Augustine From The Sparrow

While reading The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, the one theologian that went to through my head was Augustine. I realized that the novel is very heavy when it comes to fate and free will but in this case through Augustine’s eyes, it also deals a lot with how strong someone’s faith is. Augustine is a man who believes that everything should be done in accordance for Gods glory. In Saint Augustine On Christian Teaching, he says, “There are two things on which all interpretation of scripture depends: the process of discovering what we to learn and the process of presenting what we have learnt.” In comparison to The Sparrow, the main character Emilio Sandoz is very strong in his faith and believes in doing good for Gods glory. He had learned so

For instance, when they first discovered the musical transmission and Anne was saying how they should not go because it was too risky. Then when the truck and bus incident happened, I thought that maybe they would take that a sign to not go. Instead it made Anne change her mind and want to go. Then there were the signs on Rakhat, instead of going to war with the Jana’ata, Emilio and his crew should have continued to help the Runa, asked for back up, or they could have gone home. All these “signs” were things that could have been prevented. According to Augustine, these things may not always be significant or come across as signs. He also goes on to explain that things that are enjoyed is for happiness while things that are used are to better and help said person to grow in happiness. Using something that was meant to be enjoyed and enjoying something that was meant to be used is a sin. In The Sparrow, each character has a motive on the mission. Anne does not want to die like the people in the truck and bus accident. Sofia is using this as way to finally be on her own, Emilio wants to learn and help those that could be in need, and etc. However, the way I see it through Augustine, the reason they failed on their mission was because they used what they were supposed to enjoy. By this I mean that when they arrived on Rakhat they were enjoying themselves until they realized the evil side of the Jana’ate. When they decided to go to war, the place there were supposed to enjoy they used it instead as a battlefield. However, Emilio surviving, I think is because Augustine said that the only thing that should be enjoyed is the Trinity and God. Out of all the people on that trip the strongest faith would go to Emilio. He gave his life to serving God turning down relationships that could have blossomed into a whole different future, but he was devoted. Emilio followed Augustine’s guidelines, he even used