OCR A Level Religious Studies DCT - Augustine

st augustine

early Christian and philosopher whose writings influence the development of western Christianity. among his most important works are the city of god and the confessions

genesis

the first book of the Old Testament: tells of creation

the confessions

Augustine's autobiography, in latin, written between AD 397, and 400

the city of god

Augustine's book about the fall of the Roman Empire, and its response to allegations that christianity brought about the decline room, considered one of augustines most important works, written in the early 5th century

human nature

the general phycological characteristics, feelings, and behavioural traits of humankind, regard as shared by all humans

the doctrine of the fall

when adam and eve disobeyed god, they 'fell' from perfection and brought evil into the perfect world

rational act

acting in accordance with reason and logic

original sin

Augustine christian doctrine that says that everyone was born sinful. this mess that they are born with a built-in urge to do bad things and to disobey God

temptation

in the context of genesis temptation is the human inclination to sin

concupiscence

any action in which bodily desire or animalistic drive overrule the judgment of the rational soul

gods grace

the free and unmerited favour of God

summum bonum

a latin expression meaning the highest good

Concordia

- easy, comfortable and understanding relationship goof friends have with one another

- adam and eve lived in this prior to the fall: the best of all possible human relationships

cupiditas

- love go changeable earthly things, and love of self and selfish needs

- choosing this individuals own responsibility and fault

- people who choose this ignorant and unhappy as subjected themselves to laws of the world

caritas

- generous love of others

- leads to (spiritual) happiness as result of being obedient to God's will

- however, this choice removed by sin

humanity

- people created by God

- they are 'fallen' in nature

- they can be redeemed

Augustine's life

- 354-430

- Father: pagan, Mother: Christian

- Exposed to Christianity from young age

- gifted and sent to university

- made bishop of Hippo in 391

Augustine adolescence

- had a child out of marriage

- 'ran with lust'

- stole pear from someones garden, not because he was hungry but because his desires convinced him to

Augustine's influences

- mother: intro to Christianity, pushed to Manicheanism

- St Ambrose: showed him more intellectual version of Christianity he found appealing

- Concubine, who had a son with; had to dismiss for a socially acceptable marriage - 'festering wound'

Manicheaism

- world engaged in battle between good and evil

- people have 2 souls; one good and one evil, pull individual in different directions; internal struggle

- soul naturally part of kingdom of light, but caught in kingdom of darkness due to desires

- follow role models to escape from wrongdoing

- thus god not omnipotent

Neoplatonism - Plotiuns

- ashamed to live in human body

- disagreed with Manicheaism, instead only form of the good, can be understood through self reflection and rejection of material influence

- made Augustine understand evil 'not a substance', but non existent and turning away from goodness

St Ambrose

- augustine listened to him preaching: interested by his interest in Christianity as a possible answer for the truth

- made augustine come to the conclusion that humans needed the grace of god and turn away from bodily pleasures to concentrate on a spiritual life

Augustines view on the creation of humanity

- deliberately created and planned by God

- occupy special place in the universe

- made in the image of God 'imago Dei'

- rules: be stewards, be fruitful and multiply, dont eat from the tree in the middle of the garden

the fall

- through jesus' resurrection humans can share gods grace again

- adam and eve ruined the relationship between humans and god, which prior was in a state of total perfection

- serpent tempts adam and eve to eat apple from tree

- they became ashamed of their nakedness and god consequently expelled them from paradise

the fall

- after eating the fruit, hear God 'walking in the garden in the cool of the day'

- banished from garden and sent into harsh reality of rest of the world

- can no longer see God readily - barrier

the fall

- humans disobey god

- women leads man to sin

- bodily desire overrules reason and understanding

" it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suited for him"

