Augustine On Christian Doctrine

Simply put, Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine provides an excellent glimpse into the mutually beneficial relationship between theology and natural philosophy. The doctrine explored the importance of natural philosophy in understanding not only the world as God’s creation, but as a means to illuminate the metaphors that characterize Scripture. In the doctrine, Augustine explicitly argued for the importance of understanding behaviors and characteristics of the natural world as a means to further a base understanding of God’s word. In addition, Augustine does not discredit the knowledge of the ancients, pagan though they were, but rather highlights their advances in the Christian context. As with other sources in the course, On Christian Doctrine

As theologians attempted to decipher the intended meaning of the scripture’s many metaphors, the inclusion of animals, plants, and minerals in the texts would have prompted an exploration of the natural world. According to Augustine,

As, then, knowledge of the nature of the serpent throws light upon many metaphors which Scripture is accustomed to draw from that animal, so ignorance of other animals, which are no less frequently mentioned by way of comparison, is a very great drawback to the reader. And so in regard to minerals and plants…

In order to understand the word of God, one had to be able to interpret the frequent comparisons which were made in regards to His design, that of the natural world. To acquire answers, such as for the case of the serpent metaphor, theologians or other trained individuals would have gone into nature to gain firsthand knowledge of the creatures in question. As Augustine mentioned, the reader was at a significant disadvantage without a knowledge, working or not, of the natural world. Therefore, a demand was created and theology provided a reason and rationale for observations and inquiries by natural philosophers. Regardless of the interactions between theology and natural philosophy before Augustine, by his time there had apparently been a decided need

“For we ought not to refuse to learn letters because they say that Mercury discovered them…but let every good and true Christian understand that whatever truth may be found, it belongs to his Master.” Augustine had understood the information available from the ancient authors such as Plato and Aristotle. These men provided additional means from which to describe how the universe was created and how it worked. At least some of Plato, Aristotle, and other ancient philosophers’ ideas were reconcilable with Christian theology, as seen by Augustine’s statement that “whatever truth may be found, it belongs to his Master.” Although the ancient philosophers had been pagans, pieces of their knowledge were true and, as such,