Augustine's teaching on human nature.

How does Augustine explain the corruption of human nature + the possibility of regaining God’s grace?

-Augustine taught humanity originally existed in a state of total perfection + harmony with God.

-This perfect relationship was corrupted when humans misused their free will, making choices that distanced them from God.

-Through the redemptive act of Jesus - his death + resurrection - humans can once again share in the grace they lost.

How does Augustine use the Genesis story of Adam + Eve to explain the Fall + the origin of human sin?

-Augustine’s idea of the Fall comes from Genesis 3.

-Adam + Eve initially lived in paradise with God, but they were tempted by the serpent to eat from the forbidden tree of knowledge of good + evil.

-Their disobedience led to shame + their expulsion from paradise, marking the beginning of humanity’s fallen state.

How does the story of Adam, Eve + the serpent in Genesis 3 illustrate the concept of the Fall + the origin of human sin according to Augustine?

-In Genesis 3, the serpent tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit by promising knowledge like God’s. Eve eats it and shares it with Adam.

-Their eyes are opened, they realise they are naked + they feel shame.

-When God confronts them, they admit their disobedience, blaming each other + the serpent.

-This act marks the Fall, introducing sin + a broken relationship between humans + God.

According to Augustine, what is the significance of Eve being created as Adam’s “helper,” + why does he link this specifically to procreation?

-In Genesis 2:18, God observes “it isn’t good for the man to be alone” + creates Eve as a suitable helper for Adam.

-Augustine interprets this to mean Eve’s primary role is to assist Adam, particularly in procreation.

-He argues for other tasks - physical labour or intellectual companionship - a male partner might be more suitable, so her main purpose is to help continue human life.

How did Augustine view the nature of sex between Adam + Eve before the Fall + what does this say about their relationship?

-Augustine taught Adam + Eve had sex before the Fall, but it was a rational + loving act, guided by the mind rather than by lust.

-Their sexual relationship was just one part of their friendship + companionship, not the main motivation for their relationship.

According to Augustine, how did the Fall disrupt the God-given order between men + women + what role did desire play in this?

-Augustine believed although Adam + Eve were companions, God established a hierarchy with the woman subordinate to the man.

-This doesn’t imply women are less valuable or less in God’s image.

-The Fall disrupted this God-given order: humans disobeyed God, the woman led the man into sin + bodily desire overtook reason + understanding.

According to Augustine, how were humans’ rational control + mastery over bodily desires affected by the Fall?

-Before the Fall, Augustine believed humans were entirely rational + fully in control of their bodies.

-Adam + Eve’s minds governed their physical desires, so they were not driven by hunger, thirst, or other bodily urges.

-Humans would’ve been complete masters of their physical selves.

How did Augustine explain the loss of bodily control + the role of sexual desire after the Fall?

-After the Fall, Augustine believed humans lost control over their bodies. Desires + appetites became uncontrollable, leading people to sin repeatedly.

-Every sin is a rebellion against God, deserving punishment. Sexual desire is a prime example, as the genitalia can act independently of the mind, serving as a reminder of human sinfulness + shame.

How did Augustine use his observations of human behavior, including his own childhood, to support the doctrine of Original Sin?

-Augustine explored why humans have the capacity to sin despite being created by a good God.

-In Confessions Book 7, he questions why humans possess a will capable of wrongdoing.

-He observed even children show a natural inclination to sin, using his own childhood misdeeds - lying, deceiving, stealing - as evidence humans aren’t born innocent.

-This underpins his teaching Original Sin is inherited through human nature.

How did Augustine explain the role of concupiscence in the transmission of Original Sin?

-Augustine believed Original Sin is passed from generation to generation through sexual intercourse.

-He described this process using the term concupiscence, meaning excessive sexual desire or lust.

-Augustine argued concupiscence is a moral defect of the soul, inseparable from normal human sexual impulses + capable of overwhelming reason + self-control.

-This negative view of sexual passion reflected common Christian attitudes of his time.

Why did Augustine consider concupiscence to be the mechanism by which Original Sin is transmitted to all humans?

-Augustine taught concupiscence is present in all sexual intercourse, including within marriage.

-In marriage, it could be excused because its purpose is to produce legitimate children.

-However, this “bad element” in sex transmits Original Sin from parent to child, passing on both the guilt of Adam’s sin + the sinful nature inherent in humanity.

-Consequently, every human is born with rebellion (concupiscence) at the core of their being.

What does Augustine mean by posse non peccare et mori + how does it relate to the Fall?

-Augustine argued Original Sin has profound consequences.

-One key effect of the Fall is humans lost the ability to resist temptation.

-Before the Fall, humans had posse non peccare et mori – the ability to either sin or not sin.

