Augustine on Human Nature Pt 2

Question 1

What is Concupiscence in Morality and What is Concupiscence in Theology?

Answer 1

In Morality: Bodily appetites or tendencies, simply passions
In Theology: Proneness of Sin in humankind nature due to the fall of Adam and Eve

Question 2

How did Augustine present Concupiscence? What views did he reject?

Answer 2

• Through the fallen state, man is unable to control his libido and the desiring aspect of the soul is dominated with sexual lust
• He rejected the Manichean argument for the body being evil
• He rejected the Neoplatonic notion that the body is imperfect due to it belonging to realms of flesh

Question 3

According to Augustine how does Concupiscence plague friendships? (Quote)

Answer 3

• Posits ideas of jealousy, betrayal and undermines true friendship whilst distracting one from loving God
• He himself had many female friends but would not meet them alone due to concupiscence
  “He expelled a young clergyman who had been found speaking with a nun” - Peter Brown

Question 4

How does concupiscence link to the postlapsarian world today?

Answer 4

• Man has spontaneous erections, wet dreams and loss of rationale during orgasm
• Concupiscence being more in control than the rational soul shows the weakened will
• People will go to great lengths for sexual pleasures

Question 5

‘Sin came into the world through one man’ - Romans
How does Augustine interpret this passage?

Answer 5

• Augustine made this sin an ontological condition of human existence, no one is truly good

Question 6

How is the Original Sin described as a ‘double death’?

Answer 6

• First death is caused by Adams rebels will which destroys the God-human relationship (symbolised by Adam and Eve’s embarrassment for their nakedness in front of God)
• Second death is the mortal state of every human with a wounded will and is Gods punishment for the first disobedience

Question 7

How is the Original Sin described as a ‘transmission of sin’

Answer 7

• The original act of disobedience is transmitted to future generations
• A bad tree bears rotten fruit and the same way we are ‘born in sin’

Question 8

In his later life what view of free will did Augustine present in his ‘On free will’?

Answer 8

• He rejected the platonist view that reason is sufficient to live a good life
• The sex dive, ignorance and sin were things that could not be overcome by reason aloe
• Humans will inevitably sin and are chained down by this

Question 9

What did Augustine believe is the biggest urge to sin?

Answer 9

• Believed that Concupiscence can affect even nuns and monks
• He told people to refrain from sexual intercourse after having children
• Only the elect will be saved, he was a firm believer in predestination

Question 10

What did Augustine believe would save us as humans?

Answer 10

• He believed that God’s grace is the only thing that can save us from guilt and punishment from the original sin
• He rejects that humans have sufficient reason to live a good life and that we can live in a state of ‘Sophrosyne’, without struggle.
• It is the only thing that can save us “from this body of death”

Question 11

Can the Fall be interpreted as a symbol of a spiritual journey?

Answer 11

• Christians sometimes do not treat the Fall as an event in history but as a journey of each individual
• Genesis 3 is an imaginative account where life gets hard and people sin against God
• Judaism has no account of Original Sin, simply a human journey towards perfection through following the Torah

Question 12

What did Richard Dawkins believe about the original sin?

Answer 12

• Believed it was irrational and dangerous, he found it ridiculous that the fate of humanity rested on two individuals
• He says even a symbolic account of the Fall is plagued by guilt, violence and repressed sexuality
• He calls the idea of God restoring human nature through death on a cross as sadomasochistic and irrational

Question 13

What Theory did Richard Dawkins believe in?

Answer 13

He instead refers to the theory of evolution where Homo sapiens developed from animals who were less sophisticated and had little conscience to rebel

Question 14

What did Steven Pinker believe about the Original Sin?

Answer 14

He believed it led to violence, suffering and the detestment of humanity until the post-enlightenment era where it was replaced by the humanitarian principle

Question 15

What is Pinkers humanitarian principle? (Quote)

Answer 15

• Humans get on better when people take into account the interest of others, no need for Gods grace
• “mutual unselfishness… we can simultaneously pursue our interests”
• Pinker argues the humanitarian principle is self evident through development in the world, e.g better treatment of women

Question 16

What does Reinhold Niebuhr believe about post enlightenment thinkers?

Answer 16

• He believes they have made it unfashionable to talk about sin
• A failure to understand sin leads to societal errors from everyone and those in power

Question 17

According to Niebuhr what does Western Philosophy fail to realise about collective sin and moral responsibility? (Quote)

Answer 17

• No action can be truly good, notions that it can be has corrupted human sense of responsibility
• He asserts that when people act collectively in group their faults become more exaggerated
  “Those who cultivate the spiritual elements… do so by divorcing themselves from… the problems of collective man” DiDoews

Question 17

Does Niebuhr believe the human condition can be fixed?

Answer 17

• He rejects religious and non religious notions that reason can provide enough moral goodness to create just societies
• He believes that this can be remedied by the human ego to understand its nature, know its limitations and connect with God
• He rejects Augustinian notions that we have an inability to remedy human nature

Question 18

Name some of Neibuhr’s famous paradoxes to show human nature is not simply good or bad?

Answer 18

1) Original Sin is both ‘inevitable but not necessary’
2) Sin is apparent in both evil and good acts, evil people can do good things whilst good people can act selfishly for self affirmations
3) Individuals may do good but in a group they might not

Question 19

What did Sigmund Freud believe?

Answer 19

• Contributed to the Western view and challenges Augustines outlook on sex
• Believes the libido is vital to the development of human relations and morality

Question 20

What are Freuds similarities with Augustine?

Answer 20

Despite being an atheist and rejection the Original Sin…
- Believed neurotic patients can be traced back to an event in their history, much like the original sin and Augustines view on human nature
- Believed that sexual neurosis can be passed through culture and society, much like Augustines transmission of original sin

Question 21

What are Freuds differences with Augustine?

Answer 21

• Freud believed the cure for neurosis is psychoanalysis whilst Augustin believed guilt is only cured through Gods grace and redemption
• Psychoanalysis involves recalling events that caused particular trauma to move on, for Freud a belief in God only increases guilt and is unnecessary

Question 22

What is Freuds influence on Christianity?

Answer 22

• Christians stopped seeing sexual intercourse as purely for procreation
• Christians do not think sexual pleasure is a sign of lost control
• Christian do not believe sexual intercourse passes on universal guilt