Confessions Author: [Ancient Rome] Augustine Publisher: Jilin Publishing Group

Augustine

354 -430

A European medieval philosopher and theologian, the main representative of the Latin fathers of Roman Christianity, a Neoplatonist, and the completer of Christian patristic philosophy.

Life and works

Augustine was born on November 13, 354 in Tagaste, North Africa (near the historic city of Carthage), now Souk Ahras in Algeria. His mother was a devout Christian and his father was a pagan. Augustine's family was not rich, and he barely completed the three-level education system stipulated by the Roman Empire at that time in his local area and in cities such as Madurai and Carthage. From 374 to 386, he taught grammar and rhetoric in Tagaste, Carthage, Rome, Milan and other places. He lived a very dissolute life in his youth, but he had a strong desire for knowledge and was quite sharp in his thinking. The issue of good and evil was the theme of his lifelong thinking. He once believed in Manichaeism and accepted its doctrine of the dualism of good and evil, believing that evil originated from a certain entity. Through studying the works of the Neoplatonic school and under the influence of Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, he gave up Manichaeism at the age of 33 and converted to Christianity. He reversed his past dissolute life, abandoned his lover and fiancée, and lived a pure and ascetic life as a monk. In 388, he returned to his home in North Africa. In 391, he was promoted to priest. In 396, he became the bishop of Hippo (now Annaba, Algeria) in North Africa. He died on August 28, 430, and was canonized as a great saint by the church. He wrote books and expounded doctrines, including "Confessions", "On Free Will", "Soliloquy", "City of God", "On True Religion", "Doctrinal Manual", "On the Trinity", etc. In his works, he launched a fierce debate with Manichaeism and other doctrines, mainly involving theological and philosophical issues such as original sin, free will, divine grace and predestination.

Christian Philosophy

Augustine used the theoretical structure of Neoplatonism to discuss the basic principles of Christian philosophy, taking God as the core, faith as the premise, and the Bible as the basis. He emphasized that true philosophy can only be combined with true religion, namely Christianity; only Christianity has true philosophy. Its principle is: first believe, then understand, believe in order to understand, and understand for belief. True philosophy is to love God. The core issues of Christian philosophy are about the soul and God. The theory of Christian philosophy is based on knowing God and knowing oneself.

Augustine asserted that God is a spiritual entity, an infinite and eternal transcendent existence, and people can only intuitively perceive it mysteriously through inner speculation. Due to the poverty of human language, it is impossible to express it, and it can only be understood by heart. Regarding human existence, Augustine also adopted the method of inner speculation to prove that the authenticity of the subject's existence is based on the authenticity of the existence of thinking. This is because: ① Everyone knows that they are thinking; so thinking is certain; ② Doubt and error just prove the existence of the self. In terms of theoretical form, Augustine's argument has a certain influence on R. Descartes' "I think, therefore I am".

He inherited the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity and expounded on the doctrine of original sin and redemption. He believed that Adam, the ancestor of mankind, violated God's command, ate the forbidden fruit, committed a sin, and his nature was corrupted. Therefore, all people are born with sin and cannot help but sin. God is good, and the ultimate good, and it is the source of all good. In essence, good is absolute, only good exists, and evil is nothingness. Evil itself does not exist, and evil is relative to good. Outside of good, there is no such thing as evil. Evil is nothing more than "lack of good" or "lack of entity and essence". Man is born as a flawed being, and in terms of his flaws, he is evil; but in terms of his existence, he is good. The origin of sin lies in the evil of human thought and the lack of good. In the final analysis, it is the departure from the goodness of God and the lack of the goodness of God. Augustine believed that people who have deviated from their nature cannot help but sin. If they want to restore their nature and do good, they can only rely on the ultimate good God. For this reason, he asserted that the pursuit of the supreme good God is a need of human nature, the greatest happiness in life, and the ultimate goal of life.

In his later years, he proposed the theory of "City of God" and "City of Man" based on his concepts of good and evil. He considered belief in God, opposition to the material world, and contempt for worldly life as manifestations of good in the realm of "City of God"; he considered living in the real material world and opposing belief in God as manifestations of evil in the realm of "City of Man". He warned people to believe in God and become subjects of "City of God", while at the same time he described Christianity as the worldly agent of "City of God" specially chosen by God, and the Christian Church was superior to all secular countries. Augustine used the question of good and evil to extend belief in God to social life and proposed the theory of the supremacy of theocracy. This was the first in the history of Christianity. Later, the theocracy advocated by medieval scholastic philosophy was based on this theory.

Augustine used Neoplatonic philosophy to prove Christian doctrines, combining philosophy and theology together, theoretically established the religious world view and outlook on life for Christianity, and brought patristic philosophy to its heyday.

Ethical Thought

Augustine combined the religious concept of God creating the world with Plato's theory of ideas to establish his ethical theory. He attributed the good and evil of morality to the relationship between man and God, thus changing the direction of traditional ethical research in ancient Greece and becoming one of the main sources of thought for medieval Christian morality. Augustine believed that the world and heaven were absolutely opposite. Man was far away from God due to Adam's original sin, so he had selfishness and a tendency to evil. Only by believing in, loving and obeying God could man save himself from original sin. In his view, happiness is the joy of serving God and worshipping God. The ultimate goal of life is to escape from the sinful "city of the world" and enter the happy "city of God". Augustine believed that the power that drives human action is not reason, but love. He said there are two kinds of love. One is love for oneself, that is, self-love. This kind of love makes people selfish, proud, degenerate, and stay away from God and commit sins; the other is love for God, that is, benevolence, which makes people charitable, humble, obedient, and constantly approach God to achieve the highest good. Therefore, love for God is the highest principle of morality, and love for God is the highest virtue. All other virtues have no value if they are not full of love for God. He pointed out that people lost their freedom due to original sin, but because of God's mercy, people have the freedom of will given by God, so people have the will and ability to choose good and evil, and as long as people are willing to do it, they have the ability to choose good and eliminate evil. In his view, ability and will are also consistent. Will is will, that is, action. Augustine particularly emphasized the role of personal inner struggle and conscience. He believed that only the inner storm of "I fight with myself" can expose oneself nakedly before God, accept the condemnation of conscience through confession and reflection, and punish one's sins; only "I duel with myself" can restrain the fleshly desires that make people degenerate, break free from the chains of lust that bind the will, purify the self of the soul, and achieve poverty, gentleness, sorrow, hunger and thirst for righteousness, kindness to others, purity, and peace. Augustine's ethical thoughts were later inherited by Thomas Aquinas and further developed into a huge theological ethical thought system, becoming the theoretical cornerstone of Christian morality.