- concluded eve was made to be Adams helper

- her primary role is procreation and as a companion

- men better for physical labour

the divided will

- despite knowing what good is, humans are continually weakened by desires to do the opposite, due to the fall

adam and eves relationship as friends

- sex rational act based on love as friends, not lustful

- 'be fruitful and multiply'; sex fore reproduction and pleasure

- God given hierarchy: God-man-women

- similar relationship to parent-child

- women more subordinate: men more practical and women punished for Eves sin

- adam and eve naked: must have been comfortable with their bodies

lust and selfish desires after the fall

- humans plagued by uncontrollable desires and temptations

- our bodies tell our minds who to do by insisting we are hungry, thirsty or sexually attracted

- we cannot stop sinning, deserves punishment from god

Augustine's view on the soul

- the rational soul (mind) spiritual

- body & soul created by God: both good and essential

- hierarchy: soul rational - ruler

- tripartite view: charioteer analogy

- soul makes it possible of us to have free will

- body carrier of soul: allow us to interact with physical world

Augustine's view on the soul

- obedient: obey and understand God (above it)

- deliberate: reason

- mans deliberate soul: ruling the earth

- womans deliberate soul: decisions on motherhood

Augustine's view on the soul

- denied that the body was anything other than good (did come from God), it was not the body itself, but the corruptibility of it that causes it to be a burden to the rational soul

original sin and the soul

- the souls rebellion against God caused a rebellion of the body against the mind, so every human is brown with concupiscence

original sin and sex

- sexual organs always active

- genitalia acts as a constant reminder of humanities sinful rebellion become 'pudenda'- parts of shame

- os passed on

- concupiscence just as bad as pre marital sex

men, women and sexuality

- married couple should be celibate after having enough children

- people should live simple life to devote to God

- however, sympathetic to women compared to other thinkers of his time, possible due to his mistress

story of Edicia

- Augustine told her off as she stopped having sex with her husband, so he committed adultery

- she also gave away jewellery and expensive clothes, to be more spiritual

- he said she should have waited until her husband agreed

free will before the fall

- God-given will to choose good/ bad

- agape

- ability not to sin

- we could sin (and die), or not sin (and not die); represented by tree in garden of eden

- if adam hadn't sinned, we wouldn't have died, but immortal and perfect by Gods grace

original sin causes a lack of free will

- due to the fall, we have have lost the ability to withstand temptation; cannot help sinning

original sin causes a lack of free will

- if God created humans who were all good, no need for free will

- evil lack of good God intended for the world; falling short of his standards

- the fall not just humans falling short of good, but left lasting damage on human nature

lust of the senses

- no longer in rational control of our genitals

- sex controlled by lust, no longer love

- greed in sex; man uses women

lust of power

- we want to look good, have influence to gratify ourselves

- cannot tell if our love for someone genuine, or just a desire to get approval to gain popular power

lust for knowledge

- we have an unhealthy interest in which we desire to gratify

- we want to satisfy our curiosity - for ourselves

original sin on human societies

- humanity sinful as decedents of Adam and Eve

- follow cupiditas and earthly city rather than caritas and city of God

- unstable and corrupt

- can see right from wrong, but unable to do right thing

- humans could no longer work together in harmony

- told to have control over other species, but no each other

- need political leaders rather than shepherds to control

earthly city

- created by self-love leading to contempt for God

- glorifies itself

- seeks glory and praise from men

- lust for power dominates

- people rule not to serve others but for themselves

city of God

- created by love of God leading to mastery

- glorifies God

- seeks to praise and glorify God

- people serve each other

- rulers as servants of people, and seek to guide, not dominate

God's grace

- before fall, we are perfectly rational and in control

- after, lost control and can only choose evil

- Gods grace only cure, his generous love rescues us from ourselves

- people sin even after accepting this, but God will allow some an undeserved pass to heaven

God's grace

- only thing that can save people from eternal punishment due to their sinful nature

- rejected human reason can lead to enlightenment

predestination

- humans are predestined to go to heaven or hell

- God is omniscient so aware of what will happen and decided who will receive his grace

summum bonum

- highest good only available to those who set their hearts on God and who he chooses through grace

