THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Creation in Saint Augustine’s Confessions A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Jared Ortiz Washington, D.C. 2012 Creation in Saint Augustine’s Confessions Jared Ortiz, Ph.D. Director: Tarmo Toom, Ph.D. With the exception of the Bible, perhaps no work has received as many and as various interpretations as Augustine’s Confessions. Yet, despite the plethora of studies from a variety of disciplines, Annemaré Kotzé (2004) could still recently observe that while the Confessions is “Augustine’s most read work . it is arguably one of the least understood pieces of ancient literature.” Indeed, a work which on Augustine’s own account was written to “stir up the human intellect and affections into God” (retr. 2.6.1) has often been reduced to “an ‘autobiography’ of a sinful, guilt-ridden soul” (Crosson, 1989). Though most agree that the Confessions is important, there seems to be little consensus about what it means, what holds it together, or how one should approach reading it. This dissertation approaches the Confessions via what is, arguably, most important to Augustine: namely, creation, understood in a broad sense. Following St. Paul, Augustine thinks that creation is a revelation (cf. Rom. 1:20); it is that which reveals the truth about God and the world. For Augustine, creation is not one doctrine or theme among others, but is the foundational context for all doctrines and all themes. By systematically expounding Augustine’s understanding of creation, this dissertation draws out how the narrative of Augustine’s life can be understood as a “coming to terms” with creation which establishes a “new context,” a transformation of living and thinking in light of his keen awareness of the gratuitous gift of existence. Moreover, creation, for Augustine, is dynamically ordered toward the Church, toward the deified destiny which the Body of Christ both is and brings about. Thus, the Confessions itself can be understood as Augustine’s prayer of praise in thanksgiving for the unmerited gift of creation (and re-creation). It is his self-gift back to God—importantly, one of his first acts as bishop—which turns out to be a kind of Eucharistic offering intended to take up and bring about the same in his readers. The dissertation concludes by arguing that Augustine’s rich understanding of creation can account for the often despaired of meaning, structure, and unity of the Confessions. This dissertation by Jared Ortiz fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Historical Theology approved by Tarmo Toom, Ph.D., as Director, and by Philip Rousseau, D.Phil., and Paul McPartlan, D.Phil., as Readers. ____________________________________ Tarmo Toom, Ph.D., Director ____________________________________ Philip Rousseau, D.Phil., Reader ____________________________________ Paul McPartlan, D.Phil., Reader ii Contents Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... vii INTRODUCTION: APPROACHING THE CONFESSIONS ........................................... 1 I. Select Recent Approaches ................................................................................................. 2 II. Argument and Contribution ........................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER ONE: AUGUSTINE’S UNDERSTANDING OF CREATION ................... 13 I. Some Conceptual Clarifications ...................................................................................... 13 A. Clarifying Errors ........................................................................................................ 16 B. God’s Being and Created Being ................................................................................. 20 II. Trinity and Creatio de nihilo .......................................................................................... 24 A. Creatio, Conversio, Formatio .................................................................................... 27 B. Participation ............................................................................................................... 32 C. Eternal Reasons .......................................................................................................... 35 D. Measure, Number, Weight ......................................................................................... 37 III. The Created World ........................................................................................................ 42 A. Caelum et terram ....................................................................................................... 42 B. Ordo: Hierarchy of Being and Providence ................................................................. 47 C. Ad imaginem et similitudinem Dei ............................................................................. 52 IV. Creation and Sin ........................................................................................................... 56 V. Creation and Recreation ................................................................................................. 61 CHAPTER TWO: COMING TO TERMS WITH CREATION ..................................... 67 I. Creation and Augustine’s Life ......................................................................................... 67 II. Stage One: Early Life ..................................................................................................... 70 A. Plunged into Existence ............................................................................................... 70 B. Creation and Language ............................................................................................... 74 C. A Catechumen and His Catechism ............................................................................. 77 D. Creation and Youthful Sinning .................................................................................. 79 1. Pride ........................................................................................................................ 80 2. Lust ......................................................................................................................... 83 3. Curiosity .................................................................................................................. 85 III. Stage Two: Two Substances ......................................................................................... 89 A. Manichees .................................................................................................................. 91 1. The Manichean View of God .................................................................................. 95 2. The Manichean View of the World ........................................................................ 98 3. The Manichean View of the Human Being ............................................................ 99 iii 4. Manichean Metaphysics and Morals .................................................................... 101 5. The Manichean View of Salvation ....................................................................... 104 B. Excursus: Ascent, in General ................................................................................... 107 1. A Failed Ascent: The Weight of Two Substances ................................................ 110 C. Aristotle .................................................................................................................... 112 IV. Stage Three: God Through Infinite Spaces ................................................................ 114 A. Skeptics .................................................................................................................... 115 B. Authority and Reason ............................................................................................... 119 C. Epicureans ................................................................................................................ 123 V. Stage Four: Infinite in a Different Way ....................................................................... 124 A. Rethinking Augustine’s Reception of the Platonists................................................ 125 1. Augustine’s Understanding of What the Platonists Knew .................................... 130 2. Ascent: Seeing God............................................................................................... 134 3. What Creation Teaches Augustine........................................................................ 141 B. Catholics ................................................................................................................... 146 1. The Incarnation ..................................................................................................... 150 a. Revealing the Distinction and Relationship Between God and the World ....... 151 b. Participating Down ........................................................................................... 153 c. Mediator ............................................................................................................ 156 2. Grace: Creation’s Relation to God .......................................................................