Saint Augustine (354-430 A.D.), Bishop of Hippo, stands as a towering figure whose philosophy and theology profoundly shaped Western thought for over a millennium. A voluminous writer, his work remains intrinsically and historically vital, particularly his theories on time, his grand narrative in The City of God, and his doctrine of salvation developed against the Pelagians.
Table of Contents
Augustine’s unique genius lay in his ability to synthesize Greek philosophical traditions with Christian scripture, often pushing original speculative thought to reconcile seemingly disparate ideas.
One of Augustine’s most remarkable philosophical contributions is his relativistic theory of time, articulated with great ability in Book XI of his Confessions. Challenging the common Greek philosophical view of eternal, pre-existing matter, Augustine, as an orthodox Christian, firmly asserted that the world was created by God out of nothing. This led him to the profound conclusion that time itself was created with the world.
He famously grappled with the nature of time, writing: “What, then, is time? If no one asks of me, I know; if I wish to explain to him who asks, I know not.” He concluded that only the present truly exists, while the past and future are merely present as memory and expectation within the human mind. This subjective understanding of time, which anticipated later philosophers like Kant, posits that there can be no time without a created being, making the concept of “time before creation” meaningless.
His philosophical acumen is also evident in his anticipation of Descartes’s “cogito” argument, asserting his own existence through the act of thinking.
🌍 The City of God: A Christian View of History
Augustine’s monumental work, The City of God, was written in response to the sack of Rome by the Goths in 410 A.D. and developed into a comprehensive Christian scheme of history. Against pagan arguments that the disaster was due to the abandonment of ancient gods, Augustine argued that even worse things had happened in pre-Christian times and that the relative mildness of the sack (e.g., churches being respected as sanctuaries) was a result of Christianity’s influence.
He posited the existence of two cities: the Earthly City (representing human society driven by self-love) and the City of God (representing the society of the elect, bound by love of God). In this world, these two cities are commingled, but in the hereafter, the predestinate and the reprobate will be eternally separated.
This dualistic view of history, with its emphasis on divine providence and the ultimate triumph of God’s plan, provided a powerful framework for Christians to understand and endure the collapse of the Roman Empire and the ensuing period of chaos.
⚖️ Original Sin and Predestination: A Controversial Legacy
Augustine’s most influential and controversial theological contribution was his theory of original sin and predestination, which he developed against the Pelagian heresy. He taught that Adam’s sin introduced corruption into all humanity, making all descendants incapable of abstaining from sin by their own power.
According to Augustine, only God’s grace enables virtue, and salvation is granted solely to the elect, who are chosen arbitrarily by God’s unmotived will. He argued that all who die unbaptized, even infants, are condemned to eternal torment, a doctrine he believed was just because all humanity inherited Adam’s sin and thus deserved damnation.
This grim view, deeply rooted in his own profound sense of sin, was later revived by Calvin and profoundly influenced Protestant theology. While his ethical doctrines were often severe (e.g., his detailed discussion of sexual lust as a punishment for Adam’s sin), his work provided a coherent theological system that offered solace and meaning to a world grappling with immense suffering and uncertainty, shaping the moral and intellectual landscape of the Middle Ages.
—
Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy. Simon and Schuster, 1945.
More Topics
- The Thirteenth Century: A Zenith of Medieval Power and Intellectual Ferment?
- Thomas Aquinas: How Did He Harmonize Aristotle with Christian Faith?
- Beyond Aquinas: What Did Franciscan Thinkers Add to Medieval Philosophy?
- The Eclipse of the Papacy: How Did the Church’s Authority Begin to Wane?
- The Church’s Revival: How Eleventh-Century Reforms Sparked Papal Power?
- The Golden Age of Islam: How Did Muslim Scholars Preserve Ancient Philosophy?
- The Twelfth Century: A Crossroads of Power, Cities, and Scholarly Debates?