-This capacity to choose or refuse sin is symbolised by the Tree of the Knowledge of Good + Evil in the Garden of Eden.

What does Augustine mean by non posse non peccare et mori, + how does it explain the human condition after the Fall?

-Before the Fall, humans could choose not to sin + would’ve gained immortality through God’s grace.

-However, by eating from the forbidden tree, humans chose evil + this original sin permanently corrupted human nature.

-As a result, free will was ruined + humans now have non posse non peccare et mori - the inability not to sin.

-Sin + death are now inevitable.

How does Augustine use the examples of everyday faults to illustrate the concept of non posse non peccare et mori + what role does God’s grace play in addressing this?

-Humans now cannot help sinning; no matter how hard we try, we continually fall into faults such as jealousy, gossip, or Schadenfreude.

-Augustine argues our freedom not to sin has been lost due to the Fall. Only God’s grace can restore us.

-He also notes, had humans consistently chosen not to sin before the Fall, God would’ve granted them a higher nature, non posse peccare et mori, meaning they would’ve been incapable of sinning.

How does Augustine link Original Sin to selfishness in human sexual behaviour + why does he see lust as evidence of humanity’s fallen nature?

-Augustine teaches Original Sin makes humans selfish. After the Fall, people became self-absorbed + lost full control over their desires.

-This is especially evident in sexual behaviour: before the Fall, sexual acts would’ve been fully rational, controlled by the mind + free of lust.

-After the Fall, however, even the most well-intentioned sexual acts involve an element of self-gratification, as bodily desires override rational control.

According to Augustine, how does Original Sin affect human rationality + motivate lust for pleasure, power + knowledge?

-Augustine argues after the Fall, humans are less rational + dominated by lust, not only in sexual acts but in other areas of life.

-We lust for sensual pleasure, power + knowledge, often without realizing if our motives are good or selfish.

-Even acts of love can be contaminated by a desire for approval or influence.

-Selfishness, therefore, becomes central to human behaviour.

How does Augustine use human curiosity about death or accidents to illustrate the effects of Original Sin on human behaviour?

-Augustine argues that Original Sin also fuels unhealthy curiosity, or a lust for knowledge for its own sake.

-Humans are drawn to events like death or accidents, not to help, but simply to satisfy their desire to see or know.

-This demonstrates how sin corrupts natural rationality + motivates selfish, morbid interests.

What are the 3 types of selfishness Augustine associates with concupiscence + how do they show the corrupting effect of Original Sin?

-Lust of the senses – sexual desire overwhelms reason + is no longer fully controlled by the mind.

-Lust for power – the desire to influence or impress others for self-gratification rather than for their benefit.

-Lust for knowledge – the urge to know or see things purely to satisfy curiosity, not to help others.

-All 3 show how Original Sin makes humans self-absorbed + driven by their own desires.

How does Augustine use the concept of the Earthly City + the City of God to explain the effect of Original Sin on human society?

-Augustine teaches Original Sin causes human societies to be unstable + corrupt. In The City of God, he contrasts:

-Earthly City – human society in the fallen world, dominated by selfishness + therefore unstable + corrupt.

-City of God – composed of those committed to Christ, representing the ideal moral + spiritual community.

-Original Sin ensures all human societies resemble the Earthly City rather than the City of God.

Why does Augustine believe the lust for power makes human societies inherently unstable?

-Augustine argues human societies are unstable mainly because of our lust for power.

-Using the example of politicians in pagan Rome, he shows ambition + the desire for higher office lead to conflict, assassination + murder.

-People are never satisfied with their position + seek power for its own sake rather than for the common good.

-This selfish ambition makes human society inherently unstable.

How does Augustine link Original Sin to the corruption + instability of human societies?

-Augustine teaches human society without God is the Earthly City, which is inherently corrupt + unstable.

-This corruption comes from the 3 types of lust caused by Original Sin - especially the lust for power.

-Because of this, rulers + individuals act out of self-love rather than concern for others, leading to in-fighting, murder + societal instability.

Augustine’s teaching on a historical Fall + Original Sin is wrong.

-Augustine’s teaching on the Fall + Original Sin can be scientifically challenged. His claim the world was once perfect + humans were fully rational contradicts Darwin’s theory of evolution, which suggests the universe + humans have gradually developed rather than experienced a sudden decline in rationality or perfection. There is no evidence humans were ever “super-rational” beings.

-Scientific evidence challenges the literal truth of the Biblical creation story. Adam, Eve + the Garden of Eden are regarded as mythical, not historical. This undermines Augustine’s idea of Original Sin being inherited from the first humans, since there wasn’t actual “fall” to transmit guilt or punishment. Bishop John Selby Spong criticises this view as pre-Darwinian mythology + post-Darwinian nonsense.