- comes in the presence of God

- cannot be earned

- similar to Platos form of the good

Critic: Pelagius

- Christian monk

- humans have sufficient free will to overcome os

- even if adam didn't sin, he would have died

- adams sin only harmed him, not humanity

- children born into pre fall state

- humanity didn't die through Adams sin nor rose again with Christ's resurrection

- some sinned before Christ

Critic: Rousseau

- humanity generous and only acts otherwise when situations cause them to

Critic: Foucault

- human nature taught to us though socalisation

Critic: Marx

- no such thing has human nature

- humans socialised into following rules of capitalism

Critic: Plato

- soul doesnt control body, works with it in harmony

- truth, wisdom and happiness can only be achieved once soul separated from body

Critic: Dawkins

- acting morally on promise of reward not ethical

- we should do right thing as we believe it to be

- Christianity has an unhealthy obsession with sin, guilt, violence and repressed sexuality

- os dangerous idea

- evolution: humans evolved from animals, lack of consciousness needed to make moral decisions

- the fall goes against justice

- Jesus' resurrection irrational

Critic: May

- sex not present in creation story, so os through sex incorrect

Critic: Vardy

- serpent as Satan rejected in Judaism: Satan appeared in story of Job, as God's agent to test Jobs faith

- only in NT Satan became evil and oppressed God

Critic: Schleimacher

- logically impossible for evil to come out of nothing

- evil a feature of the world whether we like it or not

- the fact Gods creatures chose to oppose him shows they have knowledge of him

Critic: St Irendeous

- God didn't create Adam and Eve perfectly good, as goodness should be developed naturally

- only serpent punished in story, what happened to adam and eve a consequence of this

Critic: Freud

- God psychological construction, due to need for father figure; sign repressed sexual guilt

- sex drive and drive towards pleasure essential human behaviour

- unfulfilled desires lead to mental illness

Critic: Pinker

- Christianity responsible for violence and suffering

- Humanitarian principle: humans get on better when people take into account others, works as humans rational so respect each other

- HP worked for past 200 yrs, west seen rapid decrease in capital punishment, wars of religion e.g.

Critic: Niebuhr

- while unfashionable to talk about sin, flair to acknowledge it lead to mistakes by those in power

- no action can be entirely good

- religious and non religious leaders ignorant if think reason alone will bring about just societies

- British Humanist Association

Critic: British Humanist Association

- promotes idea it is possible to to live a good life without religious belief

Critic: Hitchens

- central moral lessons derived from stories like the fall not credible as conform too closely with values and laws of ancient cultures that produced them; not outdated

- used to control people

- 'the invention of religion was the original sin'

Critic: Aristotle

- doubts the weakness of will, actions don't result from the lack of determination, but making other choices e.g. you may not do you homework, as you think you need a break, not because you are busy

Critic: Catholic Church

- through the death and resurrection of Jesus, sinful humans can be reconciled to God and therefore offered salvation and promise of enteral life

Critic: Sarte

- we don't come into this world already determined by a 'nature', culture, or anything else

- we are free as individuals to decide who we are and what we want to become

Supporter: Hobbes

- humanity selfish and brutish

- only thing that separates us from animals is our reason

- we need to conquer our animalistic side by creating fair and just societies

Supporter: St Paul (Roman's 7)

- longs to be free from sin, but chained to it

- helpless: wants to do right thing but can't

- once we know something is wrong, it is more desirable to us

- overrides our free will

- humanity 'forgiven sinners': not stopped sinning, but forgiven because of their faith

example: Rudolf Hoss

- Hoss was the commandant of Auschwitz responsible for its running and organisation

- Hobbes: he is an example of a human in their natural animalistic state

- Rousseau: not a reflection of his human nature, but result of brainwashing to change how he behaves

- Foucault: proves lack of human nature as reflects society of the time influencing his behaviour