Editing Augustine of Hippo (section)

==== Christian anthropology ====
Augustine was one of the first Christian [[Late Latin|ancient Latin]] authors with a very clear vision of [[Christian anthropology|theological anthropology]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia | publisher = Stanford | title = Encyclopedia of Philosophy | url = http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/augustine/#PhiAnt | contribution = Saint Augustine {{ndash}} Philosophical Anthropology | year = 2016 }}</ref> He saw the human being as a perfect unity of soul and body. In his late treatise ''[[s:Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series I/Volume III/Moral Treatises of St. Augustin/On Care to Be Had for the Dead/Section 5|On Care to Be Had for the Dead, section 5]]'' (420) he exhorted respect for the body on the grounds it belonged to the very nature of the human [[person]].<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''De cura pro mortuis gerenda'' [[Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum|CSEL]] 41, 627 [13–22]; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">[[Patrologia Latina|PL]]</abbr> 40, 595: ''Nullo modo ipsa spernenda sunt corpora. (...) Haec enim non-ad ornamentum vel adiutorium, quod adhibetur extrinsecus, sed ad ipsam naturam hominis pertinent''.</ref> Augustine's favourite figure to describe ''body-soul'' unity is marriage: ''caro tua, coniunx tua – your body is your wife''.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Enarrationes in psalmos'', 143, 6.</ref><ref>[[Corpus Christianorum|CCL]] 40, 2077 [46] – 2078 [74]; 46, 234–235.</ref><ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''De utilitate ieiunii'', 4, 4–5.</ref>

Augustine believed that though initially the two elements of body and soul were in perfect harmony, after the [[#Original sin|fall of humanity]] they came into dramatic combat with one another. He wrote of them as two categorically different things: the body as a three-dimensional object composed of the four elements, and the soul as spatially dimensionless.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''De quantitate animae'' 1.2; 5.9.</ref> He further defined the soul as a kind of substance, participating in reason, fit for ruling the body.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''De quantitate animae'' 13.12: ''Substantia quaedam rationis particeps, regendo corpori accomodata''.</ref>

Augustine was not preoccupied, as [[Plato]] and [[Descartes]] were, in detailed efforts to explain the [[metaphysics]] of the soul-body union. It sufficed for him to admit they are metaphysically distinct: to be a human is to be a composite of soul and body, with the soul superior to the body. The latter statement is grounded in his [[hierarchical classification]] of things into those that merely exist, those that exist and live, and those that exist, live, and have intelligence or reason.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''On the free will'' (''De libero arbitrio'') 2.3.7–6.13.</ref>{{sfn|Mann|1999|pp=141–142}}

Like other Church Fathers such as [[Athenagoras of Athens|Athenagoras]],<ref>{{Cite web | title = A Plea for the Christians |author= Athenagoras the Athenian | url = http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0205.htm | publisher = New Advent}}</ref> [[Tertullian]],{{sfn|Flinn|2007|p=4}} [[Clement of Alexandria]] and [[Basil of Caesarea]],{{sfn|Luker|1985|p=12}} Augustine "vigorously condemned the practice of induced [[abortion]]", and although he disapproved of abortion during any stage of pregnancy, he made a distinction between early and later abortions.{{sfn|Bauerschmidt|1999|p= 1}} He acknowledged the distinction between "formed" and "unformed" fetuses mentioned in the [[Septuagint]] translation of Exodus 21:22–23, which incorrectly translates the word "harm" (from the original Hebrew text) as "form" in the [[Koine Greek]] of the Septuagint. His view was based on the Aristotelian distinction "between the fetus before and after its supposed 'vivification{{'"}}. Therefore, he did not classify the abortion of an "unformed" fetus as murder since he thought it could not be known with certainty the fetus had received a soul.{{sfn|Bauerschmidt|1999|p= 1}}<ref>[http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/abortion/respect-for-unborn-human-life.cfm Respect for Unborn Human Life: the Church's Constant Teaching]. U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops</ref>

Augustine held that "the timing of the infusion of the soul was a mystery known to God alone".{{sfn|Lysaught|Kotva|Lammers|Verhey|2012|p=676}} However, he considered procreation as "one of the goods of marriage; abortion figured as a means, along with drugs which cause sterility, of frustrating this good. It lay along a continuum which included infanticide as an instance of 'lustful cruelty' or 'cruel lust.' Augustine called the use of means to avoid the birth of a child an 'evil work:' a reference to either abortion or contraception or both."<ref name="Vasa">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ewtn.com/library/bishops/vasapelosi.htm|title=Modern Look at Abortion Not Same as St. Augustine's|website=www.ewtn.com|access-date=4 December 2016|archive-date=20 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220044432/https://www.ewtn.com/library/bishops/vasapelosi.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>