Augustine

Augustine's greatest contribution to the Christian faith is found in his foundational influence across Western theology, philosophy, and ecclesial thought, particularly through his comprehensive articulation of grace and his synthesis of classical intellectual traditions with Christian doctrine.

Key areas that define his immense contribution include:

1. The Doctrine of Grace and Free Will

Augustine's reconciliation of human free will and divine grace is considered one of his crowning achievements. His deep reflection on grace shaped the future discussions of salvation, predestination, and original sin within the Christian tradition.

• Dominant Influence: All subsequent philosophical and theological discussions of grace and salvation have been influenced by Augustine's legacy.

• Prevenient Grace: His doctrine of grace emphasizes that divine help must be fully prevenient, coming before every worthy effort, including the human decision to believe. He stressed that grace must be something deeper than merely external law or teaching, working inwardly to turn the human will.

• Source of Virtue: He insisted that God is the only source of true virtue, and that human beings are unable to know completely or want wholeheartedly what justice requires due to inherited original sin.

• Christological Grounding: Grace is essentially the divine cause of spiritual rebirth and adoption as children of God, situated in the context of Christology, whereby humanity participates in the divine nature of the eternal Word of God.

2. Establishing Christianity as the True Philosophy

Augustine systematically positioned Christianity as the supreme intellectual framework, offering philosophically defensible solutions to problems that non-Christian systems could not solve.

• Theological Synthesis: He regarded Christianity as the true philosophy, representing a clear philosophical improvement upon pagan Neoplatonism. He assimilated the Neoplatonic triad of principles directly to the Holy Trinity.

• Intellectual Goal: The goal of Christian progress for Augustine is the pious and sober understanding of the Trinity. He located Platonic Forms (eternal reasons) within the mind and very substance of God, making his brand of Platonism unique in the orthodox Christian traditions.

• Divine Illumination: He appropriated the Platonic theory of knowledge by divine illumination, "baptized for Christian purposes," which was long considered intelligible and authoritative by medieval thinkers. Illumination is the source of an intrinsic intellectual capacity that the mind gradually recovers by cultivating a habit of operating by faith in God.

• Faith and Reason: Augustine firmly believed that faith was the prerequisite to understanding ("Except ye believe ye shall not understand"). He dedicated his efforts to philosophical explorations of Christianity, moving from addressing philosophical questions to starting with questions posed by faith.

3. Christ as the Unique Mediator and Foundation of Justice

Augustine centered salvation and social justice entirely on Christ, differentiating Christian faith from philosophical or pagan attempts at virtue.

• Unique Justice: He argued that Christ is the only just human being in history. His virtue is perfect and unique because his human nature is substantially united to his divine nature, making him entirely free of sin, original or personal.

• The Way: Christ is identified as "the way, and the truth, and the life," the universal way of salvation (or deliverance of the soul) discerned through the historical records of the Hebrews.

• Incarnational Mystery: The mystery of the Incarnation is the pivotal pathway to God, leading to love and justice. It grounds the possibility of spanning the gap between the immanent and the transcendent that all monotheists seek. Humility, received through faith in this mystery, is essential for healing the soul of pride and sin.

• The "Whole Christ": He developed the concept of the "whole Christ, head and body" (the Church), defining the just society as a commonwealth founded and governed by Christ.

4. Monumental Literary and Historical Legacy

Augustine's writings provided the narrative structure for Western Christian thought and reflection on history.

• City of God: This monumental work, architectonic in design, serves as an insightful critique of paganism and Roman virtues. It is a critical guide to the temporal and textual dispensation under which Christians hold their scriptures.

• Confessions: This personal and metaphysical history was written for the glory of God and the edification of all who would read his spiritual odyssey to the Catholic faith.

• Scriptural Authority: He stressed the overall unity of the scriptures (the Bible being his "genetic code" for human history and destiny), defending the Jewish-Christian scriptures as divinely inspired, doctrinally unified, and superior to the writings of the "nations".

Augustine's most controversial ideas, which generated profound disagreements both in his lifetime and throughout subsequent history, centered on his doctrines concerning divine grace, human capacity, and the nature of evil and sin, often leading to accusations of theological extremism.

Here is a summary of the most prominent controversial ideas mentioned in the sources:

1. The Relationship between Grace, Free Will, and Predestination

Augustine's sophisticated and subtle theory of grace, developed primarily in response to the Pelagian controversy, contained elements that became highly contested.

• Radical Free Will and Sinful Inclination: Augustine argued for a radical freedom of the will. However, due to inherited original sin (the consequence of Adam's fault transmitted to all descendants), human nature suffers from ignorance, mortality, and "trouble" (lust/concupiscence). This concupiscence is a strong, often irresistible craving that directs humans away from God. Critics wondered how it could be just for Adam's progeny to receive punishment for a sin they did not commit.

