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The Problem of Evil in Augustine's Confessions

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The Problem of Evil in Augustine's Confessions University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2011 The rP oblem of Evil in Augustine's Confessions Edward Matusek University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons, and the Philosophy Commons Scholar Commons Citation Matusek, Edward, "The rP oblem of Evil in Augustine's Confessions" (2011). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3733 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Problem of Evil in Augustine’s Confessions by Edward A. Matusek A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Thomas Williams, Ph.D. Roger Ariew, Ph.D. Joanne Waugh, Ph.D. Charles B. Guignon, Ph.D. Date of Approval: November 14, 2011 Keywords: theodicy, privation, metaphysical evil, Manichaeism, Neo-Platonism Copyright © 2011, Edward A. Matusek i TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract iii Chapter One: Introduction to Augustine’s Confessions and the Present Study 1 Purpose and Background of the Study 2 Literary and Historical Considerations of Confessions 4 Relevance of the Study for Various Interpretative Approaches 15 O’Donnell’s and Crosson’s Approaches 17 Kotze’s Approach 21 Suchocki’s and McMahon’s Approaches 25 Wills’s and Riley’s Approaches 29 Outline of the Study 32 Chapter Two: Early Childhood and Adolescence 35 Early Childhood 35 Infancy and Early Education 35 Parents 39 Adolescence 43 Sexual Struggles 43 The Pear Theft 46 Platonic Interpretations of the Theft 49 Anti-Platonic Interpretations of the Theft 60 An Anti-Platonic “Confessional” Interpretation 66 Significance of Evil in Childhood and Adolescence 74 Critique of Augustine’s Contributions Regarding Evil 80 Chapter Three: Cicero’s Hortensius and the Manichean Period 85 Cicero’s Hortensius 85 The Manichean Period 88 Manichean Beliefs 88 Augustine’s Early View of God 95 Augustine and Manichaeism 97 The Concubine 108 Preliminary Considerations 108 The Manichean Effect on His Concubinage 110 Considerations from the Post-Manichean and Post- Conversion Periods 113 Friendship and Grief 115 ii Significance of Evil in the Manichean Period 119 Critique of Augustine’s Contributions Regarding Evil 121 Chapter Four: The Post-Manichean, Neo-Platonic, and Christian Periods 124 The Post-Manichean Period 124 New Breakthrough in Milan 125 Reflections on Moral Evil and Free Will 127 The Neo-Platonic Period 133 Background on Neo-Platonism and the “Books of the Platonists” 134 Plotinus’ Views on Matter 137 Plotinus’ View on Metaphysical Evil 140 Augustine’s Appropriation of Neo-Platonic Thought 143 The First Ascent 147 Final Conclusions on Metaphysical Evil and the Harmony of Creation 150 Final Conclusions Concerning Moral Evil and Free Will 155 The Second Ascent 161 The Christian Period 163 Other Conversion Stories 164 The Garden Scene 166 Post-Conversion Considerations 178 Significance of Evil in the Post-Manichean, Neo-Platonic, and Christian Periods 180 Critique of Augustine’s Contributions Regarding Evil 183 Chapter Five: Final Considerations 187 Works Cited 199 iii ABSTRACT Augustine, the fourth-century Christian philosopher, is perhaps best-known for his spiritual autobiography Confessions. Two aspects of the problem of evil are arguably critical for comprehending his life in Books 1 through 9 of the work. His search for the nature and origin of evil in the various philosophies that he encounters (the intellectual aspect) and his struggles with his own weaknesses (the experiential aspect) are windows for understanding the actual dynamics of his sojourn. I defend the idea above by providing a fuller examination of the key role that both aspects play in his spiritual journey. Examining relevant events from Augustine’s life chronologically, I analyze his philosophical wanderings from his encounter with Cicero’s work Hortensius through his eventual disillusionment with the Manichaean religion, and finally, his move in the direction of Christian teachings with the help of Neo-Platonism. Along the way his philosophical questions (the intellectual aspect) and his struggles with his own depravity (the experiential aspect) have an effect on each other until his ultimate move toward Christianity resolves both problems of evil. 