Chapter Seven Assignment

1. How does Augustine’s emphasis on man’s sinfulness set an anti-classical tone?

Augustine makes it clear that he is against the normal lifestyle of the roman people, and

that it is a life full of sin. He states that people as a whole are depraved, and that the only

possible way for them to be saved is through the power of Christ. Agustine compares the

people of Rome to how he had been once before, living as slaves of their own lust and greed.

Before Agustine was a man of god, he too indulged in physical relationships with woman.

One of which he made his concubine for 13 years and even had a son with. As he grew older

and fell deeper into his faith, Augustine went on to a self-analysis titled Confessions. In book

8 chapter 12, Augustine wrote, “I felt I was still the captive of my sins, and in my misery I

kept crying “How long shall I go on saying tomorrow, tomorrow? Why not now? Why not

make an end of all my ugly sins at this moment?””. Augustine made it his goal to bring an

end to the “City of Man” (Rome) and bring forth the “City of God” (Church)

2. In what ways does Augustine mark the transition from the Greco-Roman world to

the middle ages?

The roman peoples classical view that the world should be ruled by justice, and the

middle age view that god is justice is merged by Agustine in the sense that he believed

people could create a just world through the power of god. Roman philosophers pushed a

sense of self bettering for the sake of being better people. Augustine however pushed that

people should better themselves in the sense that they need not stray from the path of god,

and they should avoid sin. He was also an advocate of intent being a part of sin, whether the

act was carried out or not. During the Greco-Roman world, there wasn’t any particular stance
on a single religion being true above all others. But the middle age world was one where

Christianity was common and it was a duty of Christians to further spread the word of god.

Augustine was not the only Christian intellectual to influence the western world, but he his

influence was unparalleled in its reach. His teachings and premises became a leg for later

preachers and worshippers to stand on, all while holding on to certain roman philosophical

stances that were against materialism and greed.

3. How does the Augustinian view of humanity differ from that presented in Buddhist

or Hindu teachings?

Agustine views humanity as a flawed collective incapable of achieving salvation without

surrendering themselves to the power of Christ. In his view, humans are inherently sinners

and cannot, through their own efforts, achieve what god has meant for them due to the

original sin of Adam and the human condition. This is essentially the opposite of how

Hindu’s and Buddhist’s see humanity as a whole. These religions view humanity and the life

of every individual as a temporary state of being. Through diligence, discipline, and restraint

throughout one's life, someone can obtain an elevated state of living and eventually escape

the cycle of death and rebirth, and become one with the universe.

4. Compare and contrast the viewpoints of Augustine and Boethius on; (A) history and

time, (B) human freedom.

Boethius at a point question whether free will could truly exist in a world where god sees

the future, but is later consoled by Lady Philosophy (Himself) that god does not see the

universe one moment at a time as we do. He should try to see it from the perspective that,

there is no time for god as he is omnipresent and is currently living all points in time at the
same moment. That he doesn’t know our actions beforehand and then punishes us for

something out of our control. Rather he sees our actions, the results, and consequences all at

once and that this does not impede on our free will. Agustine believes humans are blessed

with free will to what good or evil. It is the right and power of man to make their own

decisions, one of these decisions being to accept god's love and praise his glory or to commit

sin.

Augustine believes god created all and everything at the same moment, and that the

statement about god creating the universe in six days and resting on the seventh was

symbolism and not meant to be taking literal. Boethius’ beliefs about the creation and the

universe call back to the teachings of Aristotle and Plato.

5. What power, if any, do you believe God exerts in human affairs? Are natural

disasters and disease “the will of god”? What does this phrase mean to you?

I don’t believe god exerts much force if any at all in human affairs. I’m of the opinion

that God just created the omniverse and then left it alone for the most part. Natural disasters

and disease are just a part of the universe and as such God doesn’t get involved. “The will of

god” is just something people say when they want to advocate for their side. The statement

itself sounds like nothing but presumptuous arrogance. We as lesser beings couldn’t begin to

understand the simplest things about a being capable of creating a collective such as

existence, yet we think we understand its intentions? It’s will? I doubt it. Ants don’t know

what’s going on when we build roads next to their hills. I have no reason to believe that we

could understand such a being's intentions with creating such a complex existence with

beings operating under seemingly free will.

6. What elements of the hero's quest are found in Augustine’s Confessions?

The elements of the hero's quest that can be found in Augustine’s Confessions are change

and human being. Change in which Augustine goes through a mental/philosophical change in

the moment where he reads the first passage his eyes meet, filling him with confidence and

emptying all of his doubt. And Human being in which Augustine shows the fragile nature of

man and the weakness of man to be slaves to their own desires. Letting his emotions run

unchecked in a moment of emotional vulnerability

Citations

Cunningham Lawrence. Culture & Values: A Survey of The Humanities Volume 1. 1982