Augustine's Teaching on Human Nature Flashcards
Augustine
354 AD - 430 AD
Was Augustine before or after Jesus?
After
Was Augustine before or after Aquinas?
Before
Was Augustine religious?
Yes, he was a Christian philosopher
What big idea did Augustine come up with?
The idea of original sin and the Fall
What did Augustine say original sin and the Fall had done to humans?
It has prevented our ability to reason properly
Where was Augustine born?
Thagaste, North Africa
What did Augustine become?
A Manichee
How long did Augustine spend in the cult of Manichees?
9 years
When did Augustine convert to Christianity?
386 AD
What did Augustine believe about the nature of God?
- that he was spiritual, not material
- he was not present in time, space and matter (transcendent)
- he was loving (omnibenevolent)
- he was perfect (immutable)
- he did not need to create humans, for if he needed the love of humans, he wouldn’t be God
- he chose to create humans, giving them free will
Manichaeism beliefs summary
- believed that the universe was a dualistic, cosmic battle between good and evil
- believed everyone had two souls - a good soul and a bad soul, which is why we perform wrong actions, but sometimes good actions
- there isn’t good and bad things in the world, there are just lesser good things. Idea that evil is a privation, e.g., cold is not a thing, but cold is what you get when you take away the heat.
- fails to see that all things have some goodness, due to its dualistic approach
Was Augustine well-educated?
Yes
Why did Augustine travel to Italy?
To teach rhetoric
What was Augustine’s position in the Church?
He was ordained a priest in Hippo and later, became the bishop of Hippo
Around how many sermons did Augustine preach?
Between 6,000 - 10,000 sermons in his lifetime
What was it that Augustine miraculously did?
He miraculously healed an ill man
Who was the doctrine of original sin formulated in large part by?
Augustine
What is Augustine an important figure in?
Western Christianity
Platonism
By using your reason, you work up to knowing God. You can understand him through your cognitive reasoning, which appeals to intellectuals.
What do Pelagians believe?
That we are born a blank canvas with no sin and the God-given ability to be perfect
What do Pelagians believe about infant baptism?
They believe that newborn babies don’t have to be baptised, for they believe that all humans are born a blank slate and have not sinned, so therefore, don’t need to be redeemed.
What was it like before the Fall?
- humans given a unique position
- they are stewards of the Earth
- they have dominion (rule)
- they’re made in God’s image (Imago Dei)
- Adam and Eve were in complete harmony with each other
- harmony with other creatures and with God
- they lived in a loving friendship
- Eve is secondary, but necessary to him for reproduction
Cupiditas
Love of self and selfish needs
Caritas
Generous love for others
What type of love links to lust?
Cupiditas
Where does genuine love come from?
It comes out of both cupiditas (self-love) and caritas (generous love for others) that will result in love for God.
When were humans immortal?
When Adam and Eve were created and before the Fall took place, humans weren’t created to die, but original sin brought this into the world.
Was the Fall a positive or negative event for human relationships with God?
It was a negative event, for it led to a ruined relationship between God and humans.
Was the Fall a positive or negative event for human relationships?
Negative, the relationship between Adam and Eve was ruined, because they once made love out of caritas, and after the Fall, it became out of cupiditas
What did Augustine think it was that led to the Fall?
Pride
What did Original Sin mean for humans?
That they could not return to the perfect relationship with God.
Concupiscence
Desire for self-gratification
What did the Manichees believe about the body?
The body is evil
What did the Neo-Platonists believe about the body?
That it is imperfect
What did Augustine believe about the body?
That if God created the body, it cannot be evil. He thought that everything God created is good.
Why do some Christians believe that everyone is born sinful?
Because Adam’s ‘seed’ was tainted with original sin and this has been passed through generations, meaning that everyone is born sinful. We all came from Adam and we’re all related to Adam and Eve = we have this sin inside of us.
How has the Fall effected people today?
- everyone is tainted by original sin
- everyone cannot live a morally pure life
- original sin has corrupted the whole of humanity
Did Augustine think that people could reconcile their relationship with God through their own efforts?
No
How did Augustine think that the relationship between humans and God can be restored?
He argued that only God would be able to restore their relationship and this would only happen through grace
How did God provide a way of restoring the relationship between himself and humanity, according to Augustine?
Through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross
What is seen as the cure for sin to Augustine?
The grace of God
Give some criticisms of the Fall and original sin
- It should not be taken as a literal, historical account
- natural selection
- the idea of humans having original sin can be seen as difficult to reconcile with the idea of having a loving and forgiving God.
Criticism of the Fall and original sin: it should not be taken literally
The whole of Augustine’s theology is based on Genesis stories happening. If you are more liberal, this is an allegory to help us understand how we got here, so these people are likely to have a problem with original sin.