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO AUGUSTINE’S CONFESSIONS AND THE PRESENT STUDY Augustine’s Confessions, widely hailed as one of the most influential books in Western literature, especially in Western religious literature, continues to generate considerable interest among scholars, especially in academic circles in Europe and North America. Written from approximately 397 to 401, this unique work is well-known as Augustine’s account of his personal journey to the Christian faith. With Augustine as undoubtedly one of the most influential Christian philosophers and theologians in history, the interest in his Confessions is even more intense because of the personal background that the work provides about him. However, despite the predominance of religious elements in the Confessions, the number and variety of other scholarly studies from other disciplines on this particular work are rather astonishing. Even a partial summation of some of the key articles and investigations from 1888 through 1995 by Richard Severson displays a startling range of academic inquiries from a wide variety of fields, ranging from autobiographical studies to classical and literary scholarship and from psychological criticism to assorted theological investigations, of course, including studies in spirituality, doctrinal debates, “God talk,” profiles of sin, and his use of Scripture throughout the work.1 Various philosophical issues besides the problem of evil also pervade the work such as the nature of time, the 1 Richard Severson, The Confessions of Saint Augustine: An Annotated Bibliography, 1888-1995 (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996), v-vii. 2 phenomenon of memory, studies in ethics, and the nature of philosophy itself. Echoing Severson’s opening assessment, G.E. Gorman, in the Foreword to Severson’s work, notes how Confessions is “studied by literary critics as the paradigmatic Western autobiography, by psychologists as an ancient case study, by philosophers as a tract on time, and by theologians for many reasons.”2 Rarely has such a work in Western literature undergone so much serious attention in academia for so many diverse reasons. PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY The aim of this particular study is to provide a focused exposition of the role of the problem of evil in Augustine’s Confessions. This analysis will be confined to Books 1 through 9 since those books in the work contain the narrative of his journey to the Christian faith and the results of his conversion. Delineating two aspects of the problem of evil, an intellectual aspect and an experiential aspect, is arguably critical for comprehending his journey. The intellectual aspect concerns his search for the nature and origin of evil, and the experiential aspect focuses on his struggles with his own temptations and weaknesses. Both aspects are windows for better understanding the dynamics of his sojourn, and throughout the study I intend to defend that idea by providing a fuller examination of the key role that both play in the narrative. Examining relevant events from Augustine’s life chronologically, I analyze important episodes from his childhood, his philosophical wanderings stemming from his first encounter with Cicero’s work Hortensius, a careful 2 G. E. Gorman, foreword to The Confessions of Saint Augustine: An Annotated Bibliography, 1888- 1995, by Richard Severson (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996), xi. 3 examination of his eventual disillusionment with Manichean beliefs, and finally, his move in the direction of Christian teachings, with the help of Neo-Platonism as an intermediary of sorts. Regarding “resolution” of the first problem of evil (the intellectual dilemma), it is helpful to understand that the resolution of that problem in Confessions is more one of explanation than justification. Augustine’s answer enables him to reach an understanding, to his satisfaction, of the nature and origin of evil. However, this explanation is not necessarily to be understood as a complete justification of God’s allowance of evil, especially in the more technical sense of theodicy as justifications developed by thinkers such as Gottfried Leibniz, John Hick, and others. This distinction is helpful in better understanding Augustine’s quest. The intellectual problem of evil itself needs very little introduction. Formulated in the context of monotheism, the dilemma that is posed consists of explaining how evil can simultaneously exist with a deity that is all-powerful and all-knowing and supremely good since such a being would not want evil to exist and by definition would also possess the needed qualities to ensure that evil not become a reality in the first place. In other words, it is logically inconsistent, some have argued, to have evil present in the same world as a being with the attributes above. As a result, some thinkers have resorted to denying
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