Augustine’s Teaching On Human Nature Flashcards
1
Q
Augustine’s life and influence
A
- when he was young he followed the thinking of a group called the Manichees, who believed that the world is engaged in a cosmic battle between good and evil. They also believed people have a good and evil soul that pull the individual in different directions. They taught that the human soul is naturally a part of the kingdom of light, but it becomes trapped in the kingdom of darkness because of the appetites of the body.
- he was also interested in Plato’s ideas and was heavily influenced by a Neoplatonist (a type of thinking which arose from and developed the thinking of Plato) philosopher called Plotinus. He was particularly interested by the way Plotinus seemed almost ashamed of living in a human body, taking new lengths to Plato’s ideas that the impermanent physical body and the permanent world of the Forms were in many ways opposite.
- For Plotinus, there was no distinct realms of good or evil, only the Form of Good which people, which people could understand through self-reflection. Reading this made Augustine realise that evil is not a ‘substance’ but is non-existent, a turning away from goodness.
- Augustine wanted wisdom, and if it could be found, certain knowledge of truth. Reading the letters of Paul led Augustine to the conclusion he that humans could not find this truth through their own reason alone, but that they need the grace of God and needed to turn away from bodily pleasures.
- at 32, he converted to Christianity after years of exploration and later became a priest and then a bishop. Although he enjoyed the freedom to be able to explore different ways of thinking and the freedom of fine living and sexual relationships, in his later life he became certain such freedoms were a barrier to spirituality and others should be restricted from them.
- he ordered the destruction of non-Christian places of worship and he persecuted as heretics those who had a different understanding of Christianity from his own. He especially argued against the views of those who claimed that human reason and human effort could lead an individual to wisdom and moral goodness. For Augustine, the fallen sinful nature of humanity made this impossible with God’s grace.
2
Q
What is Augustine’s teaching on human nature, the Fall and Original Sin?
A
- Augustine’s ideas about human nature were all about the effects of the fall on the human relationship with God. The moment when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God was the turning point for the whole of creation.
- humanity is to be understood primarily in terms of the human relationship with God. Christianity emphasises three key features of this relationship:
1) people are created by God
2) they are ‘fallen’ in nature
3) they can be redeemed - Christianity teaches that humanity is created to occupy a special place in the universe. In the first Genesis creation story, people are made so that they can be stewards of the earth.
- Christians interpret the idea that people being made in the image of God isn’t meant in a physical sense, but that they share something of the nature of God, in that they have rationality and free will. Perhaps there is also the implicit idea that all people are, in a fundamental way, equal, because they share this aspect of being made in God’s image.
- in the second Genesis creation story, God creates man from the dust showing they are still part of the natural, physical world and made from the same material as the rest of nature.
- it is clear that the created people have not been programmed like machines, but need to be told what is expected. They have the potential to obey but also have the potential to disobey, in other words, they have free choices.
3
Q
Humanity as fallen
A
- in Christian teaching it is a central belief that humanity is inclined to sin.
- the creation story of Genesis 2-3 shows how, despite being forbidden, Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in an event called the Fall.
- Eve wad tempted by the serpent to eat the fruit and then encouraged Adam to follow suit. This has led to tradition in which some see women as being more likely to sin than men, because Eve was first to give into temptation.
- for the writers of the book of Genesis, the enmity between humans and snakes, the difficulties of childbirth, the need to work hard to make a living, and the inevitability of death are all a result of the Fall as punishment.
- before the Fall, Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden in close proximity with God. However, when their disobedience comes to light, they are banished and sent into the harsh reality of the rest of the world, where there is a barrier between them and God.
4
Q
Human nature and will before the fall
A
- before the Fall, Augustine thought, Adam and Eve must have lived in a spirit of loving friendships, friends both with each other as partners and with God. God had made them exactly the way he wanted, so they must have been in a ‘state of perfection’, living without sin as God planned.
- God commanded them to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ so they would have enjoyed a sexual relationship, but it would not have been a relationship governed by lust, because lust was part of the punishment God gave to Eve following the Fall.
- Augustine wrote there are two thing essential for humans: a healthy life, and friendship. We are thought naturally social creatures. When Augustine writes of friendship, the expression he uses is ’concordia’, to mean the easy, comfortable and understanding relationships that good friends have with one another.
- he held a firm belief that humans have free will, and this is one of the chief characteristics of being made in the image of God. However, he believed people are born into sin because we are descendants of Adam and Eve. We can only be saved by God’s grace to be free from sin.
- Augustine had difficultly with the existence of evil as he believed that God is perfectly good. However, when God made Adam, he made him with the freedom of choice, but this same freedom is what makes it possible for Adam to sin. So for Augustine, evil was entirely due to the human misuse of free will.
- he saw the human will being driven by love and identified two types, one wrong and one right:
(1) Cupiditas - the love of impermanent, changeable earthly things, and love of self and selfish needs
(2) Caritas - the is a generous love of others, an expression of the will of God as eternal law, and is displayed through the virtues: prudence, fortitude, temperance and justice. - he emphasised his belief that all good things, including free will, comes from God. But not all human actions come from God, as sometimes people clearly choose sin.
5
Q
Original sin and ifs effects on the will and human societies
A
- before the Fall, Augustine thought, Adam and Eve must have lived in a spirit of loving friendships, friends both with each other as partners and with God. God had made them exactly the way he wanted, so they must have been in a ‘state of perfection’, living without sin as God planned.
- God commanded them to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ so they would have enjoyed a sexual relationship, but it would not have been a relationship governed by lust, because lust was part of the punishment God gave to Eve following the Fall.
- Augustine wrote there are two things essential for humans: a healthy life, and friendship. He thought we are naturally social creatures. When Augustine writes of friendship, the expression he uses is ’concordia’, to mean the easy, comfortable and understanding relationships that good friends have with one another.
- he held a firm belief that humans have free will, and this is one of the chief characteristics of being made in the image of God. However, he believed people are born into sin because we are descendants of Adam and Eve. We can only be saved by God’s grace to be free from sin.
- Augustine had difficultly with the existence of evil as he believed that God is perfectly good. However, when God made Adam, he made him with the freedom of choice, but this same freedom is what makes it possible for Adam to sin. So for Augustine, evil was entirely due to the human misuse of free will.
- he saw the human will being driven by love and identified two types, one wrong and one right:
(1) Cupiditas - the love of impermanent, changeable earthly things, and love of self and selfish needs
(2) Caritas - the is a generous love of others, an expression of the will of God as eternal law, and is displayed through the virtues: prudence, fortitude, temperance and justice. - he emphasised his belief that all hood things, including free will, comes from God. But not all human actions come from God, as sometimes people clearly choose sin.
6
Q
Augustine on men, women and sexuality
A
- he believed that ideally, he should be able to control his own sexual desire, but at the same time he knew he found this impossible.
- he thought sinful humanity is particularly at the mercy of ’concupiscence’, by which he meant primarily sexual desire but also other kinds of appetites and lust for things in the material world. Including the strong emotions of affection and jealousy that occur in human friendships as these can absorb a person’s emotional energy and be a distraction from loving and obeying God. Even feeling hungry and then eating a good meal can lead to concupiscence.