-Schleiermacher argued Augustine’s idea of a perfect creation leading to the Fall is logically inconsistent. If humans were created perfect in God’s image, they should never have gone wrong. The existence of disobedience implies knowledge of evil already existed, which raises the question of whether God, as creator of everything, would be the source. Therefore, the historical Fall cannot fully explain the origin of evil + suffering.

-Critics argue Augustine’s doctrine of Original Sin is morally problematic. Punishing someone for the actions of another, even if it’s humanity’s first ancestors, is seen as unethical. Modern sensibilities reject the idea of inheriting guilt for a crime one didn’t commit, making the notion of being born with Original Sin morally unacceptable.

Augustine’s teaching on a historical Fall + Original Sin is right.

-Supporters of Augustine argue Original Sin need not be a historical event. Instead, it can be seen as a description of the universal human experience of moving from innocence to moral awareness. Humans are born innocent but inevitably succumb to temptation as they grow. Augustine himself acknowledged this in his Confessions, reflecting on his own childhood misdeeds as evidence that sin is a natural part of human development.

-Augustine argued God cannot be responsible for evil because evil is not a created “substance” but a privation - an absence or lack of good, which he called privatio boni. He compared it to blindness, which isn’t a thing in itself but simply a lack of sight.

-Supporters of Augustine argue punishment for sin is justified because humans are naturally selfish, cruel + often fail to act wisely. Augustine highlights lust + the sexual drive are key sources of selfishness + destructive behaviour. Historical evidence, such as unstable societies like ancient Rome or modern dictatorships, supports his view human nature is inherently self-interested.

Why does Augustine argue human effort alone can never lead to salvation?

-Augustine teaches humans can’t overcome sin or reach the highest good on their own because the will is damaged after the Fall.

-Only God’s grace - his generous, undeserved love - can save us from the punishment we actually deserve.

-Even if people try to live good lives, Augustine says salvation isn’t something we can earn; it’s purely a gift from God that allows us to avoid eternal misery + reach heaven.

According to Pelagius, what role does human choice play in receiving God’s grace?

-Pelagius argued against Augustine by saying humans can avoid sin if they genuinely try. The Fall made obedience harder, but not impossible, because God wouldn’t command something we’re incapable of doing.

-For Pelagius, grace is still needed - but we must choose God first + make ourselves open to receiving that grace.

-In his view, humans play an active role: we move towards God + then God’s grace perfects us.

Why does Augustine believe humans can’t even prepare themselves to receive God’s grace without God’s help?

-Augustine argued Pelagius didn’t grasp how deeply damaged human nature is after the Fall.

-Original Sin acts like an infection passed down through every generation, leaving humans so inclined to sin that perfection is impossible.

-Because of this, we can’t even make ourselves open to God’s grace on our own - the ability to be receptive is itself something grace has to give us.

-Human effort alone can’t lead to heaven; total reliance on God’s grace is essential.

Summarise Augustine + God’s grace.

-Before the Fall, humans were fully rational + had total control over themselves. After the Fall, that control is lost + humans can only pick between different forms of wrongdoing.

-Augustine says only God’s grace can fix this - his generous, undeserved gift that saves us + opens the way to heaven. He rejects Pelagius’ idea humans can naturally choose good, arguing instead salvation depends entirely on God.

-But this raises big issues: if everything depends on God, does that make us passive?+ why would God give grace to some but not everyone when all are equally guilty?

Augustine is right sin means humans can never be morally good.

-The twentieth century saw extreme levels of genocide + destruction, showing even with some moral progress, humanity is still far from moral perfection without God’s help. Hitler’s National Socialism was a completely secular attempt to engineer a “perfect” society through racial profiling, euthanasia + selective breeding - this ideology directly led to the Holocaust. For Augustine, events like this underline how damaged human nature is + how dangerous it becomes when people try to create perfection without God.

-Stalin’s USSR was another secular system that led to the deaths of millions, all justified as “progress.” The Killing Fields in Cambodia also show how deeply human moral failure can run. Modern weapons like the atom bomb, nerve gas + biological agents highlight humanity is capable of extreme destruction. Even when we improve in one area - like abolishing slavery - we slide back in others, such as modern human trafficking. Altogether, these examples suggest humans aren’t capable of true moral goodness on their own.

-Some argue everything humans do is tainted by sin + Augustine would agree. For him, the reason we never make real, lasting moral progress is because our nature is damaged by the Fall. Since humanity is fallen, sin isn’t just common - it’s unavoidable. This explains why even our best efforts still end up flawed.

Augustine is wrong sin means humans can be morally good.

