A foundational belief in Christianity is the idea that God is perfectly good. God is unable to do anything evil and all his actions are motives are completely pure. This principle, however, leads to many questions concerning the apparent suffering and wrong-doing that is prevalent in the world that this perfect being created. Where did evil come from? Also, how can evil exist when the only eternal entity is the perfect, sinless, ultimately good God? This question with the principle of God's sovereignty leads to even more difficult problems, including human responsibility and free will. These problems are not limited to our setting, as church fathers and Christian philosophers are the ones who proposed some of the solutions people believe today. As Christianity begins to spread and establish itself across Europe in the centuries after Jesus' resurrection, Augustine and Boethius provide answers, although wordy and complex, to this problem of evil and exactly how humans are responsible in the midst of God's sovereignty and Providence.
In Augustine's Confessions, the early church father puts forth a complex theodicy in which he declares evil to be nonexistent. Such a leap may seem to be illogical, but this idea stems from the understanding of what is substance and what is not. According to Augustine, the duality of good and evil is false, because anything that is good is substance and what humans think of as evil is simply the absence of the good (Confessions, 126). Vices for example, are just the display of the absence of the good. Pride is the absence of humility, unrighteous anger the absence of temperance, and so on. This idea is evident as he writes that the ability to be corrupted is what makes something good, not i...
... middle of paper ...
...d appear to be unrestrained and unpunished because their wickedness and the lack of true happiness that is associated with it is their punishment (Consolation of Philosophy 94). To both Augustine and Boethius, God is completely good and sovereign. However, He allows men free will and the punishment or rewards that come with these free decisions.
Both Augustine and Boethius agree that evil could not, by definition, come from God. Augustine abolishes this problem by declaring evil nonexistent while Boethius agrees and expands the idea so that the ability to sin is a weakness. Humans remain responsible amidst God's Providence due to the free will bestowed on Adam in the beginning. Although a difficulty to early Christian thinkers, the problem of sin does have answers consistent with Christianity's fundamental belief in a sovereign, perfect, and lovingly-good God.
In book 8 of Confessions it divulges the story of the moral conversion of Augustine written in 386 AD (Russo 14). In the beginning of the book it starts by explaining how Augustine obtained knowledge from the books of the epistles of St. Paul and the Platonists. Despite being aware that God is real, and is the supreme being of righteousness and power, he still ambivalent of it being not sufficient. In the book, he struggles with recognizing the contrast in logically being aware of something and following the bible by living a righteous life. For example, in the book it states “there is a difference between knowing what is good and going the good” (Russo 14). Later, he had an epiphany that the reason he cannot discover the difference between
Throughout Confessions, Augustine’s view of sex and lust changes: at first he describes sex and lust as his addiction, which changes as becomes older and delves into Manichaeism which teaches that all things of the flesh are inherently evil. His view on sex was influenced by many factors other than the Bible. At the time, philosophy focused on the physical being as evil, while considering the spiritual being as good. In this way, Augustine came to believe that sex was evil as it was a physical thing. Towards the beginning, during his adolescence, Augustine states that he couldn’t abstain from having sex; he was addicted, “This was the age at which the frenzy gripped me...human hearts are not ashamed to sanction” (Confessions II.2.3). Augustine is telling his readers that when humans like something, they tend to find a reason for doing it. In this way, because Augustine liked sex so much, he found different ways to do it without feeling guilty. Augustine slowly learns that if he wants to be a Bishop, he will have to give up his worldly desires, such as lust and sex. The desire to be a Bishop as well as the desire for sex “were in conflict and between them they tore [his] soul apart” (Confessions VIII.5.1). He knows that he must give up one of them as they are irreconcilable, but he is unsure about which one he should forgo. However, he
Augustine’s Confessions is in itself a rather contradictory autobiography. It reveals the inner workings of St. Augustine’s mind, particularly the arduous mental obstacles he faces on his spiritual journey. Readers are exposed to an almost cyclical routine of behaviour in which Augustine descends into a whirlpool of sin, reaches an epiphany and emerges vigorously with newfound motivation. We begin to question whether St. Augustine is aware of how contradictory his own actions play out, and if so, how such contradictions may reveal deeper truths about human nature.
