Saint Augustine

Aurelius Augustinus [more commonly “St. Augustine of ,” often simply “Augustine”] (354–430 C.E.):rhetor, Christian Neoplatonist, North African , Doctor of the Roman .

St. is one of the fathers of modern Christian thought. However, he started out as a rowdy kid and a sexually frustrated teenager. He kept a mistress and was fascinated by sex. Yet he grew up to become a celibate Christian . He found philosophical problems everywhere he looked, and his writings address many of them. What was sex like in the garden of Eden? How do I know what is?

Neoplatonism (also called Neo-), is the modern term for a school of mystical that took shape in the 3rd century, based on the teachings ofPlato and earlier Platonists, with its earliest contributor believed to be , and his teacher . focused on the spiritual and cosmological aspects of Platonic thought, synthesizing Platonism with Egyptian]and Jewish . However, Neoplatonists would have considered themselves simply Platonists, and the modern distinction is due to the that their philosophy contained sufficiently unique interpretations of to make it substantially different from what Plato wrote and believed.

St. Augustine

looked at previous to examine their attempt to come to know the , and for Augustine the highest truth is and His creation. With the exception of Plato and the Platonists, some believe that the of philosophy up to Augustine missed the true point of philosophy.

In philosophy, for Augustine, one should come to know that (a) there is a hierarchical arrangement within nature, (b) the rational, immaterial human can certainly have of the pinnacle of this hierarchy, and (c) only God is higher than human in this hierarchy. The highest truth at which philosophy can achieve is the same truth of the correct , for Augustine. In fact, he argued that there must be a “necessary concordance” between the two. If reason and faith don’t agree, either the reasoning proceeded incorrectly or the faith was in error. Moreover, he held that both help each other. Faith can help “illuminate” for philosophy and reasoning along the way to knowing God, and reason can help faith in understanding the of God.

The Stages of History

Augustine correlated the stages of the Christian life with the stages of history in his Enchirdion.

First, humans live in ignorance and according to the flesh “undisturbed by any struggle of reason.” In history, this is the time between ’s Fall and the first covenant with .

Second, aware the law of , humans without the aid of faith live as a slave to sin but in . This stage corresponds to the time after the covenant but before God’s grace.

Third, with an awareness of God, humans fight against sin by righteous. This stage corresponds to living under the grace of God, i.e., from the Incarnation of up to the age of Augustine’s writings.

Fourth, after this life humans are rewarded for their faith with tranquility of the and of the body. This stage corresponds to the finding of true and the end of history.

The City of Man and

In The City of God, although Augustine is interested in the for the fall of the , his true concern is to direct attention elsewhere. It is not the earthly causes and effects that are of importance, and his Platonist view becomes apparent. There are two realms: the City of Man and the City of God. The fall of Rome and its causes belong to the City of Man, and the true concern should be with the City of God. Many believe that the point of philosophy and faith should be to turn away from the causes and effects of earthly actions, the rumblings of politics, and the dangers of conquest, while turning toward the City of God. It's believed that one proceeds by following correct reasoning and true faith, and in the final stage, the end of history, one can achieve tranquility and resurrection. In The City of God, Augustine writes, “For man has no other reason for philosophizing than to be happy.”