augustine Flashcards
the fall
Enmity between humans and inevitability of death can all be accounted for by the Fall
consequences of humans’ disobedience of the will of God.
‘Concordia’ - comfortable and understanding relationships that friends have. Before the Fall, Adam and Eve were living with what he thought was the best of all possible human relationships.
before the Fall, Adam and Eve had a sexual relationship, but it was not governed by lust, and instead would have been an intellectual activity - God commanded humans to ‘be fruitful and multiply’
He believed that sinful humanity was now ruled by ‘concupiscence’, meaning sexual desire but also other kinds of desires for things in the material world
Adam and Eve before the Fall shared ‘Caritas’, which is divine and selfless love - the expression of the will of God. Humans choosing to exercise one’s will according to the principles of ‘Caritas’ leads to spiritual happiness. ‘Cupiditas’ is the love of impermanent earthly things and selfish needs.
marriage is the closest that a couple can get to the pre-Fall relationship of Adam and Eve. They can relate as friends, have sex purely for procreation, and the woman obeys man out of love
scientific/symbolic evidence against the fall
Richard Dawkins in ‘The God Delusion’ - literal belief in Adam and Eve is scientifically implausible (as seen by fossil evidence) - there cannot have been ‘perfect’ first people as humans evolved over time from simple organisms to more complex beings
hitchens - the fall lack credibility as it is ‘too human’ - it conforms too closely with values favoured by ancient cultures that produced the texts
Geneticists claim that the evidence we have of genetic diversity means that it’s not possible for all of humanity to have descended from two people
original sin is not ‘seminally present’
Fall as symbol of each person rebelling against God rather han a one-off moment in history =
view of the Fall as a symbol for the journey of life is only corroborated by the fact that in Hebrew, Adam translates to ‘man’, while Eve means ‘mother of living things’. This suggests that they are simply archetypal and symbolic figures of the ’everyman’.
Idea of redemption achieved by God killing Jesus on the cross is sadomasochistic and irrational
niebuhr
original sin = Niebuhr said it was the one ‘empirically verifiable’ Christian doctrine
Chapman, catechism of catholic church - can look at history and see evidence of sinful people all throughout history
could still be right that human nature is corrupted by original sin, even if he’s wrong about the Fall being the exact means by which that came to be
NB - Augustine rejects Manichaean argument that the body is evil and Neoplatonic idea that the body is imperfect;
Socrates and Plato both debated this point about ‘Akrasia’ and acting against your better knowledge. For example, when murderers commit murder and ruthless tyrants order the killing of their own people to suit themselves it seems to indicate that humans act against what they know is ‘good’ and ‘right’
pelagius
- a Christian Monk who didnt believe in original sin and believed that human are born in a prefall state - Adam’s sin harmed only himself not human race
only appears to be our nature because of how thoroughly corrupted we are by our upbringing, which Pelagius refers to as being “educated in evil”
+ Rousseau - the inherent goodness of humans and the corrupting influence of society.
being held responsible for our state of ignorance makes the punishment seem cruel and arbitrary, not omnibenevolent
human nature has morally improved over time - Steven Pinker attributes to the power of human reason that violence has decreased, even considering the 20th century
gift of grace/free will
gift of grace, which predestines some people to have and keep faith in Christ
Election refers to God’s choosing to grant grace. St Paul calls grace a “gift” which we cannot ‘take credit’ for earning (Ephesians 2:8)
God’s GRACE shown in the gift of his son Jesus
Guilt of Original Sin removed by the Incarnation, Jesus’ death and resurrection. No salvation any other way
Only God’s grace, his generous love, can overcome sin and the rebellious will can overcome sin to achieve the summum bonum
if we are to have genuine love for God, it must be freely given - also makes it possible for humans to sin
Julian of Norwich - too pessimistic about potential to reconcile human nature to god
free will defence inconsistency
In book I (of the freedom of the will) Augustine argues that the responsibility for an action lies with the person that performs it, not with God.
However, he argues a conflicting view in book III, talking of the ignorance of human nature and our inability to overcome our sins.
It seems unjust and rather problematic to punish people for ignorance that they can do nothing about and have therefore no responsibility for.
It seems irredeemably circular
Pelagius points out that the bible is full of cases of God commanding humans to do morally good actions and avoid morally bad actions. It’s difficult to see why God would make these demands if original sin meant that humans did not have the ability to obey those commands