• The Necessity of Prevenient Grace: Augustine insisted that salvation requires divine grace to be fully prevenient, coming before any worthy human effort or merit. His emphasis on the pure gratuitousness of God’s bestowal of grace effectively minimized the human capacity for genuine deserts on their own.

• Predestination and Differentiation: The controversy forced Augustine toward a radical consistency regarding the prevenience of grace, leading to difficult and troubling implications regarding election and predestination. Augustine concluded that the reason grace is given to one person (e.g., Jacob) and not another (e.g., Esau) is due to God’s hidden, but not unjust, inscrutable choice. This doctrine of election, particularly the notion of leaving many turned toward evil, was considered "a torment and anguish" by some who believed it, as it separated God's good will from his good word. Augustine's late work, On the Predestination of the Saints, was written to defend these difficult conclusions against critics.

• Challenging Human Perfection: Augustine redefined basic Christian conceptions of moral perfection and heroism. His application of concupiscence (lust/unruly desire) even to the most virtuous Christian martyrs and saints, like Paul, emphasized that no human being (except Christ) is unique in their freedom from it, and everyone requires Christ's grace to overcome it.

2. The Nature of the Will and the Origin of Evil

Augustine’s concept of the will, essential for his theodicy, contained points of contention, particularly its radical independence and its role in the initiation of evil.

• Radical Freedom of Choice: Augustine defended the claim that the freedom of the will must be radical: nothing at all can determine the will in its free choice. The will is not bound to choose what the agent thinks is best; freedom is tied up with the ability to be weak-willed or perverse, "doing the wrong thing for no reason at all".

• The Inconsistency of Deficient Causality: In the City of God, Augustine addressed the origin of evil using the privatio thesis (evil is an absence or lack of goodness). However, sources question how this concept of "deficient causality" (evil coming from nothing or a turning away) can logically account for creaturely responsibility for sin and agency of perpetually unsettled evil angels, noting that an absence is not an agent. Furthermore, placing Adam's will in an indeterminate arena requires it to be both perverse and voluntary, which is metaphysically impossible.

3. Ethical Rigor and the Rejection of Pagan Virtue

Augustine's ethical standards, often rooted in his belief in the fallenness of humanity and the necessary role of God, clashed sharply with classical ideals, provoking controversy both in his time and posthumously.

• Pagan Virtues as Vices: Augustine argued that the virtues pagans possess (such as justice or courage) are in reality vices if they are not referred to God. He asserted that there is no eudaimonist way to love God "to the point of self-contempt" (usque ad contemptum sui). His critique of eudaimonist philosophies was controversial, suggesting they were formulas for evading compassion.

• Opposition to Suicide: Augustine forcefully argued against suicide, viewing it always as a sin, opposing common cultural reverence for figures like Lucretia (who committed suicide to preserve honor).

• Rejection of Capital Punishment: Augustine's position against the death penalty, a key aspect of his view on punishment, was often ignored by later writers who sought to exploit his authority.

• Stoic Paradoxes: He criticized the Stoic paradoxes, which suggested that all sins are equal and equated minor transgressions with major crimes (such as equating excessive laughter with arson). He found this particularly "wicked and dangerous" as it eliminated mercy and Christian compassion.

4. Interpretation of Scripture and Authority

Augustine's views on Christian epistemology and interpretation, especially in his early works, also became subject to debate.

• The Possibility of Catholic Fideism: Augustine's development of Advanced Philosophy (reason beginning in faith and leading to understanding) from General Philosophy (use of reason alone) led to accusations that he encouraged "Catholic fideism" or blind faith if the limitations of General Philosophy were not adequately explained.

• The Question of Visible Bodies Seeing God: In his conjectures about the resurrected body, Augustine pushed the imagination to its limits by entertaining the unsettling possibility that saints might actually be able to see God with their bodily eyes. He admitted that this detailed speculation about resurrected bodies was based on "fantasies" and was "rash to offer any description".

• The Origin of the Soul (Traducianism): Augustine remained deeply uncertain about the origin of the soul, listing four possibilities, including whether the soul is propagated from soul (traducianism). He chose not to rashly affirm any single view, acknowledging that Catholic commentators had not clarified this "perplexing obscurity". However, the implication of original sin being passed down suggested traducianism, a view that became controversial in later theological debates, particularly when pressed by the Pelagians.

• Ambivalence and Change of Mind: Augustine was "a practical and tempestuous writer" who deliberately preserved multiple meanings, making his works seem to contain "apparent inconsistencies" which later scholars struggled to resolve. His later work, Retractationes, was partially intended to correct theological inconsistencies and demonstrate how to read his evolving views, though his friend Possidius muted this rigorous self-correction in favor of doctrinal stability. For instance, he later expressed regret for having attributed too much to the liberal disciplines in his early writings.