-Some argue humans can make moral progress. Over time, society has improved its moral understanding: slavery + racism, once considered acceptable, are now widely condemned. We are also more aware of ecological responsibility. While we aren’t perfect yet, these improvements suggest one day it might be possible to reduce or eliminate major evils like war + greed, showing potential for humans to be morally good.

Augustine’s view of human nature is optimistic.

-Augustine wasn’t pessimistic, just realistic. He recognized the human tendency toward evil + sin. The positive side of this view is reading Augustine can help people acknowledge their own sinfulness + their natural inclinations, called concupiscence.

-Despite his generally pessimistic view of human nature, Augustine remained optimistic in some ways. Through divine revelation, he saw the City of God represents humanity’s ultimate destiny + it allows for some limited but genuine moral improvement in the world.

-Augustine’s realism sees that the disorder in the world stems from human free will. God allows humans to exist as rational beings, even if we choose against Him + His moral norms. In other words, despite our fallen nature, humans are still genuinely free to make choices.

-The idea of an ideal world on Earth has long existed, but often it’s also seen as going beyond earthly life. E.g. Augustine’s City of God presents a vision of a perfect, divine city in contrast to the flawed "city of men" on Earth.

Augustine’s view of human nature is pessimistic.

-Augustine stressed human evil is a real + universal condition. He believed everyone is sinful by nature + his own life, as described in the early parts of Confessions, shows he considered himself no exception to this rule.

-The Fall of Man shows humanity’s original relationship with God has been damaged. Adam + Eve’s actions brought about Original Sin, creating a barrier between humans + God that we cannot fix ourselves. Only God’s grace can heal this broken relationship.

-Augustine saw humanity as spiritually empty without God’s forgiving grace. In The City of God, he used the example of Rome - destroyed + decaying due to human greed and sin - to illustrate all people, at all times, are similarly flawed when left without divine guidance.

-Augustine was willing to accept many people might be lost in hell rather than label anything evil as good. He refused to compromise his moral standards or lower his expectations of what’s truly good.

-Humans were originally free to choose good or evil, but now we are naturally drawn toward evil, seeking excessive pleasure + material satisfaction. Escape from this inherited sinfulness is only possible through God’s grace, which cannot be earned or forced by human effort.

-Augustine believed God chooses only a limited number of people to receive grace + attain salvation. Everyone else continues in sin, fails to repent + faces punishment in hell after death.

-Augustine taught Original Sin acts like an infection passed down through every generation. As a result, humans are naturally inclined to sin + completely incapable of achieving perfection on their own.

Augustine is right humans have a distinctive human nature.

-Augustine believed humans inherit a shared, distinctive nature from generation to generation. Although humans were originally perfect, we’re now fallen + imperfect due to Original Sin. He supports this by observing all humans, even very young children, naturally tend toward sin.

-Augustine argued human nature is corrupted, making sin unavoidable. He likens it to how people who are abused may later become abusers themselves. In his view, all humans are similarly tainted + incapable of avoiding sin on their own.

-Augustine believed humans have a telos, or ultimate purpose: to be united with God. This gives us an innate moral nature, meaning certain actions, like murder or abuse, are inherently wrong. Fulfilling our moral nature involves striving to live in accordance with this purpose.

-Augustine believed in absolute good + bad, with perfect goodness exemplified before the Fall. This shows there’s a specific, proper way to be truly human, aligned with God’s moral order.

Augustine is wrong humans don’t have a distinctive human nature.

-Sartre disagreed with Augustine, focusing on human freedom instead of fate or destiny. He argued sinfulness isn’t inherited; rather, we freely choose our actions + can decide whether to sin or not.

-Sartre acknowledged facticity, meaning the physical limits of the world (we can’t, for example, jump higher than the moon). However, he stressed our minds + imagination remain free. The roles + identities we choose for ourselves are freely chosen, not determined by genetics or life events.

-Sartre acknowledged making free choices can be harder for some people due to their circumstances, but it’s always possible. By exerting effort, we can overcome the influence of our past + our purpose in life is whatever we choose it to be.

-Sartre rejected absolute morality; there’s no objective right or wrong. However, he argued we must act consistently: if we choose to commit acts like murder, we must accept others could make the same choice + live with the consequences of a world where everyone acts according to their freedom.

According to Augustine, why is the orientation of the human will more important than reason in determining moral goodness?

-Augustine believed human nature, guided by God, gives a general sense of duty + social institutions encourage habits like justice - but these alone cannot make someone truly good.

-The inner person, especially the will, is central: it determines whether we love lower goods or higher goods. Originally neutral, the human will became corrupted, often favoring lower goods.

-Truly good people align their will + reason with faith in God, which is itself a gift of grace that cannot be earned. Wicked actions come from within + deserve punishment.

-While studying Scripture may allow God’s grace to work on us, it doesn’t guarantee we will receive it.