Book Vii Of The Confessions Summary

Augustine, in Book VII of the Confessions, determines Christianity and the Platonists have many similarities, as well as many differences. Behind all the differences, are the notions of humility and grace that are found within Christianity but not found within the Platonist’s ideology. Even though he affirms the truths in Christianity, Augustine has a hard time fully pursuing God because of the habits that he has formed throughout his life. He realizes that having the will to follow God is not enough for his will to actually follow God. Augustine discovers that through transformation and development it is possible to fully follow God. With all these observations, it is important to realize that the main differences between Christianity and the Platonists are the

notions of humility and grace that are prevalent within Christianity.

There are three main ideas that Augustine determines are common between Christianity and the Platonist: creation through the logos, God as arche, and light from God illuminating all things. For the Platonists, logos ordered the universe, giving it form and meaning. Creation came through the logos. Similarly, Christianity has a God who created all things and gave form and meaning to creation. For both the Platonists and Christianity, Creation occurred through the logos, God. For the Platonists, they consider the logos as arche, the beginning or origin. The arche is the source for action to take place. The arche is the logos. It is the cause of creation. Augustine noticed that God, too, was the beginning and that all things were created through him, like the arche. Both the logos and God, have the same quality of being

the origin of all things and being the arche. Without the logos or God, there would be no creation or any source to cause action within the universe. Augustine observed in Christianity that light from God illuminates all things, divine illumination. Augustine believes that human minds are only able to understand and pursue truth, if they have their minds illuminated by God. God is the truth and his illumination is needed to understand truth. For the Platonists, they also believe in a theory of divine illumination. Plato has a theory of Forms. Forms are created by God and everything has a Form. To be able to recollect what a Form is and to be able to grasp the Form, Platonists believe that a kind of illumination is needed. Both the Platonists and Christianity acknowledge the need for divine illumination to better understand the world.
There are three main ideas that Augustine determines only exist within Christianity and not in the Platonists’ ideology: anyone can receive Christ without doing something to deserve it, the word (arche) took on flesh and lived in the thing it created, and God humbled himself in flesh as a servant and died for all people. Christianity believes that anyone can receive Christ without doing anything to deserve it. Christianity does not care if you are wise or considered to be an intellectual. As Augustine observed, the Platonists do not believe that all can get to the highest good; a certain degree of intellectual ability is needed. The Platonists lack that inclusivity within their view. Another observation of Christianity for Augustine is that the arche took on flesh and lived in the thing it created. God became a human being and lived as the beings he created did. The logos never took on flesh; the logos was outside of its creation. The Neo-Platonists did not like the flesh. The flesh hindered someone from achieving wisdom and reaching the highest good. Augustine also noticed that God, the ultimate good and fully wise being, humbled himself as a servant and suffered for the beings he created. In Christianity, the divine being humbles himself while the lowly are exalted; whereas, in the Platonists’ ideology, the highest good is wisdom, and the wise are exalted.
Augustine ponders the question as to why these ideas are in Christianity and not in the Platonists’ texts. The main concepts within Christianity that are not in the Platonists’ ideas are humility and grace. Christianity stresses humility and the internal struggle with sin, leading to the need for grace. Augustine discusses how without humility and grace, one cannot find his/her identity in Christ and live for eternity with God. Christianity believes that anyone can receive Christ without doing something to deserve it. The Platonists have only the intellectuals being able to reach the highest good. For one to strongly pursue intellectual development and prestige, humility is not a focus. The focus is all on the self and not on an acknowledgement that one needs the help of the divine being, receiving grace through Christ, to reach the highest good. Christianity has the word taking on flesh and living in the being it created. The Platonists found flesh to be a hindrance to reaching the virtues and found it hard for a divine being to put himself into flesh. The thought of the divine being humbling himself to provide grace to those who may not be the wisest is not compatible with the divine being for the Platonists. Lastly, in Christianity, God humbled himself as a servant to suffer for his people. The Platonists are unable to understand a divine being humbling himself as a servant and dying. That type of sacrifice is humiliating to the Platonists; they do not focus on humility or grace in order to reach their highest good.
Augustine is still unable to pursue God, even though he accepts the truths of Christianity and finds it to be more compelling than the Platonists. He claims that he is unable to do so because the will to will the pursuit of God is not enough. He does not have the strength to overcome the power of his habits, especially his sexual habits. He is bound to his habits. The awareness that the choices he has made throughout his life are holding on to him because every decision he has willed thus far, and repeatedly done so, have been formed into his habits and now are things he wills. These habits are holding onto him. He cannot break the bond by his own will. Augustine acknowledges that the will plays a fundamental part in our habit forming. He realizes he is not strong enough to change his own will to will God; thus, Augustine acknowledges that in order for himself to fully follow Jesus and the Scripture’s demands on his life he needs to transform and develop his will. In particular, he needs his intellect, soul, and emotions to be transformed and developed. He also acknowledged that confession, charity, love, and humility are needed to help with the transformation and development.
Overall, the important difference between Christianity and the Platonists are the aspects of humility and grace. The act of humbling oneself like God and accepting the grace that God offers allows one to accept the gift that Christ offers. The Platonists are focused on achieving intellectual abilities, which leaves no room for humility. They also believe that through intellectual inquiry a person can reach the highest good without grace. This notion leaves those who do not have intellectual ability behind. Grace is what allows everyone to be included in the Christian religion. Augustine realizes that the Platonists and Christianity align in many ways, but the parts of Christianity that are not found within the Platonists’ texts are very compelling. He realizes that the truths within Christianity are true, and that for him to fully be able to follow God he needs humility, grace, and transformation and development of his will.