Religious Determinism (Predestination) - Augustine

Question 1

St Augustine

Answer 1

• Powerful theologian in hierarchy of early CC
• Wrote ‘Doctrine of Original Sin’
• Became CC’s official theology on predestination

Question 2

‘Doctrine of Original Sin’ starting point

Answer 2

• ‘Original sin’ of Adam and Eve
• Ate from tree of knowledge of good and evil, disobeyed God

Question 3

Concupiscence Augustine

Answer 3

• Outcome of original sin = sin became major defect of human character
• One of outcomes of A+E committing OS, tainted perfect nature
• Augustine called defect concupiscence

Question 4

Concupiscence Definition

Answer 4

• Latin term meaning ‘longing’
• Associated with human senses
• E.g. longing for earthly material things (earth, sex, etc)

Question 5

Concupiscence Wrong

Answer 5

• In opposition to having desire to know + love God
• Not a sin, inhibits MA’s ability to choose Godly goodness + resist temptation of earthly pleasures

Question 6

Concupiscence Inherited Reason 1

Answer 6

• All humanity related to A+E
• All humanity inherited Adam’s sin -> Adam’s guilt is humanity’s
• “All humans were seminally present in the loin of Adam” - Augustine
• “Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and is this way death came to all people” St Paul Romans 5

Question 7

Concupiscence Inherited Reason 2

Answer 7

• All humanity born from sexual intercourse (result of concupiscence) -> all humanity inherits concupiscence
• Exception = Jesus (not conceived by sexual intercourse)

Question 8

Issues arising from DofOS

Answer 8

• Original Sin carries condemnation for all human beings
• Baptism removes original sin, necessary for salvation
• Infant deaths common in Augustine’s time
• Augustine -> infants = no sin of their own, still inherit original sin, need baptism
• Believed if an infant died unbaptised they would go to the underworld

Question 9

Massa Peccati

Answer 9

• Augustine -> all humans born ‘massa peccati’
• Means lump/mass of sin
• Concupiscence results in all humanity being tempted by earthly materialism at expense of God living
• Humanity is “so hopelessly corrupted that we are absolutely incapable of doing anything good by our own forces” - Augustine
• Humanity’s ability to freely choose lost to sin -> MAs predestined to sin

Question 10

Liberum Arbitrium

Answer 10

• Augustine -> humanity born with free will -> original essential Godly nature
• Means person has power of making choices free from predestination
• Concupiscence acts as secondary human nature, overrides original essential nature (LA)
• Augustine -> humanity’s free will has been “utterly wasted by sin”
• Humanity still has libertas, cannot resist choosing earthly pleasures over Godly pursuits
• Dominant concupiscence predetermines all human ‘choices’

Question 11

God’s Response to Humanity’s Predestination

Answer 11

• Doctrine of Original Sin not without hope for humanity
• Augustine -> through God’s grace, some people released of sinful secondary nature (concupiscence), will not remain in desperate state of sin

Question 12

Who is chosen

Answer 12

• Few chosen to be freed from effects of concupiscence by God’s grace
• No person can ask for it/do anything to deserve it
• Grace randomly given to small fixed number of people
• Only God knows why certain people chosen not others

Question 13

Elect

Answer 13

• Those free from concupiscence, decided before birth
• Can freely respond in right way to God
• Ultimately saved, ascend to Heaven at death
• Could still be predestined to respond in right way to God
• Cannot resist calling of God-given grace
• Cannot resist living in Godly fashion, remain sinless
• Does not mean never sin, would have chosen to be baptised (always pursue right Godly course of action), would confess + be forgiven through Jesus’ atonement -> sinless at death

Question 14

Elect Quote Augustine

Answer 14

• “It is unthinkable that He (Jesus) should have deliberately have shed his blood for the hell-dwellers-to-be”
• Strongly believed Jesus’ death on the cross + atonement for the elect only

Question 15

Reprobates

Answer 15

• Remain in sin (concupiscence), perish into fires of hell at death
• Augustine accepted problematic God saves some, leaves others to perish
• Result of the ‘fall’ = human intellect incapable of understanding workings of divine salvation

Question 16

Additional Information

Answer 16

• Debate whether Augustin believed in single predestination (only predestined those who achieve salvation) or double (condemned also predestined)
• Explains why some people not saved
• God foresees they will resist his grace
• Suggests judgement based on person’s free choice, nonsensical if predestined

Question 17

Implications for God’s omnipotence

Answer 17

• Supports, only omnipotent being has power to predestine lives of whole of humanity
• Election not based on individual’s good works, God chose by omnipotent will
• “But you cannot will, unless Allah wills” Qur’an 76:30
• A -> God’s omnipotence can only result in predestination, if not reduces nature, heretical denial of omnipotent power
• Could freely choose to be good, telling God to send them to Heaven

Question 18

Implications for God’s omnibenelovence

Answer 18

• Supports, if God allowed humans to freely follow desires (tainted by fall) all hell post-mortem
• Assures some humans ascend to heaven post-mortem
• A -> through grace saves elect
• Lovingly sent Jesus to die so elect can receive atonement for sins, be saved

Question 19

God’s omnibenevolence Alt 1

Answer 19

• Contradicts, God only predestines some to be elect
• Only some can benefit from atonement of Christ’s death on cross
• God rewarding/punishing based on behaviour He predestined
• Like parent loving one child, ignoring other
• Bertrand Russell ‘monster’, “A God that punishes or rewards on the basis of God’s own eternal decisions is unfair and immoral”

Question 20

God’s Omnibenevolence Alt 2

Answer 20

• Questioned if lives predestined
• If all human life predestined, God responsible for human moral evil e.g. holocaust
• Arminius = free will theory to defend God’s omnipotence
• “God might not be considered the author of all sin” - Arminius

Question 21

God’s Omnibenevolence Augustine’s Reply

Answer 21

• Accepted problematic some chosen, cruel God saves some, leaves others to perish
• Result of ‘fall’ = human intellect incapable of understanding divine salvation

Question 22

Use of prayer

Answer 22

• Prayer = ask/beg God earnestly
• Meaningfulness doubted, asking Him to change something for better pointless e.g. reprobate to elect
• ‘Unconditional election’ (C) supports, God alone chose elect based solely on own will before Earth created
• Attempt to pray to be elect useless
• Use only for predestined effect -> elect can sin, faith in atonement of Jesus, cannot resist call to seek forgiveness through prayer

Question 23

Existence of miracles implication

Answer 23

• Act carried out by God, breaks laws of nature
• Potentially rules out as answer to spontaneous prayer
• Causation -> Locke + Aquinas (Cosmological) -> humans locked in chain of deterministic causes
• Miracles would break chain of causation set by God from beginning of time

Question 24

Existence of Miracles Counterimplication

Answer 24

• Conceivable all miracles predestined from beginning of time e.g. God gave Moses power to part Red Sea
• God has omnipotent nature to break chains of causation/alter with miracle
• C.S. Lewis -> God interactive, continues to introduce new laws
• “Nature behaves in accordance with fixed laws, and that a miracle is God introducing a new law” - Lewis
• Only done to remind of omnipotent nature, predestining, creator + controller of all laws of nature

Question 25

Link Between God and Evil

Answer 25

- God predestines human life = responsible for human moral evil - C -> God just predestines whether person will seek forgiveness for sin, not to be evil - Moral evil humanity's fault, God only predestines what is done after sin committed