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Gerber 1LOVING WHAT OUGHT TO BE LOVED:AUGUSTINE'S THEOLOGY OF SPIRITUAL FORMATIONBy Jacob D. Gerber IntroductionChristians have never believed that it would be acceptable merely to assent intellectuallyto some religious knowledge apart from life transformation, nor have they merely tried to livewell apart from any faith or theological reflection. There can be no Christianity by good worksapart from faith (for we are justified by faith, and not by works, as Paul explains), and there can be no Christianity unless faith produces good works (for without works, as James explains, faithis proven to be dead). Still, the fact that Christians have always insisted on the importance of faith
as well as
good works does not mean that properly uniting the two is simple; nevertheless,this unity is the mark of Christian maturity, and the best Christians throughout history have spentmuch of their time learning for themselves, and then instructing others, in the art of spiritualformation. Among them, Augustine of Hippo gives a particularly elegant and simple theological perspective for spiritual formation that spills over into practical, everyday life: Augustine arguesthat the
 sine qua non
of spiritual formation is, quite simply, learning to love what ought to beloved. In this paper, we will examine what Augustine means by “love,” determine whom we aresupposed to love, and learn Augustine's methods for learning to love what ought to be loved.Augustine's Theology of LoveTo Augustine, love is not simply one aspect of spiritual formation or one virtue amongmany; rather, he defines all virtues in relation to love: “Moreover, even in this life there is novirtue except that of loving what ought to be loved. Good sense consists in choosing that,courage in allowing no hardships, moderation in allowing no temptations, justice in allowing no
 
Gerber 2 pride, to divert one from it.”
1
To begin our study of Augustine's theology of love and its role inspiritual formation, we must see that, when Augustine speaks about love, he does not mean thatwe are to “feel” a certain way or to “admire” something; rather, for Augustine, to love someoneor something is to
choose
what is loved over every other choice, allowing neither hardships,temptations, or pride “to divert one from it.” From the outset of this study, we must understandthat Augustine never uses the word “love” in the sentimental sense that we might use it—“tolove”
always
means “to choose.”From this definition of love, it would seem that Augustine might be envisioning aninfinite array of people and things that people might love, and therefore choose. In fact,Augustine argues that there are only two kinds of love: the love of God (a heavenly love) and thelove of the world (an earthly love). Augustine partially formulates this dichotomy based on a biblical distinction between loving God and loving the world, most prominently seen in thewritings of John: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world,the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). He does not, however, cite 1 John only as a proof-text, because he also develops this distinction on the basis of a more holistic biblical perspective in his book,
The City of God 
, where he demonstrates how “Two cities, then, have been created by two loves: that is, the earthly by love of self extending even to contempt of God,and the heavenly by love of God extending to contempt of self.”
2
The Fall, of course, marks the beginning of these two cities,
3
and ever since the Fall, humanity has been divided according tothe lovers of Jerusalem (the Heavenly City) and the lovers of Babylon (the Earthly City).
1Augustine, “Letter 155: Augustine to Macedonius (413/414),” in
 Augustine: Political Writings
, edited by E. M.Atkins and R. J. Dodaro (New York: Cambridge UP, 2001), 96.2Augustine,
The City of God Against the Pagans
, edited and translated by R. W. Dyson (New York: Cambridge,UP, 1998), Book XIV, Chapter 28, p. 632.3Augustine sees the Fall as the beginning of these two cities: see his
 Literal Meaning of Genesis
, 11.15.19-20.
 
Gerber 3For this reason, then, heavenly love (often translated as “charity” in his writings) is themark of authenticity that separates those of the Heavenly City from those of the Earthly City:Love is the only final distinction between the sons of God and the sons of thedevil....But there is nothing to distinguish the sons of God from the sons of thedevil, save charity. They that have charity, are born of God: they that have notcharity are not. There is the great token, the great dividing mark.
4
The “sons of the devil” category includes two groups of people: those who completely rejectChrist, but also those who claim to follow Christ, but whose lives do not exhibit charity.Augustine here echoes James: “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (Jas2:17). Elsewhere, Augustine more explicitly echoes James: “If faith is devoid of the will to love,it will equally be devoid of good actions....This deliberate love
cannot 
remain idle.”
5
This is the point at which theology moves from theory to spiritual formation—Christianscan talk about love all they want, but there is nothing in mere talk that will “distinguish the sonsof God from the sons of the devil.” Augustine insists that we must not only assent to the idea of love, but that love must characterize our lives if our salvation is indeed genuine:For when we ask whether somebody is a good person, we are not asking what he believes or hopes for, but what he loves. For one who rightly loves without doubtrightly believes and hopes, and one who does not love believes in vain, even if thethings he believes are true; he hopes in vain, even if the things for which he hopesare those which, according to our teaching, belong to true happiness, unless healso believes and hopes that if he asks he may also be given the ability to love.
6
Augustine's message still needs to be heard today, especially in Western the church, as so manyidentify themselves as Christians but see no need to reform their lives beyond assenting to the
4Augustine, “Ten Homilies on the First Epistle General of St. John,” in
 Augustine: Later Works
, selected andtranslated with introduction by John Burnaby,
The Library of Christian Classics
, vol. VIII (Philadelphia:Westminster Press, 1955), p. 298.5Augustine, “Exposition 2 of Psalm 31,” in
 Expositions of the Psalms 1-32
, vol. 1, translated by Maria Boulding,edited by John E. Rotelle (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2000), 366-67, my emphasis.6Augustine,
The Augustine Catechism: The Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love
, translated by Bruce Harbert,edited by John E. Rotelle (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1999), 130.
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