Augustine of Hippo fits into the mold of traditional Christian thought as a foundational, pivotal, and complex figure whose theological and philosophical synthesis profoundly shaped Western Christianity. He is considered both a faithful proponent of orthodoxy and a radical innovator whose distinctive ideas set him apart from, and sometimes in opposition to, certain existing traditions.

His fit can be summarized across three main areas:

1. The Synthesis of Faith and Philosophy

Augustine's work is characterized by the assimilation of classical philosophical wisdom, particularly Neoplatonism, with Christian doctrine.

• Christianity as the True Philosophy: Augustine regarded Christianity as the true philosophy, viewing it as a clear philosophical improvement upon pagan Neoplatonism. He dedicated his intellectual life to the philosophical exploration of Christianity, often starting with questions posed by faith and addressing them with philosophical methods.

• Incorporating Platonism: He incorporated Platonist concepts, such as the doctrine of Ideas (which he called rationes or eternal plans), by locating them firmly within the mind and very substance of God. This synthesis was so successful that the West accepted it "without demur for over a millennium".

• Faith Seeking Understanding (Fides Quaerens Intellectum): Augustine championed the idea that faith was the prerequisite for understanding, stating: "No one doubts that we are impelled to learn by the twofold forces of authority and reason". He determined never to depart from the authority of Christ, but was confident that he could find in the Platonists philosophical explanations (subtilissima ratione) that were not incompatible with Christian sacred things. This approach provided conceptual tools for erudite Christian readers to reconcile reason and faith.

2. Orthodox Doctrine and Its Distinctive Expression

Augustine's theology upheld foundational Christian commitments but often developed them in unique ways, placing specific emphasis on certain concepts.

• Christ as Mediator: He affirmed the commitment that Christ is "the one mediator between God and human beings". However, he emphasized that Christ mediates between us and God not primarily due to his divinity (which is not ontologically intermediate between God and the soul), but because of his humanity. This contrasts with his early emphasis on Christ as the inner teacher or eternal Wisdom/Virtue, which was later recognized as insufficient for conveying the full soteriological role of the Incarnation.

• Commitment to Scripture: He committed himself to the authority of Scripture, believing God would not have given it world-wide authority unless he wished people to seek Him within that context. Augustine's later project centered around the interpretation of Genesis and other biblical texts, providing a fixed point for his exercise of genius for interrogation and nuance, moving beyond the pressures of classical textuality.

• The Trinity: Augustine's Trinitarian doctrine was standard and largely unrivaled in the West until the twelfth century. Subsequent prominent thinkers, including Anselm, Peter Lombard, and Thomas Aquinas, carried on this original Augustinian tradition.

• Anthropology and Salvation: His theology provided a distinctive understanding of the human self, contrasting the psychological and historical notions of the self. This involved locating the self in an inner space (an innovation built on rhetorical and philosophical materials). His inward turn, focused on finding God within the soul, became a permanent possibility for orthodox piety in the West.

3. Areas of Innovation and Difference

Despite his orthodox standing, Augustine's articulation of certain core doctrines was unique and sometimes controversial, leading to a complex legacy.

• Idiosyncratic Platonism (Intelligibility of God): Augustine is noted for his idiosyncratic commitment to the intelligibility of God. He believed the eternal formative principles in God were of a nature intelligible to the human mind, reflecting a "deep kinship" between the soul and divinity manifested in intellectual vision. This position sets him apart from the rest of the Nicene or orthodox traditions (East and West), which generally affirmed the incomprehensibility of the divine essence.

• Grace and Redemption: His anti-Pelagian doctrine of prevenient grace and predestination radically shifted theological understanding of human capacity and divine action. Augustine's formulation of grace as an inward, gratuitous gift, necessary for every virtuous effort, fundamentally shaped all subsequent Western discussions on salvation and free will.

• The Inward Turn and Christ's Flesh: Augustine's inward turn, which directs attention toward the inner self to find God, provided an important alternative to the traditional, "fleshly pattern of piety" focused on the outward, physical reality of Christ's life-giving flesh (Incarnation, Eucharist, etc.). While Augustine affirmed the necessity of Christ's flesh, his Platonist leanings made it difficult for him to see what salvific power lay in temporal, external things.

• The Role of the Church: Augustine's frequent use of the image of the "whole Christ, head and body" (totus Christus caput et corpus), identified as the Church, was developed, in part, to stress Christ's unity with the church against the Donatists, who emphasized the purity of individual ministers. He insisted that the holiness of the church and its sacraments is sustained by Christ alone. However, his view of the episcopate was often distinct from the "mainstream" Catholic bishop of his time, who might have been less skeptical of episcopal genealogy.

Ultimately, Augustine did not abandon his intellectual weapons or classical training upon his conversion; he employed them to forge a "distinctive and challenging intellectual response" to the problems of his society, ensuring that his legacy became the matrix for Western theological and philosophical tradition