Augustinianism

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Augustinianism
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Basic Information
Alignments	Aesthetics   Mainstream   Epistemology  Ethics Metaphilosophy  Metaphysics  Politics Theology War
Collectives	European Philosophy
Philosophical Influences
Influenced by	Abolitionism Anti-Manichaeism Anti-Paganism Desert Fathers Anaximanderism Aristotelianism Christian Apologetics Ciceronianism Classical Theism Divine Command Theory Divine Illumination Eudaimonism Free Will Horatianism Irenaeanism Metaphysical Realism Monicaism Natural Law Theory Neoplatonism Nicene Christianity Paulianism Platonism Socratism Stoicism Trinitarianism
Influenced	Virtually all of subsequent Western philosophy and Catholic theology, as well as a significant amount of Protestant theology Calvinism Bergsonism Heideggerianism Just War Theory Lollardy Lutheranism Phenomenology Thomism Utopianism
Preceded	Neoplatonism Origenism
Succeeded	Scholasticism
Philosophical Information
Year	4th century
Region of origin	Roman Empire
Foundation	Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Roman Empire
Notable Theorists	Roman Empire Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Roman Empire
Notable ideas	Absence of Good Amillennialism Augustinian Hypothesis Augustinian Predestination Augustinian Theodicy Augustinian Values Concupiscence Deity Divine Command Theory Divine Illumination Filioque Free Will Genesis as an Allegory Heroic Virtue Incurvatus In Se Just War Theory Limbo Original Sin Sacramental Character Solvitur Ambulando Theocentricism You are Christ
Character Information
Likes	"The City of God" Faith
Dislikes	Human Sinfulness Pelagianism

Augustinianism is the philosophical and theological system of Augustine of Hippo. This system includes metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, theology and many other branches.

Beliefs

Christian Anthropology

Augustinianism sees man as a perfect unity of soul and body. He calls for respect for the body on the grounds that it belongs to the very nature of the human person.

Initially, these two elements were in perfect harmony. After the fall of humanity, they are now experiencing a dramatic struggle between themselves. A body is a three-dimensional object, consisting of four elements, whereas the soul has no spatial dimensions. The soul is some substance participating in the mind, suitable for governing the body.

For Augustunianism, to be human means to be composed of soul and body, and the soul is superior to the body. The latter statement is based on his hierarchical classification of things into those that which simply exist, those that exist and live, and those that exist, live and have intelligence or reason.

Augustinianism strongly condemns the practice of induced abortion, and although it does not condone abortion at any stage of pregnancy. , he distinguished between early and late abortions. He recognized the difference between "formed" and "unformed" fruits.

His view was based on the Aristotelian distinction "between the fetus before and after its supposed 'revival'." Therefore, he does not qualify as murder the abortion of an "unformed" fetus, because he believed that it is impossible to know with certainty whether the fetus has received a soul. Augustinianism asserts that "the time of the indwelling of the soul was a mystery known only to God." However, he viewed procreation as “one of the benefits of marriage; abortion appeared as a means, along with drugs causing infertility, of destroying this good.

Creation

Augustinianism rejects modern ideas from ages (such as some Greeks and Egyptians) that differed from the Church's scriptures. Augustinianism holds that God created everything in the universe at once, not over six days. He claimed that six-daily structure of creation, is a logical structure, and not the passage of time in a physical way - it would have a spiritual, not a physical meaning, which is no less literal.

Augustinianism also does not believe that original sin caused structural changes in the universe, and even suggests that the bodies of Adam and Eve were created mortal before the Fall.

Ecclesiology

Augustinianism developed its teaching about the Church mainly in response to the Donatist sect. He teaches that there is one Church, but within this Church there are two realities, namely: the visible aspect (the institutional hierarchy, the Catholic sacraments and the laity) and the invisible (the souls of those in the Church who are either dead, sinful members or the elect destined for Heaven).

The former is the institutional body established by Christ on earth that proclaims salvation and administers the sacraments, while the latter is the invisible body of the elect, composed of true believers from all ages and known only to God. Church, visible and public, will consist of good and evil people until the end of time. This concept contradicted the Donatists' assertion that only those in the state of grace were the "true" or "pure" church on earth, and that priests and bishops who were not in a state of grace had no authority or ability to administer the sacraments.

He envisions the church as a heavenly city or kingdom governed by love, which will ultimately triumph over all earthly empires that are self-willed, condescending and driven by pride. Augustinianism, taught that the bishops and priests of the Church are the successors of the apostles, and their authority in the Church is God-given.

He was also strongly influenced by the Platonist belief that true reality is invisible and that, if the visible reflects the invisible, he does it only partially and imperfectly.

