Creation, Time, and the Problem of Evil: Augustine and Aquinas
Two Interpretations of Creation: Augustine and Aquinas
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine addressed the problem of ideas by asserting that these were not independent entities, as Plato suggested, but rather the contents of the divine mind. This concept explained the world’s existence, its relationship with God, and its nature: the world was created ex nihilo (out of nothing) by God, according to the models (ideas) in his mind, in a free and voluntary act of omnipotence. This creation implies the contingency of things, their dependence on God. God is a necessary being; the world’s reason for being is in God, and that reason is God himself. Augustine interpreted Plato’s theory to mean that the good God produces the world according to ideas. Thus, God either created the world or did not, but if he created it, he made it as it is, not because he could not do otherwise, but because he followed the model of his ideas.
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, in explaining creation, utilized the concept of participation from the Platonic-Augustinian tradition: all beings brought into existence by God’s creative action participate in God’s being. However, this participation doesn’t imply an identical nature between God’s being and that of creatures. When speaking of their respective beings, we do so analogously: God’s being is necessary and just, while the being of creatures is contingent and made. The ideas of participation in being and creation according to a model (Ideas) were considered dangerous in their time, as they hinted at Greek necessitarianism and intellectualism, contrary to the Christian thesis of a contingent world resulting from God’s free decision. Thomas, while conceiving of the human being in an Aristotelian way, had to maintain a balance with Christian theses. He viewed the soul as the form of the body, both forming a single substance. Yet, he had to admit the soul’s ability to survive independently to preserve the concepts of immortality and resurrection.
Augustine of Hippo: Temporality and Historicity
Augustine’s considerations on creation and human nature opened a new field of reflection: temporality and historicity. By establishing a beginning of time, itself having no beginning or end, within creation and Christian salvation history, certain moments become privileged. For humans, Augustinian Christianity brings the discovery of the self, linked to the consideration of time and history. With the discovery of temporality, historical consciousness is born. Augustine’s City of God begins with what has been called the philosophy of history (or the theology of history). The world is for those who love God to the contempt of themselves; the City of God is for those who love themselves to the contempt of God.
The Problem of Evil in Saint Augustine
A serious problem for all religious thought, especially monotheistic, is the existence of evil, both physical and moral. If God is good, why does evil exist? A purely philosophical approach might decline to explain, attributing everything to the inaccessible divine plan. However, Augustine posits that all reality is positive. All beings, as created by God, are good. Evil is a privation of good: it is what should be a certain way but is not. Any positive answer to the question of evil would make God responsible for it. From this perspective, only moral evil, or sin, can be truly called evil. So-called physical evils represent a partial and inadequate view of the cosmos. Everything in the world contributes to its harmony, highlighting the perfection and goodness of God’s creation. Sin arises when the will, instead of being directed towards what corresponds to its nature, seeks lower things. The complex topic of evil is further complicated by the concepts of original sin, redemption, and grace. Original sin diminishes the human will’s ability to choose freely, despite retaining free will. Augustine vehemently opposed Pelagius’s ideas, affirming that Adam’s sin affected all humans, limiting their freedom despite their inclination towards evil. This, like many other issues in religious philosophy, presents an ultimate problem, insoluble by human reason.