Saint Augustine: Christianity in Medieval Philosophy
Item 6: Christianity and Medieval Philosophy: Saint Augustine
1. Socio-Historical Context
Saint Augustine (4th-5th century AD) lived during a politically, socially, and religiously agitated time, amidst the decline of the Roman Empire.
2. Features of Christian Doctrine
Christianity is considered a doctrine, rather than a philosophy. Its features include:
- Linear Sense of History: Unlike the Greeks, who believed history was circular, Christians believe history is guided by God towards salvation.
- Monotheism: A radical and explicit assertion that there is only one God.
- Creationism: The belief that God created the world out of nothing, a principle considered impossible by Parmenides.
- Omnipotence: Linked to monotheism and creationism. If there is only one God, He must be omnipotent and the creator.
- Divine Paternity: God is the father of mankind.
- Free Will: Greek moral intellectualism is replaced by the concept of free will to sin. While Socrates and Plato believed bad actions resulted from a lack of good, Christianity posits that they are the result of human evil and individual freedom.
3. Christianity and Platonism
Christianity shared conceptual and argumentative similarities with Greek philosophy, especially Platonism. This led to Platonic-Christian philosophy dominating from the 2nd to 5th centuries and Platonic-Augustinian philosophy from the 5th to 12th centuries. Similarities include:
- Existence of Another World: The intelligible world is associated with the Christian Heaven or Beyond.
- Immortality of the Soul: While the Greeks believed everything immortal was unengendered (without beginning), Christians believe souls were directly created by God.
- Life as a Journey of Purification: Christianity views life as a transition where we must be good in both body and soul to reach Heaven and rise at the end of time to live in a perfect world. Therefore, for Christianity, the union between soul and body is not unnatural or accidental (as Plato believed).
4. The Importance of His Work and The City of God
In The City of God, Augustine aims to convince Christians that the fall of the Empire would not drag down the Church. He explains that history is linear (from the sin of Adam and Eve to damnation or salvation). He also divides life into six ages, corresponding to the six biblical days of creation. Key ideas include:
- Two Cities: The City of God and the Earthly City. Human happiness consists in loving God, as it cannot be found within oneself and requires something higher. Access to God must begin within us, leading to self-transcendence.
- Two Peoples: Sinners, dominated by vices reproved by God, and the righteous, predestined for salvation, whose reason is flawed.
- Rome is stumbling because of the miseries of the heathens, as both cities are mixed until the final triumph of the City of God.
- This was interpreted as the Church being above the state, as it is chosen to care for and protect Christianity and must direct the moral conduct of the state.
- Tragic and Dualistic Conception of History: The Earthly City is at war with itself and with the City of God.
- Events are not predetermined; human freedom plays an important role in history (similar to the Stoics).
- Despite this, the fate of humanity is guided by God towards salvation or damnation.