Eschatology

Augustinianism initially believed in premillennialism, the idea that Christ would establish a literal 1,000-year kingdom before the general resurrection, but later rejected this belief as carnal. During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church built its system of eschatology on the basis of Augustinian amillennialism, where Christ spiritually rules the earth through his triumphant church.

Augustinianism teaches that the eternal destiny of the soul is determined after death, and that the purgatory fires of the intermediate state purify only those who have died in communion with the Church. His teaching became fuel for later theology.

Mariology

Although Augustinianism did not create an independent Mariology, its statements about Mary are superior in number and depth to those of other early authors. Even before the Council of Ephesus, he defended the Immaculate Virgin Mary as the Mother of God, considering her "full of grace" because of her sexual integrity and innocence. Furthermore, he claimed that the Virgin Mary "conceived as a virgin, gave birth as a virgin and remained a virgin forever."

Natural Knowledge and Biblical Interpretation

Augustinianism believes that if a literal interpretation contradicts science and God-given reason, then the biblical text should be interpreted metaphorically. Although every passage of Scripture has a literal meaning, this "literal meaning" does not always mean that Scripture is just history, sometimes they are rather an extended metaphor.

Original Sin

Augustinianism teaches that the sin of Adam and Eve was either an act of foolishness followed by pride and disobedience to God, or that pride came first. The first couple disobeyed God, who told them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree was a symbol of the order of creation. Self-centeredness made Adam and Eve eat it, thus not recognizing and respecting the world as it was created by God, with its hierarchy of beings and values.

They would not have fallen into pride and lack of wisdom if Satan had not planted the "root of evil" in their feelings. Their nature was wounded by lust or libido, which affected the human intellect and will, as well as affections and desires, including sexual desire. From the point of view of metaphysics, lust is not a state of being, but a bad quality, a deprivation of good, or a wound.

Augustinianism points to the clear disobedience of the body to the spirit and explained it as one of the results of original sin, the punishment of Adam and Eve for disobedience to God. By evil he understood first of all lust, which he interpreted as a vice that dominates people and causes moral disorder in men and women.

The view, according to which the fall of Adam and Eve affected not only the human soul, but also the feelings, was widespread in the time of Augustine among the Fathers of the Church. Of course, that the reason for distancing Augustinianism from the works of the flesh was different from that of Neoplatonism, which taught that only through the contempt of bodily desires could the final state of humanity be attained.

Adam's sin is inherited by all people. Original sin is transmitted to his descendants through lust, which he considered a passion of the soul, so also bodies, making mankind a condemned multitude, and greatly weakening, though not destroying, the freedom of the will.

Predestination

Augustinianism teaches that God governs all things, preserving human freedom. He previously believed that predestination was based on God's prediction of whether people would believe in Christ, that God's grace was "a reward for human consent." Later, he said that the sin of pride is to assume that "we choose God or that God chooses us (in his foreknowledge) because of something worthy in us," and argued that God's grace causes an individual act of faith.

Sacramental Theology

Augustinianism developed a distinction between the "regularity" and "validity" of the sacraments. Regular sacraments are performed by priests of the Catholic Church, and sacraments performed by schismatics are considered irregular. nevertheless, the validity of the sacraments does not depend on the holiness of the priests who perform them, therefore, irregular sacraments are still recognized as valid, provided they are administered in the name of Christ and in the manner established by the Church. He teaches that the sacraments administered outside the Catholic Church, although true sacraments, do nothing. However, he also stated that baptism, although it does not confer any grace, when carried out outside the Church, bestows grace as soon as someone is accepted into the Catholic Church.

Astrology

Augustinianism was fond of astrology, and that's all

Just War

Augustinianism states that Christians should be pacifists as a personal, philosophical position. However, to be peaceful in the face of a serious wrong that could only be stopped by violence would be a sin. Protecting yourself or others may be a necessity, especially when authorized by lawful authority.

Essentially, the desire for peace must include the possibility of fighting for its long-term preservation. Such a war cannot be preventive, but defensive, in order to restore peace.

How to Draw

Flag of Augustinianism

Color Name		HEX	RGB
	Dark Red	#941c1d	148, 28, 29
	White	#ffffff	255, 255, 255
	Navy	#002367	0, 35, 103
	Red	#c2022b	194, 2, 43

Relationships

Enemies

• Religious Dualism - Evil is merely the privation of good. Everything that exists is ontologically good because it has a single principle, God.

Further Information

Wikipedia

• Augustinianism
• Augustine of Hippo bibliography
• Augustine of Hippo's Philosophy

People

• Augustine of Hippo