Introduction

 Saint Augustine became a source of self-reproach when he viewed them in

retrospect as a mature man and a pious Christian
 Before his conversion
o He was a highly successful teacher of rhetoric, and his philosophical
position shifted several times in his search for a satisfactory set of beliefs
o Augustine came at last under the influence of Saint Ambrose, Bishop of
Milan to turn him to Christianity and a decisive inner experience resulted in
his conversation in 386, and he was baptized by Saint Ambrose the
following year.
 Augustine is the first Christian philosopher to formulate the doctrines of his religion
in a comprehensive and enduring worldview.
 The works of Augustine are permeated by the gospel of love that unifies and
illuminates the Christian religion and as an article of faith, the love of God and the
related love of our neighbor
 In loving God, Augustine tells us we love truth on the attainment of true knowledge,
and that’s where he “found my God who is truth itself."
 Augustine maintains that one cannot obtain true knowledge without faith: One
should first believe in order to understand.
 Augustine holds it is false pride for people to believe that they can know God by
their own efforts, and only when God by his grace illuminates the mind can it grasp
the truth.
 In the Augustinian theology, each person is predestined by God either to salvation
or to damnation.
 Trusting in God's goodness, and despite the fact that we cannot judge whether we
will be saved, we are obligated to seek God and to live according to his
commandments.

1. Agustin tries to resolve how to reconcile the existence of evil in the world with
omnipotent and benevolence of God
 Augustine insists that God is perfectly good, and that all things come from him.
The things that God creates are less than wholly good and they are evil only insofar
as they lack goodness.
 What is called evil in the universe is but the absence of good.
o What is evil is not transferred elsewhere, when they cease to exist they
cannot exist anywhere else.
 All things were made good but not being made perfectly good or liable to corruption
o But because they are not like their creator, supremely and unchangeable
good their good may be diminished and increased.
o Therefore, so long as a being is a process of corruption there is in it some
good of which it is being deprived. If it should be totally and completely
consumed by corruption there will then be no good left because there will
be no being

2. If God is able to do all things, why does he permit us to choose evil? His
permitting evil must reflect his goodness in some way.
  The omnipotent God does well even in the permission of evil.
o God permits only in the justice of his judgment, the fact that evil as well as
good exist, is a good.
 The will of God is never defeated so much is done that is contrary to his will.
o In the very fact that they acted in opposition to his will, his will concerning
them was fulfilled.
o Even what is done an opposition to his will not defeat his will, for it would
not be done did he not permit it.
 The will of God which is always good is sometimes fulfilled through the evil will of
man
- It is possible for a man with evil will to desire what God wills in his goodness
- For God accomplishes his purposes which of course are all good through
the evil desires of wicked men

3. God knows in advance what choices we will make. The distinction between the
knowledge of a cause and the cause itself: God's knowing in advance that an event
will necessarily occur is not the same as his causing it to occur
 There is for God a certain order of all causes, there must therefore be nothing
depending on the free exercise of our own wills, for our wills themselves are
included in the order of causes which is certain to God and is embraced by his
foreknowledge.

4. That people are themselves responsible for their misfortunes; they are free to
choose, and they choose evil. Just as he defines evil as the absence of good, he
characterized an evil will as one that fails to choose the good.
 There is no efficient cause of the evil will but rather a deficient - to seek to discover
the causes of these defections is as is someone said to see darkness or hear
silence.
 Our mind perceives intelligible forms by understanding them: but when they are
deficient, it knows them by not knowing them; for who can understand defects?
 That the will could not become evil, were it unwilling to become so. For its
defections are not to evil things but are themselves evil.
 These defections are not towards things that are naturally and in themselves evil,
but the defection of the will is evil, because it is contrary to the order of nature, and
an abandonment of that which has supreme being for that which has less.

5. Those who choose God he calls citizens of the City of God, and those who
choose evil are called citizens of the City of Man. Those who pursue the pleasures
of the body or accept idolatrous or heretical beliefs must be said to “live after the
flesh” in the earthly city
 We find not only those which concern the pleasure of the flesh but also those which
though they may be remote from fleshly pleasure reveal the vices of the soul.
 For it is quite possible for a man to abstain from fleshly pleasures for the sake of
idolatry and yet be living after the flesh.
6. Supreme good and evil refer to eternity, not to this brief moment of life. Those
who seek happiness in this world and through their own efforts cannot be either
truly happy or truly moral.
 What the Christians believe guarding the supreme good and evil in opposition to
the philosophers who have maintained that the supreme good is in themselves.
 Life eternal is the supreme good, death eternal the supreme evil, and that to obtain
the one and escape the other we must live rightly.

