What Is Augustine's Idea Of Human Free Will

Saint Augustine of Hippo’s Confessions is an autobiographical account of his own conversion to Christianity. One of the issues that had prevented Augustine’s conversions was the issue of sin and human accountability for their actions. As a result, Augustine’s Confessions tackles many theological issues, among which is the idea of human free will. Augustine’s views on human free will are linked with how he interprets sin and human nature. Because Augustine defines sin as a turning-away from God, Augustine certainly implies that humans have the choice and ability to turn away from God and thus have the ability to not only sin but choose to sin. Such a stance raises the question of accountability and nature versus choice.
Augustine does believe
In addition to the Manichean idea of dualism that allowed him to renounce all blame for any reprehensible actions, Augustine had also been fascinated by astrology in his early days. Like Manichaeism, Augustine would be able to absolve himself of any guilt for any misdeeds by blaming the stars and the movement of celestial bodies for his nature and actions. One of the factors for this disillusionment was his own growing knowledge of astrology. The more Augustine learned the more he realized that the concept of astrology made no sense. The idea that the placement of starts and planets would determine the outcome of events and human nature was absurd, and saying that these bodies had such influences over existence and Creation implies that they have a power that surpasses tat of the Creator, God. Thus, it cannot be the stars and planets and other heavenly phenomena that determine fate and the events of the world, nor can it be said that those same phenomena are responsible for any morally unsound actions that one commits that day. With his new framework and understanding of human will, Augustine has even more of a reason to reject astrology, as the two are simply not
Therefore, “the proper and intended use of free will is to choose the good,” for “use free will in any other manner is a perversion for which, as was discovered before, only the will is liable” (Peterson 3). Humans have the free will to decide whether to follow God and their own natures and thus do good or go against God in sin, but it is not that God is responsible for human sin. Rather, it is humans themselves that create sin through an absence of