Augustine - Christianity Flashcards
The Fall
Adam and Eve disobeyed God by consuming the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
They were banished to this Fallen World from the Garden of Eden; following their sin, God said Eve will now have pain in childbirth and Adam would have to toil the land to make food
Human nature is corrupted by a tendency to do evil, as we were all ‘seminally present in the loins of Adam’, because Adam and Eve disobeyed God which caused a corruption in their nature that created an irresistible desire to sin; this corruption has been inherited by every human
The Garden of Eden
A perfect place where Adam and Eve had a harmonious relationship with nature and each other
God commanded they ‘go forth and multiply’, implying a sexual relationship
However, Augustine thought our rationality must have had perfect control over our bodies before it became corrupted by original sin - before the Fall, sex would have been a purely rational act without being driven by desire
Cupiditas and Caritas
Augustine thought the human will was based on love, of which there are two types:
Cupiditas is the love of earthly impermanent things, selfishness and love of self - ignorance and usually unhappiness results from this
Caritas is the Latin version of the Greek word Agape; it means love of others due to virtue as an expression of God’s will
Concupiscence
When bodily desire overpowers reason
Augustine thought the most obvious case of this is sexual desire, more specifically erections where the penis can be active when the mid doesn’t want it to be and inactive when the mind wants it
Scientific evidence against the Fall
We are not from two ancestors; other evidence also suggests we evolved and weren’t created
Augustine’s understanding of reproduction is false and even though he admitted procreation was a mystery to him, the question arises of what basis he had to claim all future generations are ‘in the loins of the father’
Homunculus theory
Defence of Augustine from biology
His views on the corruption of human nature can still be derived from the evidence of his self observation (stealing pears for the sin, not the consumption, at age 16) and of his society - he could still be right that human nature is corrupted by OG sin, even if the Fall isn’t the way it came about
G.K. Chesterton agreed with this, saying you could see evidence for original sin ‘in the streets’, as did R. Niebuhr who said it was the one ‘empirically verifiable’ Christian doctrine
Pelagius’ criticism that Augustine’s observations reflect his society, not human nature
Pelagius argues the way we were raised created the strong internal forces inclining us to evil and that it only appears to be our nature because of how thoroughly corrupted we are by our upbringing
Pelagius refers to this as being ‘educated in evil’
Contemporary historical and sociological evidence in support of Pelagius
MLK said ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice’, showing how we have progressed since Augustine
Steven Pinker attributes to the power of human reason that violence has decreased, even considering the 20th century
The avg human life seems more secure than at any prior point in history
If Augustine was correct that original sin caused an irresistible temptation to sin, then human behaviour could not have morally improved, yet it has.
Augustine’s exclusivism
He holds that we are so corrupted by OG sin that genuine persevering faith in Jesus is only possible with God’s help: his gift of grace, which predestines some people to have and keep faith in Christ and thus be one of the ‘elect’
Grace
It’s what saves humans and thereby allows them to heaven
Election refers to God’s choosing of those who receive the ‘gift’ which we cannot ‘take credit’ for earning (St Paul, Ephesians 2:8)
This suggests humans aren’t able to get to heaven alone; Augustine thinks this is due to OG sin because we are so corrupted that we are unable by ourselves to be good enough to deserve salvation
Only with God’s granting of undeserved grace can we possibly be saved
How does Romans 8 support Augustine
In it, St Paul seems to hold to predestination.
Augustine thought this view of election followed logically from the doctrine of OG sin and grace; if we cannot get ourselves into heaven then God has either predestined us for heaven or our original sin damns us to hell
This view is called double predestination: that heaven is predestined for some and hell for others
Matthew 25 also suggests this (‘prepared’)
Pelagius’ criticism that predestination makes punishment unjust
Pelagius argued it would be unjust for God to punish us for our sinful behaviour if that sinful behaviour is the actions of Adam and Eve
This suggests an indefensible view of moral responsibility, that people can be responsible for actions committed by others, which is of special absurdity in this case since the action occurred before birth
Pelagius concludes that having free will and thus being without coercion from OG sin makes sense of the prevalent Biblical theme of God’s judgement and punishment
How does Augustine attempt to sidestep Pelagius’ criticism that his theology is unjust
He’s not saying God blames humanity for Adam’s sin, but pointing out that it was a factual consequence of Adam’s sin that all future humanity became infected with OG sin
It’s not God’s fault, but Adam’s
Augustine argues predestination is not unjust of God, since we are corrupted by OG sin and so if we go to hell it is deserved
It might seem unfair, but Augustine puts it down to ‘the secret yet just judgement of God’ (epistemic distance) - this indicates the inscrutability of this as we cannot understand but should just have faith
Augustine points to Psalm 25:10 ‘All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth’ and concludes: ‘neither can his grace be unjust, nor his justice cruel’
Criticism from the case of a cancerous child
His theology seems incompatible with omnibenevolence to suggest we deserve punishment for something that isn’t our fault
It’s difficult to maintain that a child deserves cancer because it has original sin. Augustine would have to say that it is God’s justice for a child to get cancer and that God is omnibenevolent despite allowing it, which seems contradictory
Defence of Augustine’s theology from the idea that it contradicts omnibenevolence
The case of the cancerous child only seems a contradiction to those who have a 21st century interpretation of love
Alternatively, Augustine insists that God’s reasons and justice are beyond our understanding - we should not try to use our limited human minds to judge God
‘Of what we do not know, we must stay silent’ - Wittgenstein
Pelagius’ theory
The Bible is full of cases of God commanding humans to do morally good actions and avoid morally bad ones
Difficult to see why God would make these demands if OG sin meant humans couldn’t obey these commands
Seems to be accusing God of ignorance as if God were ‘unmindful of human frailty’ such that he ‘imposed commands upon man which man is not able to bear’ - the fact God commands such actions presupposes we do have free will to do them, meaning OG sin doesn’t inhibit us
‘That we are able to do good is of God, but that we actually do it is of ourselves’ - Pelagius
Concludes that humans are ‘to be praised for their willing and doing a good work’
What is the point of even trying to be good if we are so corrupted we are unable? - Pelagius’ thought
Pelagius thought this led to a fatalistic and lazy attitude to morality
Augustine’s Biblical evidence against Pelagius
He points to Paul ‘*For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose (Philippians 2:13) - Paul seems clear that human ability to will and do good acts are the result of God’s power working in us, not our own power
Paul also states ‘God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit’ (Romans 5:5) - So it seems that love is a gift from God, meaning our good actions made from love are really thanks to God; in that case, Pelagius is giving praise to humans which is due to God
Augustine argues if we receive love by divine grace, it suggests our good, loving actions were derived from that gift, not free will - without love we cannot do good and with love the good we do was due to God; either way there is no room for Pelagius’ free will
How did Pelagius respond to Augustine’s Biblical arguments
In a letter to the Pope, he explained that it was his view that all humans had free will but that when choosing good works, human will was ‘always assisted by divine help’
Augustine’s response to Pelagius’ papal letter
That his explanation was ‘inadequate’ to solve the criticism he faced because it didn’t explain exactly what God’s help consisted of
Pelagius could have meant that divine help was merely the guidance of the Bible. Augustine’s point is that the Biblical evidence clearly shows that divine help explicitly involves God directly intervening in our will, providing us with the love required for us to do good works without which we would be unable to do
Conclusion to the Pelasion controversy
What he meant by divine help was arguably the gift from God of free will; without that help, we couldn’t choose to do good but with it we have the power to choose good and thus merit salvation
