UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI FACULTY OF THEOLOGY FINLAND FREEDOM FROM PASSIONS IN AUGUSTINE Gao Yuan 高 源 ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Helsinki in Lecture Hall 13, University Main Building, on 4 November 2015, at 12 noon Helsinki 2015 ISBN 978-951-51-1625-3 (paperback) ISBN 978-951-51-1626-0 (PDF) Copyright © Gao Yuan (高源) https://ethesis.helsinki.fi/en Cover: Wang Rui and Gao Yuan Juvenes Print Oy Helsinki 2015 ABSTRACT This study presents a general overview of Augustine’s insights into passions as well as his approach to the therapy of emotions and their sanctification. Attending to various phases of his writings, this work explores the systematic structure of Augustine’s tenets on passions and on the freedom from passions in the context of his philosophical and theological convictions on the issue of amor sui and amor Dei. The analysis begins by examining Augustine’s language of passions and the doctrinal connections between Augustine and his predecessors. I provide a survey of Augustine’s usage of emotional terms and criticise the position that Augustine suggested a dichotomy between passio and affectus as well as the claim that none of Augustine’s Latin terms can be justifiably translated by the modern term “emotion”. On the basis of terminological and doctrinal observations, I clarify the general features of Augustine’s psychology of passions in Chapter 2. In addressing the issue of how Augustine transformed his predecessors’ therapy of passions and their ideal of freedom from emotion into his theological framework in Chapter 3, I examine a series of related concepts, such as propatheia, metriopatheia, apatheia and eupatheia, to determine how he understood them in various stages of his philosophical and theological thinking. On this basis, I draw an outline of Augustine’s interpretation of emotions in his theological anthropology. During his early period, Augustine adopted the Stoic and Platonic therapy of passions and the Stoic ideal of freedom from emotion (apatheia), but he changed his position later, re-evaluating the received terminologies and values of emotions (love, will, justice, virtue, etc.) from the perspective of the doctrines of sin and grace. He developed a theological vision and evaluation of the human condition of emotions and he expressed a pessimistic attitude towards the human condition without the help of supernatural grace. Chapter 4 addresses Augustine’s position on the criticism and renewal of passions in social life: the household, city, and the world. In Chapter 5, I argue that Augustine’s ideal of freedom from passions was participation in the inner Trinitarian spiritual life by the bond of the Holy Spirit as a hallmark of deification. This is wholly dependent on the divine kenosis and the transaction in the person of Christ. By virtue of the gift of grace (the salvific real presence of the Holy Spirit in faith), the pilgrimaging citizens of the City of God will be elevated to the divine realm and become transformed into a better substance in the union with God in Heaven. Contrary to arguments by some Orthodox theologians, Augustine’s theory of deification is not simply a matter of fulfilment of humanity without a genuine transformation. While grace improves the control of sinful impulses in the emotional life of believers who suffer the i consequences of the damage of the soul through original sin, Augustine maintained that the new life in Heaven denotes freedom from this emotional condition as well as the non-apathetic peaceful love and joy of resurrected persons in their participation in the divine spiritual nature. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my greatest thanks to my two brilliant supervisors, Professor Simo Knuuttila and Professor Miikka Ruokanen, who gave me countless invaluable directions and meticulous care during my doctoral research in Finland. I am very touched by their erudition, intelligence, genius, graciousness, and conscientiousness. I will treasure their guidance as the greatest honours in my academic life. My sincere thanks also extend to Professor Pekka Kärkkäinen, Professor Pauli Annala, Professor Jaana Hallamaa, Professor Risto Saarinen, Professor Ismo Dunderberg and other Faculty teachers who offered generous assistance and encouragement on my work over the years. I am greatly indebted to Professor Antoine Lévy, who acted as both an “unofficial supervisor” and best friend in my daily life. My deep gratitude also goes to my wonderful Latin tutor Outi Kaltio, English reviser Kate Moore, and all my doctoral fellows at the Faculty, in which Jason Lepojärvi, Rope Kojonen, Kalle Kuusniemi, Aku Visala, Emil Anton, Heidi Zitting, Suvi Saarelainen, Taina Kalliokoski, Janne Nikkinen, Joona Salminen, and Miika Tucker who, in particular, deserve