Great Ideas of Philosophy

Lecture EighteenThe Light Within⎯Augustine on Human NatureScope: Patristic thought culminates in the teachings and deeply self-examining works of St. Augustine, who findsin the twin nature of humanity the powers of good and evil. The city of man is by nature ephemeral; ourtrue loyalty is to the city of God.Augustine’s religious philosophy restored an intellectual and analytical rigor to the teachings of theChristian faith, a rigor that had been abandoned by many of the earlier fathers of the church, satisfied thatpagan philosophy had little to offer of lasting value. Augustine engaged the great problems of knowledge,conduct, and governance within a broadly Christian framework established by an omniscient andprovidential God who has bestowed the gift of faith.OutlineI. Augustine dearly loved the city of Rome and, by his own admission, engaged in debauchery there as a youth. Inmaturity, however, he came to understand the transitory nature of even the greatest of empires—of merelyhuman creations.A. Augustine (354–430) was born in Tagaste, now the city of Souk Ahras, Algeria, then controlled by Rome.His mother, Monica, was Christian, but his father did not convert until the hour of his death.B. The modest means of the family barely supported an education for Augustine until, with the help ofrelatives, he was able to attend the college in Madaura, then later in Carthage. To this point, there is no signof the genius who would lay the philosophical foundations for much of Christianity.C. In Carthage, he fathered a son with a woman who would be his constant companion for 10 years, only tosee him leave for a better marriage in Milan. In studying the moral reasoning of Cicero, Augustine began toquestion his own life and its aimlessness.D. Of the quasi-philosophical schools competing for adherents at the time, the Manicheans, originating inPersia, had attractive features.1. The problem of evil is readily solved by positing a cosmos in which two great forces—good andevil—contend with each other, the latter having special access to the earthly realms of matter.2. Augustine was attracted to this sect and eagerly sought to meet one of its chief prophets, Faustus. Welearn from Augustine’s Confessions, however, that this sage proved to be a dullard.E. At 30 years of age, Augustine was appointed professor of rhetoric in the imperial court at Milan. There, heattended lectures by St. Ambrose, then Bishop of Milan. Ambrose conveyed to Augustine the power ofChristian teaching and the divine power of Christ himself.II. By the time of St. Augustine’s philosophical flourishing, the early fathers of the church and their authority hadput a stamp of anti-intellectualism on the faith. Augustine was ideally suited to reassess the place of intellectand philosophy within a life of faith and devotion.A. We should note that the attitude of the church fathers was a principled anti-intellectualism in mostinstances. After all, we must ask, what would the early Christian find in consulting the greatest teachers ofantiquity?1. In Plato’s Republic, he would learn that the guardians of the state are produced by selective breeding,would surrender their offspring and wives to a common pool, and would protect a world in which thepopulace was regarded as a kind of mob. If this is the best the classical world of the pagan canproduce, the sober Christian can well deprive himself of such wisdom!2. If our early Christian consults Aristotle, he will discover a philosopher much taken by the naturalworld. He doesn’t find in Aristotle material that matches up with the central tenets of faith anddevotion: a providential and loving God in whose image we are made, a God who cares for us and isever present in the affairs of the world. Aristotle, too, is just another pagan distraction.B. All told, there is a skepticism about philosophy as the right guide. In contrast, the Christian believes that hehas the right guide in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The problems of knowledge and conduct no16©2004 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership