1.1 Augustine Flashcards
COMPLETED
what was the state of Adam and Eve’s relationship before the fall compared to after?
- before the fall: perfect harmony with each other and God, they had everything they needed, completely obedient to God, caritas and concordia, sex without lust, no shame, friends with each other and the rest of creation
- after the fall: sex driven by lust, female subordination, the will (not the body) has become corrupted, concupiscence, selfish desire, humans lose their friendship with God and are banished from the garden
if you were writing an essay on Augustine, what AO1 would you need to include?
- human relationships pre and post fall
- original sin and its effects on the will and human societies
- God’s grace
what is concupiscence?
a lack of control over our desires, especially lust
what is a biblical quote that supports the idea of concupiscence?
‘I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do’
Romans 7:15, Paul speaking
what did Augustine argue was the effect on the will as a result of the Fall?
- Original Sin is what characterises human nature
- the will has been corrupted, continues in its disharmony and therefore rebels
- man loses his ability to control his sexual desires
- no human being is truly good as a result
- original sin is passed onto all generations through sexual intercourse
what did Augustine mean when he said the Fall was a ‘double death?’
- killing the friendship between God and humans
- becoming mortal following the Fall
what effect did the Fall have on human societies?
- before the Fall humans required gentle leadership and humanity was characterised by friendship
- after the Fall, humans needed strict authority to control them and their rebellious wills (seen particularly in the Old Testament)
- as a result Augustine talked of a need for heavenly, not earthly peace that is based on material interests, which is available through the church
what is God’s grace?
- as people are tainted by concupiscence and cannot choose the right action everytime God’s grace has been given freely to undeserving humans, seen especially in the sacrifice made by Jesus on the cross
- God elects some people to go to heaven because of his grace in the summum bonum of eternal happiness
wider scholars against Augustine’s view of human nature?
- Lock: tabula rasa/blank slate
- Hobbes: nasty, brutish and short
- Existentialists: no human nature
- Rousseau: noble savages
wider scholar who agrees with Augustine?
- ## Karl Barth: explored Augustine’s ideas in his work ‘church dogmatics’, echoing Augustine’s views on sin, grace and redemption
wider scholars who disagree with Augustine altogether?
- Darwin: the idea of evolution
- Dawkins: obsession with sex, masochistic, unscientific
- Steven Pinker: humanitarian principle
- Nietzsche: criticised Augustine’s focus on sin and guilt and argued it led to a culture of repression
- Pelagius
how did Pelagius’ views contrast to Augustine’s?
- it is theoretically possible for humans not sin but it is difficult
- we are all created in the same state as Adam
- death is a biological necessity not a punishment
- it would be unjust for God to condemn humans for something they could not help
Thomas Aquinas
- built upon Augustine’s ideas
- particularly on the nature of God and human nature
- he integrated them with Aristotelian philosophy
Julian of Norwich
- 14th century English anchoress
- offered a more optimistic view of God’s love and the potential for human reconciliation to contrast Augustine’s more pessimistic view of human nature
different views on human nature
Rousseau
- humans are inherently good but corrupted by society
John Locke
- tabula rasa
- we are a blank slate with qualities imposed on us by our surroundings
Hobbes (and other conservatives)
- similarly pessimistic view of human nature
- nasty, brutish and short
