:
o Never mentioned in Bible.
o Idea of literal Adam collapses under scientific development of evolution and geology.
o Morally contradictory to say we are morally culpable for possessing instincts in which we have no choice in possessing.

Question 36

richard dawkins criticism

Answer 36

• Richard Dawkins in ‘The Selfish Gene’ puts forward reasons against the literal story of the fall:
o Argued that selfishness is at the heart of humanity due to genetic make up.
o Evolution proves that Adam and Eve can’t be literal individuals.
o The idea that God wanted to kill his son as a way of restoring humanity is absurd and makes God sadomasochist.

Question 37

steven pinker criticism

Answer 37

• Steven Pinker argues that the Augustinian ideas that of the fall and Original Sin have been responsible for much violence. A modern interpretation is the humanitarian principle where humans tend to get on better with eachother when they take into account the interests of others. Doesn’t require God’s grace but human reason.

Question 38

freud criticism

Answer 38

• Freud puts forward the idea of the id (selfish, childish desire), the ego (balance of 2) and the superego (parental, inherited voice). When we see selfish and bad behaviour it is because of the strength of the id. The libido is a vital part of human development and sex is a defining part of human relationships. Thus, there is a psychological and societal reason we sin. Freud does accept that sexual neurosis can be passed on through culture and society but rejects the idea that it is to do with Original Sin. Claims the cure of neurosis is psychoanalysis.

Question 39

mary daly criticism

Answer 39

• Feminist theologians such as Mary Daly accused Augustine’s exegesis especially of Eve being a literal figure upon which the whole sin of mankind rests, is wrong. It has caused the Western Christianity’s degradation of women and sexuality etc. Rosemary Radford Ruether also argued Original Sin denigrates the role of women.

Question 40

generally positives of original sin

Answer 40

• Some argue that Original Sin is the only explanation for the universality of sin. If we were all born without the inclination to sin, we’d expect some to not sin. It also does not explain how society has become so corrupt.
• Jews have a strong commitment to history and it is interesting how in Luke’s Gospel, the historian Luke includes Adam in the genealogy of Jesus.

Question 41

duffy view

Answer 41

• Steven Duffy argues that due to the evil in society such as ‘two world wars, the Gulags, the Holocaust, Korea, Vietnam, the nuclear and ecological threats’, ‘evil has become more powerful’. ‘In all these perspectives evil is held to be inherent, somehow structural, ingrained’

Question 42

edward t oakes view

Answer 42

• Edward T Oakes argues for Augustine’s teachings: ‘despite its obvious paradoxically, it proves to be more illuminating of the human condition than its competitors’.

Question 43

thomas anthony harris view

Answer 43

• Thomas Anthony Harris has made the observation from his data that badness is apparent in all people, calls this ‘intrinsic badness’.

Question 44

burton l white view

Answer 44

• Child psychologist Burton L White argues there seems to be a selfish trait from birth in all children, which expresses itself in actions that are blatantly selfish.