7. We see that faith hope and love are the fundamental virtues of the true Christian
who seeks peace and happiness through God.
 Prudence teaches us that it is an evil to consent to sell and a good to refuse this
content. Temperance enables us not to consent. Justice is to render everyone his
due. Fortitude compels us to bear our ills patiently.
 Where there is no true religion there are no true virtues.

8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
 PH 104 – Augustine

Augustine. “The Love of God,” (City of God). In Great Traditions in Ethics, 84-103.

Introduction
 Augustine came under the influence of Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan to turn him
to Christianity and a decisive inner experience resulted in his conversion
 Augustine holds it is false pride for people to believe that they can know God by
their own efforts, only when God’s grace illuminates the mind can it grasp the truth.
 Trusting in God's goodness, and even though we cannot judge whether we will be
saved, we are obligated to seek God and to live according to his commandments.

1. Agustin tries to resolve how to reconcile the existence of evil in the world with
omnipotent and benevolence of God
 Augustine insists that God is perfectly good, and what is called evil in the universe
is but the absence of good, and is not transferred elsewhere, when they cease to
exist they cannot exist anywhere else.
 All things were made good but not being made perfectly good or liable to corruption,
but because they are not like their creator, supremely and unchangeable good
their good may be diminished and increased.

2. God’s permitting evil must reflect his goodness in some way.

 The omnipotent God does well even in the permission of evil. God permits only in
the justice of his judgment, the fact that evil as well as good exist, is a good.
 Even what is done an opposition to his will not defeat his will, for it would not be
done did he not permit it. The will of God which is always good is sometimes
fulfilled through the evil will of man

3. God’s knowing in advance that an event will necessarily occur is not the same
as his causing it to occur
 There is for God a certain order of all causes, there must therefore be nothing
depending on the free exercise of our own wills, for our wills themselves are
included in the order of causes which is certain to God and is embraced by his
foreknowledge.

4. That people are themselves responsible for their misfortunes; they are free to
choose, and they choose evil.
 There is no efficient cause of the evil will but rather a deficient. These defections
are not towards things that are naturally and in themselves evil, but the defection
of the will is evil, because it is contrary to the order of nature, and an abandonment
of that which has supreme being for that which has less.

5. Those who choose God he calls citizens of the City of God, and those who
choose evil are called citizens of the City of Man. Those who pursue the pleasures
of the body or accept idolatrous or heretical beliefs must be said to “live after the
flesh” in the earthly city
  We find not only those which concern the pleasure of the flesh but also those which
though they may be remote from fleshly pleasure reveal the vices of the soul.
 For it is quite possible for a man to abstain from fleshly pleasures for the sake of
idolatry and yet be living after the flesh.

6. Supreme good and evil refer to eternity, not to this brief moment of life. Those
who seek happiness in this world and through their own efforts cannot be either
truly happy or truly moral.
 What the Christians believe guarding the supreme good and evil in opposition to
the philosophers who have maintained that the supreme good is in themselves.
 Life eternal is the supreme good, death eternal the supreme evil, and that to obtain
the one and escape the other we must live rightly.

7. We see that faith hope and love are the fundamental virtues of the true Christian
who seeks peace and happiness through God.
 Prudence teaches us that it is an evil to consent to sell and a good to refuse this
content. Temperance enables us not to consent. Justice is to render everyone his
due. Fortitude compels us to bear our ills patiently.
 Where there is no true religion there are no true virtues.

8. Everyone in God’s city knows that peace is achieved not by war, but by love.
 Man, therefore refers all peace, to that peace which mortal man has with the
immortal God, so that he exhibits the well-ordered obedience of faith to eternal law.
 Man should injure no one, and do good to everyone he can reach

9. We must accept without complaint the knowledge that the good may suffer
earthly misfortunes and that the wicked may enjoy life
 The just judgments of God in the present life defy the scrutiny of human insight

10. God is also merciful. He sent His only Son through whom the citizens of the
City of God are saves.
 The more enjoyment man found in God, the greater was his wickedness in
abandoning Him.
 In His compassion, the Son of God became the Son of man for our sakes, that we,
by nature of sons od men, might by grace become through Him sons of God.

11. The final vision of God is the “reward of our faith”

 But as we shall one day be made to participate, in His peace, both in ourselves
and with out neighbor, and with God, in this respect.
 The body shall forthwith be wherever the spirit wills, and true peace shall be there,
where no one shall suffer opposition. God Himself, who is the author of virtue, shall
there be its reward.

12. Augustine expresses the hope that he has communicated the meaning of the
love of God.
 For what other end do we propose ourselves than to attain to the kingdom of God.