Criticism of the Fall and original sin: natural selection
Humanity evolved over a long time through natural selection, making it difficult to accept that there is something special about human will and rationality setting people apart from other animals. When exactly in human evolution did humanity become ‘in the image of God’?
What happened in the Enlightenment period?
Rise of science and reason, fall of religion
Why might some people like the views of Augustine?
Because he discusses challenges and emotions attached, which can be seen as convincing to a modern audience, because of their sincerity
What did Augustine think we need to do in order to approach God’s perfection?
He thought that humanity can never approach the perfection of God unless people accept God’s help.
How are God’s qualities questioned through the Fall?
His omnipotence and omnibenevolence is questioned through allowing the act to take place and not undoing the damage that was done + through condemning the whole of humanity as a species, rather than forgiving them.
What does Augustine suggest about sexuality?
That there is something impure or shameful about it
When did Augustine’s views about original sin become less popular?
During the enlightenment
Does Augustine have a pessimistic or optimistic view of human nature?
He is often considered to have a pessimistic view and his view of human free will became more pessimistic as he grew older
How did Augustine’s views become more pessimistic as he got older?
In his earlier writings, he talked about how wrongdoing was an ‘absence of goodness’ rather than a real evil force, however, later in his writings, he concluded that there is no escaping our fallen nature through our own efforts.
How could it be argued that Augustine was an optimistic thinker?
He put lots of time into writing about things that are wrong with humanity and offered a cure (the saving grace of God) along with just saying the diagnosis. If he only said the diagnosis, he would be viewed as pessimistic, but trying to find a way out from sin of humanity can be seen as optimistic.
What type of love can’t lead people to the summum bonum?
Cupiditas
How is friendship and love affected by the Fall?
Augustine believed that friendship and love are not entirely destroyed because of the Fall, but relationships are made complicated and strained
Who did Augustine believe that sin can be overcome for?
Those chosen in Christ
What did Pelagius believe?
That the Fall does not destroy the human potential to become good
What did Pelagius insist on?
The potential and goodness of the human will
What is the humanitarian principle?
The principle which insists that humans become good simply through prioritising the interests of others.
What did Reinhold Niebuhr place an emphasis on?
Social sin
Who placed an emphasis on social sin?
Reinhold Niebuhr
What does goodness require?
Something other than ourselves - it requires God’s grace
Why did Augustine think that Eve was made?
He thought she was made to be Adam’s helper
What did Augustine believe about the role of men and women?
Augustine believed that there was a God-given hierarchy in which the woman was subordinate to the man. However, it can be said that this doesn’t make women appear less valuable and a possible analogy that can be used (although it wasn’t used by Augustine) is that the relationship between men and women is comparable to parents and children. Both are equally important, but it is still natural for the parent to rule.
Along with there being a hierarchy between men and women, what did Augustine think there should also be a hierarchy between?
Body and soul. The soul, being rational, moral and capable, was to be the ruler of the body. In addition, it is the soul that makes it possible for us to have free will.
What is the decision-making part of the mind?
The soul
Why did Augustine believe that the deliberative soul would have a slightly different role in men and women?
Because he thought that they had been assigned different roles by God
What did Augustine think that the deliberative soul was like for a woman?
Her deliberative soul had to make decisions about her role as a mother and all other duties associated with that.
What did Augustine think that the deliberative soul was like for a man?
Augustine thought that a man’s deliberative soul was concerned with ruling the Earth in God’s stead.
What questions did Augustine have about sin?
- why do humans have the potential to sin if they are made by God?
- if we don’t want to sin, why do we do it
What did Augustine believe about evil?
He thought that evil was a lack of the good that God intended for the world. (E.g., a traditional way of explaining this is to say that just as darkness is an absence of light, evil is no more than an absence of good.)
What did Augustine believe the Fall did to human nature?
He thought that the Fall left lasting damage on human nature.
Concupiscence
Strong sexual desire, lust
What is an example of concupiscence?
Any action in which bodily desire or animalistic drives overrule the judgement of the rational soul
Does Pelagius’ views support or contrast Augustine?
Pelagius serves as a contrast to Augustine
What did Pelagius believe about free will?
He thought that humans did have genuine free will, meaning that he rejected the idea that we are born with an inclination to sin.
What did Jean-Paul Sartre believe about human nature?
He believed that there was no such thing as human nature. We all have the capacity to make our own essence through the choices we make. He was an existentialist and the motto of existentialism is ‘existence precedes essence.’
Problems with Augustine’s view
It seems to be firmly founded in some outdated ideas, for example…
- The Fall (challenged by evolution)
- Belief in a spiritual soul (challenged by materialism / physicalism)
- Inheritable corruption of concupiscence (i.e., original sin passed on by the lust inherent in sex)
What problem did Pelagius point out about the doctrine of original sin?
That it can present a theological and moral problem. It would be unfair of God to punish people if they have inherited a nature that inclines them towards sin.
