|
|
|
|
|
Augustine (Thought-World View) (02)
|
|
|
|
|
Augustine (Thought-World View) (02).
(2) PIVOTS OF AUGUSTINE'S WORLD VIEW
A. Historical View of Augustine (Lineal )
(1) The Historical View of the World
1) Historical Consciousness
① Establishment of Christian Consciousness of History (De Civitate Dei, Confession)
② Ancient Philosophy (Greco-Roman civilization)
③ Christian Philosophy (Pauline thought)
2) Historical Consciousness of Augustine
① Hebrew consciousness of history
② Biblical consciousness of history
3) Historical Consciousness of Greek and Rome
① Greece & Rome (cyclical history / reoccurrence)
② Hebrew (Alpha-Omega liner history) / Two Cities
(1) The Kingdom of God (Heavenly Kingdom)
(2) The Kingdom of the World (Earthly Kingdom)
(2) Characteristics of the Historical Consciousness of
Augustine
1) Dichotomy of all the Historical Phenomena
① Obedience to God
② Objection to God
2) Abel : the Church : Kingdom of God : Heaven
3) Cain : the World : Earthly Kingdom : Hell
(3) History come from God to return to God
1) Time : Alpha-Omega time returns to Eternity
2) Eternity: only eternal present before God
(4) History develops by relation between
God and man
1) God's providence which has been predestined on the base of history (God's revelation)
2) Historical progress is a history of the struggle between God and Satan (devil).
3) Ultimately, the only men that obey God must be saved (salvation of man).
(5) Historical development on the earth must be
progressing through church only.
1) Church above the nation
2) Philosophy is an only auxiliary measures to theology
(6) Ideology that Satan's world is conquered by God
1) Devils is non-corporal beings
2) Devil is beings without the substance
(7) History is spiritual one because it is the history of
progress for salvation of human being. (History is
the history of spirit)
1) God has realized the salvation through history.
2) It is the revelation of God.
(8) There is no objectivity in philosophical theory.
1) Philosophical theory must be unrealistic and unscientific.
2) Progressive historical position of the religio-historical world view.
B. Theological View of Augustine
(1) Integrated Theological Approach Through His Work, The City of God (Civitas Dei)
THE CITY OF GOD (CIVITATE DEI)
Contents: The City of God
BOOK I. Augustine censures the pagans,
(1) who attributed the calamities of the world, and especially the recent sack of Rome by the Goths, to the Christian religion, and its prohibition of the worship of the gods.
(2) He speaks of the blessings and ills of life, which then, as always, happened to good and bad men alike.
(3) Finally, he rebukes the shamelessness of those who cast up to the Christians that their women had been violated by the soldiers.
BOOK II. Augustine reviews those calamities which
(1) the Romans suffered before the time of Christ, and while the worship of the false gods was universally practised;
(2) and demonstrates that, far from being preserved from misfortune by the gods, the Romans have been by them overwhelmed with the only, or at least the greatest, of all calamities- the corruption of manners, and the vices of the soul.
BOOK III. As in the foregoing book Augustine has proved regarding moral and spiritual calamities, so in this book
(1) he proves regarding external and bodily disasters, that since the foundation of the city the Romans have been continually subject to them;
(2) and that even when the false gods -were worshipped without a rival, before the advent of Christ, they afforded no relief from such calamities.
BOOK IV. In this book it is proved that the extent and long duration of the Roman Empire is to be ascribed,
(1) not to Jove or the gods of the heathen, to whom individually scarce even single things and the very basest functions were believed to be entrusted,
(2) but to the we true God, the author of felicity, by whose power and judgment earthly kingdoms are founded and maintained.
BOOK V. Augustine first discusses the doctrine of fate,
(1) for the sake of confuting those who are disposed to refer to fate the power and increase of the Roman Empire, which could not he attributed to false gods, as has been shown in the preceding book.
(2) After that, he proves that there is no contradiction between God's prescience and our free-will.
(3) He then speaks of the manners of the ancient Romans, and shows in what sense it was due to the virtue of the Romans themselves,
(4) and in how far to the counsel of God, that He increased their dominion, though they did not worship Him.
(5) Finally, he explains what is to be accounted the true happiness of the Christian emperors.
BOOK VI. Hitherto the argument has been conducted against those who believe that the gods are to be worshipped for the sake of temporal advantages.
(1) Now it is directed against those who believe that they are to be worshipped for the sake of eternal life.
(2) Augustine devotes the five following books to the confutation of this latter belief,
(3) and first of all shows how mean an opinion of the gods was held by Varro himself, the most esteemed writer on heathen theology.
(4) Of this theology Augustine adopts Varro's division into three kinds, mythical, natural, and civil;
(5) and at once demonstrates that neither the mythical nor the civil can contribute anything to the happiness of the future life.