An essential part of Confessions is Augustine’s conversion to Christianity and his evolving understanding of good and evil. In book seven of Confessions, Augustine describes his perception of God before his conversion to Christianity. He explains that he conceived of God as a material supremely good being, who is “incorruptible, inviolable, and immutable” (117). At this time, he perceived of evil as manifesting in two distinct ways; one, evil as imperfections, defects, or limitations in physical objects. These would manifest as illness, death, or pain. Secondly, evil would be revealed in people’s actions and deeds, especially when their souls were corrupted by vices such as greed, envy, pride, and lust (Mann 40).
In the beginning, God created the world. He created the earth, air, stars, trees and mortal animals, heaven above, the angels, every spiritual being. God looked at these things and said that they were good. However, if all that God created was good, from where does un-good come? How did evil creep into the universal picture? In Book VII of his Confessions, St. Augustine reflects on the existence of evil and the theological problem it poses. For evil to exist, the Creator God must have granted it existence. This fundamentally contradicts the Christian confession that God is Good. Logically, this leads one to conclude evil does not exist in a created sense. Augustine arrives at the conclusion that evil itself is not a formal thing, but the result of corruption away from the Supreme Good. (Augustine, Confessions 7.12.1.) This shift in understanding offers a solution to the problem of evil, but is not fully defended within Augustine’s text. This essay will illustrate how Augustine’s solution might stand up to other arguments within the context of Christian theology.
Augustine had the conviction that man is naturally good, since man was created by God, and that our nature has not been altered completely by the "original sin", but that our nature has simply been distorted or perverted from its original "good" state. He would say that, because of our corrupted nature, we do things selfishly, or, we do things to benefit ourselves instead of God and our neighbors. We tend to be unable of choosing good over evil in every situation. We have an inability to do what is right, while at the same time, we are completely responsible for what we do. This is not to say, however, that we never do what is right, or that we are pure evil, because evil is simply a corruption of the good. Instead, it means that our every action, when analyzed at the root, has the wrong motive, and ultimately we serve ourselves. Saying that human nature is not at least based on something good would imply that God created evil. Everything that is good is created by God, and there is nothing besides that. This ties into Augustine's belief that evil itself is not a thing, but is simply an absence of good.
If a great deal of modern thinking goes to redefining the concept of original sin, or lessening the actual sinfulness committed by Adam and Eve, Augustine maintains an absolute conviction that the full responsibility for falling into disgrace belongs to mankind. This view is so consistent, in fact, that Augustine perceives humanity as eternally locked into the shame it initially created. This in turn allows for political and institutional relationships and interpretations; as the enormity of sin arises from humanity 's direct defiance of God, both Church and state must work together to guard against man 's inevitable turning to sinfulness, as it will. It is a stance based on a profound and troubled acceptance of original sin as ongoing,
Augustine believed that God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent. Yet, if God encompassed all these characteristics, then evil would not exist in the world. If God is all-powerful, he would be able to stop evil. If God is omniscient, he would know about evil. If God is perfectly good, he would want to stop evil. Therefore, the existence of evil demonstrates that God does not exist. However, Augustine asserts that evil is the privation of goodness and that it is not God’s fault that evil exists, but it is the consequence of man’s free will (Peterson). God who is perfectly-good, gave man free will because “it is better to have a universe with free will than without” (Lacewing). Free will was intended for man to choose the good, yet man is morally-imperfect and sometime chooses to bring about evil (Lacewing). Augustine who studied the teachings of Neo-Platonist Plotinus learned that “God, the ultimate Good, is the source of being from which all else receives its being” (Peterson 2). Augustine believed that the original sin; Adam and Eve’s sin, was “humanity’s fall from grace” (vision.org). Adam and Eve were consequently punished for their sin by God. As a result, by the sin of Adam of Eve, all of mankind was corrupted because it was human nature to sin. However, through the Grace of God, the human soul can achieve salvation. According to Augustine, the Grace of God entails that God can act without reason and that it is beyond human understanding. With the Grace of God, the human soul will be guided to understand what the good is, and thus, will do good. However, without God’s Grace, man by nature will sin. Augustine believed that one’s life is predestined; that a human being’s life is predetermined by God. The philosopher believed that some people are predetermined to use their free will to accept God’s grace, thus, achieve salvation. However,
In his Confessions, St. Augustine writes about a large number of topics that continue to have relevance today. The text documents the development of Augustine’s faith and his Christian philosophy, and one thing of particular interest is his argument for the nature of evil. Christianity predicates several important ideas that Augustine builds upon in his philosophy, and within its context, he presents a thorough, compelling argument against the problem of evil that identifies evil as a misperception.
