St. Augustine
ST. AUGUSTINE’SPHILOSOPHY OF LOVE
St. Augustine’s philosophy of man reconciles and brings together to anadmirable synthesis and harmony the wisdom of Greek philosophy and the divine truths contained in the scriptures.
In common with Greek ethics, its being eudemonistic in character, as it makes happiness the end-all and the be-all of human living; but Augustine tells us with the Bible that this happiness can be found in GOD alone.
The summumbonum which is Plato’s and Aristotle’s concept of theabsolute and immutable and is now seen by Augustine with the aid of the light of divine revelation as the living personal God, the creator of all things and thesupreme ruler of the universe.So, the idea of the Good of Plato is revealed, to Augustine as theliving reality, God.
WHAT THEN IS GOD?
Augustine answers this question with the words of the scriptures that God is Love;teaches that mortality consists in love, since it is love that makes us like unto Love(God).Thus, the first and the greatest of all the commandments, one that contains by implication all the rest in the Decalogue, becomes the basis and the central point of Augustine’s Christian ethics.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy wholeheart, with thy whole soul and with thy whole strength: andfor love of God thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
LIFE AND VIRTUE
Life to Augustine is a dialectic movement towards Love.Virtue, which is the art of living rightly and well, has been definedby Augustine as theorder of love.A virtuous life is dynamism of the will which is the dynamism of love, a constant following of and turning towards love, while a wicked life is a constant turning away from love.To love God means necessarily to love one’s fellowmen, and to love one’s fellowmen means never to do any harm to another, or, asthe golden principle of justice requires,to do unto others as you would others do unto you.
AGAINST HEDONISM AND STOICISM
MAN CRAVES FOR PERFECT ENDURING HAPPINESS
St. Augustine’s philosophy of man reconciles and brings together to anadmirable synthesis and harmony the wisdom of Greek philosophy and the divine truths contained in the scriptures.
In common with Greek ethics, its being eudemonistic in character, as it makes happiness the end-all and the be-all of human living; but Augustine tells us with the Bible that this happiness can be found in GOD alone.
The summumbonum which is Plato’s and Aristotle’s concept of theabsolute and immutable and is now seen by Augustine with the aid of the light of divine revelation as the living personal God, the creator of all things and thesupreme ruler of the universe.So, the idea of the Good of Plato is revealed, to Augustine as theliving reality, God.
WHAT THEN IS GOD?
Augustine answers this question with the words of the scriptures that God is Love;teaches that mortality consists in love, since it is love that makes us like unto Love(God).Thus, the first and the greatest of all the commandments, one that contains by implication all the rest in the Decalogue, becomes the basis and the central point of Augustine’s Christian ethics.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy wholeheart, with thy whole soul and with thy whole strength: andfor love of God thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
LIFE AND VIRTUE
Life to Augustine is a dialectic movement towards Love.Virtue, which is the art of living rightly and well, has been definedby Augustine as theorder of love.A virtuous life is dynamism of the will which is the dynamism of love, a constant following of and turning towards love, while a wicked life is a constant turning away from love.To love God means necessarily to love one’s fellowmen, and to love one’s fellowmen means never to do any harm to another, or, asthe golden principle of justice requires,to do unto others as you would others do unto you.
AGAINST HEDONISM AND STOICISM
MAN CRAVES FOR PERFECT ENDURING HAPPINESS