BOOK VII. In this Book it is shown that eternal life is not obtained by the worship of Janus, Jupiter, Saturn, and the other "select gods" of the civil theology.
BOOK VIII. Augustine comes now to the third kind of theology,
(1) that is, the natural, and takes up the question whether the worship of the gods of the natural theology is of any avail towards securing blessedness in the life to come.
(2) This question he prefers to discuss with the Platonists, because the Platonic system is facile princeps among philosophies and makes the nearest approximation to Christian truth.
(3) In pursuing this argument, he first refutes Apuleius, and all who maintain that the demons should be worshipped as messengers and mediators between gods and men; demonstrating that by no possibility can men be reconciled to good gods by demons, who are the slave of vice, and who delight in and patronize, what good and wise, men abhor and condemn - the blasphemous fictions of poets, theatrical exhibitions, and magical arts.
BOOK. IX. Having in the preceding book shown that the worship of demons must be abjured, since
(1) they in a thousand ways proclaim themselves to be wicked spirits, Augustine in this book meets those who allege a distinction among demons, some being evil, while others we good;
(2) and, having exploded this distinction, he proves that to no demon, but to Christ alone, belongs the office of providing men with eternal blessedness.
BOOK X. In this book Augustine teaches that the good angels wish God alone, whom
(1) they themselves serve, to receive that divine honour which is rendered by sacrifice, and which is called latreia.
(2) He then goes on to dispute against Porphyry about the principle and way of the soul's cleansing and deliverance.
BOOK XI. Here begins the second part of this work, which treats of the origin, history, and destinies of the Two Cities, the earthly and the heavenly.
(1) In the first place, Augustine shows in this book how the Two Cities were formed originally, by the separation of the good and bad angels;
(2) and takes occasion to treat of the creation of the World, as it is described in Holy Scripture in the beginning of the Book of Genesis.
BOOK XII. Augustine first institutes two inquiries regarding the angels: namely,
(1) whence is there in some a good and in others an evil will? and, what is the reason of the blessedness of the good and the misery of the evil?
(2) Afterwards he treats of the creation of man, and teaches that he is not from eternity, but was created, and by none other than God.
BOOK XIII. In this book it is taught that death is penal and had its origin in Adam's sin.
BOOK XIV. Augustine again treats of the sin of the first man and teaches that it is the cause of the carnal life and vicious affections of man.
(1) Especially he proves that the shame which accompanies lust is the just punishment of that disobedience, and
(2) inquires how man, if he had not sinned, would have been able without lust to propagate his kind.
BOOK XV. Having treated in the four preceding books of the origin of the Two Cities, the earthly and the heavenly,
(1) Augustine explains their growth and progress in the four books which follow; and,
(2) in order to do so, he explains the chief passages of the sacred history which bear upon this subject.
(3) In this fifteenth book he opens this part of his work by explaining the events recorded in Genesis from the time of Cain and Abel to the Deluge.
BOOK XVI. In the former part of this book,
(1) from the first to the twelfth chapter, the progress of the Two Cities, the earthly and the heavenly, from Noah to Abraham, is exhibited from Holly Scripture:
(2) in the latter part, the progress of the heavenly alone, from Abraham to the Kings of Israel, is the subject.
BOOK XVII. In this Book the history of the City of God is traced
(1) during the period of the and prophets from Samuel to David, even to Christ; and
(2) the prophecies which are recorded in the Books of Kings, Psalms, and those of Solomon, are interpreted of Christ and Church.
BOOK XVIII. Augustine traces the parallel courses of the earthly and heavenly cities
(1) from the of Abraham to the end of the world; and alludes to the oracles regarding Christ, both those uttered by the sibyls, and
(2) those of the sacred prophets who wrote after the foundation of Rome, Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, Micah, and their successors.
BOOK XIX. In this book the end of the Cities, the earthly and the heavenly, is discussed.
(1) Augustine reviews the opinions of the philosophers regarding the supreme good, and their efforts to make for themselves a happiness in life; and,
(2) while he refutes these, he takes occasion to show what the peace and happiness longing to the heavenly city, or the people of Christ, are both now and hereafter.
BOOK XX. Concerning the Last Judgment, and the declarations regarding it in the Old and New Testaments.
BOOK XXI. Of the end reserved for the city of the Devil, namely, the eternal punishment of the damned; and of the arguments which unbelief brings against it.
BOOK XXII. This book treats of the end of the City of God, that is to say,
(1) of the eternal happiness of the saints; the faith of the resurrection of the body is established and explained;
(2) and the work concludes by showing how the saints, clothed in immortal and spiritual bodies, shall be employed.
(2) His Historical View And The World Mission
. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Introduction
Theology 