Author Claudia Gray stated, “Self-knowledge is better than self-control any day” (Goodreads). Evil and sin exists in our world today and the temptation they bring bounds many human’s spiritual being. Finding the root of all evil is a hard and torturous concept to understand, but knowing one’s own free will helps bring understanding and deliverance from the evils of the world. Throughout the book Confessions Saint Augustine “ponders the concepts of evil and sin and searches the root of their being” (Augustine 15). The existence of evil is one of the most worrisome challenges a Christian or any individual deals with throughout life. Saint Augustine’s beliefs concerning the root of all evil and sins transforms as he begins to grow and develop in the knowledge of his free will and spiritual being. Early on, he believes “God created all things and evil is a thing, therefore God created evil” (Augustine 73-74). From this he conceives the notion that God cannot be good if he knowingly created evil. As Augustine begins to grow in his spiritual walk, his views begin to evolve as he questions his Manichee’s beliefs and explores the concepts of good and evil. From his inquiring Augustine develops the question, what is evil and what if evil did not need creating? He asks, “Do we have any convincing evidence that a good God exists” (Augustine 136-137)?
Augustine conversation with his friend Evodius whether, "God is the cause of evil." This challenging question is one that I remember from my early teachings in Catholic school. Augustine clearly defines the difference of the evil people suffer and the evil they commit. The early philosopher talks about how God gives man the free choice and it is up to man to choose the correct path.
In the search of finally understanding evil and the being of God, Augustine understands who God is and what He stands for. He claimed that for God evil does not exists because He had created all things to be good. All element of the world are good, but may
Saint Augustine lived in a time where the pillar of strength and stability. Empires were being shattered, along with his own life that was filled with confusion and heartbreak. Augustine lost everyone, starting with his mistress, followed by his mother, after some time he lost his son. For a man to suffer this way can make him have his doubts about God, he had to know why God allows there to be suffering, if after all God is all-powerful and the best kinds of good. However from his student days one question always preoccupied Augustine: why does evil exist in the world?
But we humans are now constantly attracted towards evil, attracted to excessive satisfaction of our lower desires for material things and pleasures. And the only way we can break free from this kind of sinfulness is if we receive grace from God. But there is no way we can simply earn this trust or grace just by simply being good. We are unable not to sin. Our will cannot free itself from the bondage to sin through any effort of our own. However, through no merit of our own, God may bestow His grace upon us. And if he does, we may avoid sinning, but if he does not, we are left to what human nature now offers us, the certainty of sin. Augustine’s understanding of evil is that he circles around one main point; all that exists is good. To truly understand what Augustine, mean, we must first understand what is evil and what are the nature of God. He defines evil as a contrary to nature, hurtful and corrupts. This is a privation of good. For example, if a cut is evil, but if the cut is taken away then the evil is gone. However, the cut cannot have existed if the health of the body was good. By accepting these definitions, we can say that if evil is the privation of good, then as shown, something must first be good for it to be evil. Therefore, evil cannot have an independent existence apart from
Augustine makes a point that God created evil in order to contradict the good of the earth. There had to be a power or force that tries to draw you away from the right path. Basically he is trying to explain that one cannot achieve great things without obstacles in his or her path. His thoughts and impressions of what God created are present in every decision made in a normal beings life. If one sits down to think about it, good and evil are in every tale, story, and movie from the beginning of