to be singled out. In addition, I wish to extend my gratitude to my pre-examiners Professor Wu Tianyue and Dr. Timo Nisula. I am also deeply indebted to the many other people who offered invaluable support from China and other countries: Professor Shu Ye, Professor Paulos Huang, Dr. Chen Yongtao, Mr. Donald Woods, Professor Xiao Yuanwu, among others. Furthermore, it almost goes without saying that I owe my special thanks and love to my family: my father Gao Hongpu, mother Xu Fenxia, and my younger sister Gao Rong, who unselfishly offered sustained and powerful support for my studies. I am grateful to the organizations that have contributed to my research: Helsinki Studium Catholicum, Oxford University C. S. Lewis Society, Confucius Institute (University of Helsinki), Chinese Alppila Church, Suomen Kiinalaisten Allianssi, Education Office of the Embassy of China in Finland, among others. Finally, I gratefully acknowledge the Chinese government and the China Scholarship Council which appointed me to pursue my PhD degree at the University of Helsinki and I am also proud of my great alma mater, the University of Helsinki, which provides one of the leading doctoral educational programmes in the world. I hope the cooperation between China and Finland in the field of philosophy and theology will go deeper and broader in the future. University of Helsinki, August 2015 Gao Yuan (高 源) iii CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………… 1 1.1. The Aim and Scope of the Study…………………………………………………. 1 1.2. Sources……………………………………………………………………………. 4 1.3. Previous Research………………………………………………………………… 5 1.4. Chinese Studies…………………………………………………………………… 11 1.5. The Outline of the Study………………………………………………………….. 12 2. AUGUSTINE’S CONCEPTION OF PASSIONS……………………. 15 2.1. The Terminology of Passio……………………………………………………………… 16 2.2. Augustine and His Predecessors on the Psychology of Passions………………… 30 3. CONTROL AND MODERATION OF PASSIONS…………………. 51 3.1. Disputation on Augustine’s Misunderstanding of Propatheia………………….. 52 3.2. Disputation on Augustine’s Misunderstanding of Metriopatheia and Apatheia… 66 3.3. The Disputation about Augustine’s Misunderstanding of Eupatheia…………….. 83 3.4. Augustine’s Consideration of the Therapy of Passions…………………………... 99 3.5. The Main Lines of Augustine’s Understanding of the Will and Passions……….. 112 4. THE RENEWAL AND THE IMPROVEMENT OF PASSIONS IN SOCIAL LIFE………………………………………………………... 117 4.1. The Main Lines of Augustine’s Social Theory………………………………….. 118 4.2. Sexuality, Marriage and Virginity………………………………………………. 134 4.3. Monastery, the Church and the State……………………………………………. 146 4.4. Libido dominandi, Just War and Earthly Peace…………………………………. 157 5. BECOMING GOD?—REDEMPTION THROUGH PASSION AND THE DEIFICATION OF EMOTIONS…………………………………….. 171 5.1. Augustine’s Psychological Approach toward the Trinity……………………….. 172 5.2. Human Passions as a Confused Image of God’s Metaphorical Emotions……… 183 5.3. Redemption from Earthly Emotions in the Passion of Christ…………………... 189 5.4. Division of Angels and Emotions as Punishments in Hell…………………….... 200 5.5. Becoming gods (dii) and the Fruition of God in Heaven………………………. 204 5.6. Evaluation of Augustine’s Doctrine on the Deification of Emotions…...……… 213 6. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………. 229 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………… 239 1. Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………. 239 2. Translations……………………………………………………………………… 241 3. Studies…………………………………………………………………………… 244 v CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Quare tristis es, anima, et quare conturbas me? Spera in Domino. (Psalm 42:5; Conf. 13.14.15) Affectus sunt, amores sunt, immunditia spiritus nostri defluens inferius amore curarum et Sanctitas Tui attollens nos superius amore securitatis, ut sursum cor habeamus ad Te, ubi Spiritus Tuus superfertur super aquas, et ueniamus ad supereminentem requiem, cum pertransierit anima nostra aquas, quae sunt sine substantia. (Conf. 13.7.8) In hoc enim loco infirmitatis et diebus malignis etiam ista sollicitudo non est inutilis, ut illa securitas, ubi pax plenissima atque certissima est, desiderio feruentiore quaeratur. (CD 19.10) 1.1. The Aim and Scope of the Study Augustine was preoccupied with passions1 throughout his life, both in theory and in practice. In his Confessions, Augustine mentions that various experiences made him consider the role of passions in life, such as a theft of pears, sexual adventures with concubines, and the death of his mother, Monica.2 Through his education, Augustine was also acquainted with theoretical views on the nature of passions. For Augustine, central questions during the Platonist period after Manichaeanism and his early Christian life concerned how passions indicate sins and weakness and how he