Editing Augustine of Hippo (section)

== Views and thought ==
{{Catholic philosophy|expanded=Philosophers|expanded2=Ancient}}
Augustine's large contribution of writings covered diverse fields including theology, philosophy and sociology. Along with [[John Chrysostom]], Augustine was among the most prolific scholars of the early church by quantity.

=== Theology ===
==== 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>

==== Creation ====
{{See also|Allegorical interpretations of Genesis}}
In ''City of God'', Augustine rejected both the contemporary ideas of ages (such as those of certain Greeks and Egyptians) that differed from the Church's sacred writings.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Augustine of Hippo |chapter-url=http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF1-02/npnf1-02-18.htm#P2017_1154484 |chapter=Of the Falseness of the History Which Allots Many Thousand Years to the World's Past |title=The City of God |at=Book&nbsp;12: Chapt.&nbsp;10 [419]}}</ref> In ''The Literal Interpretation of Genesis'', Augustine argued that God had created everything in the universe simultaneously and not over a period of six days. He argued the six-day structure of creation presented in the Book of Genesis represents a [[framework interpretation (Genesis)|logical framework]], rather than the passage of time in a physical way – it would bear a spiritual, rather than physical, meaning, which is no less literal. One reason for this interpretation is the passage in [[Sirach]]&nbsp;18:1, ''creavit omnia simul'' ("He created all things at once"), which Augustine took as proof that the days of Genesis&nbsp;1 had to be taken non-literalistically.{{sfn|Teske|1999|pp=377–378}} As additional support for describing the six days of creation as a [[heuristic device]], Augustine thought the actual event of creation would be incomprehensible by humans and therefore needed to be translated.{{sfn|Franklin-Brown|2012|p=280}}

Augustine also does not envision original sin as causing structural changes in the universe, and even suggests that the bodies of [[Adam and Eve]] were already created mortal before [[Fall of man|the Fall]].<ref>{{Cite book |author=Augustine of Hippo |title=On the Merits |at=1.2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |author=Augustine of Hippo |title=City of God |at=13:1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |author=Augustine of Hippo |title=Enchiridion |at=104}}</ref> Apart from his specific views, Augustine recognized that interpreting the creation story was difficult, and remarked that interpretations could change should new information come up.<ref>Young, Davis A. [http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1988/PSCF3-88Young.html "The Contemporary Relevance of Augustine's View of Creation"], ''[[Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith]]'' '''40.1''':42–45 (3/1988). Retrieved 30 September 2011.</ref>

==== Ecclesiology ====
{{See also|Ecclesiology}}
[[File:Carlo Crivelli - St. Augustine - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|''St. Augustine'' by [[Carlo Crivelli]]]]
Augustine developed his doctrine of the Church principally in reaction to the [[Donatist]] sect. He taught there is one Church, but within this Church there are two realities, namely, the visible aspect (the institutional [[hierarchy of the Catholic Church|hierarchy]], the [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|Catholic sacraments]], and the [[laity]]) and the invisible (the souls of those in the Church, who are either dead, sinful members or elect predestined for Heaven). The former is the institutional body established by Christ on earth which proclaims salvation and administers the sacraments, while the latter is the invisible body of the elect, made up of genuine believers from all ages, who are known only to God. The Church, which is visible and societal, will be made up of "wheat" and "tares", that is, good and wicked people (as per Mat. 13:30), until the end of time. This concept countered the Donatist claim that only those in a [[state (theology)|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 confect the sacraments.{{sfn|González|1987|p=28}}

Augustine's ecclesiology was more fully developed in ''City of God''. There he conceives of the church as a heavenly city or kingdom, ruled by love, which will ultimately triumph over all earthly empires which are self-indulgent and ruled by pride. Augustine followed [[Cyprian]] in teaching that bishops and priests of the Church are the [[apostolic succession|successors of the Apostles]],{{sfn|González|1987|p=}} and their authority in the Church is God-given.

The concept of [[Church invisible]] was advocated by Augustine as part of his refutation of the Donatist sect, though he, as other Church Fathers before him, saw the invisible Church and visible Church as one and the same thing, unlike the later Protestant reformers who did not identify the Catholic Church as the [[One true church|true church]].<ref>{{Cite book |author=Justo L. Gonzalez |title=A History of Christian Thought: Volume 2 (From Augustine to the eve of the Reformation) |date=1970–1975 |publisher=Abingdon Press}}</ref> He was strongly influenced by the [[Platonism|Platonist]] belief that true reality is invisible and that, if the visible reflects the invisible, it does so only partially and imperfectly (see [[Theory of Forms]]).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JeXFXXHBgnoC Wallace M. Alston, The Church of the Living God: A Reformed Perspective] (Westminster John Knox Press, 2002 {{ISBN|978-0-664-22553-7}}), p. 53</ref> Others question whether Augustine really held to some form of an "invisible true Church" concept.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/non-orthodox_ch7.pdf|title=Patrick Barnes, The Non-Orthodox: The Orthodox Teaching on Christians Outside of the Church}}</ref>

==== Eschatology ====
Augustine originally believed in [[premillennialism]], namely that Christ would establish a literal 1,000-year kingdom prior to the general [[resurrection]], but later rejected the belief, viewing it as carnal. During the medieval period, the Catholic Church built its system of eschatology on Augustinian [[amillennialism]], where Christ rules the earth spiritually through his triumphant church.{{sfn|Blomberg|2006|p=519}}

During the [[Reformation]], theologians such as [[John Calvin]] accepted amillennialism. Augustine taught that the eternal fate of the soul is determined at death,{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|p=}}<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Enchiridion'', 110</ref> and that [[purgatory|purgatorial]] fires of the [[Intermediate state (Christianity)|intermediate state]] purify only those who died in communion with the Church. His teaching provided fuel for later theology.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|p=}}

==== Mariology ====
Although Augustine did not develop an independent [[Mariology]], his statements on Mary surpass in number and depth those of other early writers. Even before the [[Council of Ephesus]], he defended the [[perpetual virginity of Mary|Ever-Virgin Mary]] as the [[theotokos|Mother of God]], believing her to be "full of grace" (following earlier Latin writers such as [[Jerome]]) on account of her sexual integrity and innocence.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''De Sancta Virginitate'', 6,6, 191.</ref> Likewise, he affirmed that the Virgin Mary "conceived as virgin, gave birth as virgin and stayed virgin forever".<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''De Sancta Virginitate'', 18</ref>

==== Natural knowledge and biblical interpretation ====
Augustine took the view that, if a literal interpretation contradicts science and humans' God-given reason, the biblical text should be interpreted metaphorically. While each passage of Scripture has a literal sense, this "literal sense" does not always mean the Scriptures are mere history; at times they are rather an [[extended metaphor]].<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''De Genesi ad literam 1:19–20'', Chapt. 19 [408], ''De Genesi ad literam'', 2:9</ref>

==== Original sin ====
{{See also|Original sin}}

[[File:Saint Augustine - Tomas Giner.JPG|thumb|Painting of Augustine (1458) by Tomás Giner, tempera on panel, Diocesan Museum of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain]]
Augustine taught that the sin of Adam and Eve was either an act of foolishness (''insipientia'') followed by pride and disobedience to God or that pride came first.<ref group=lower-alpha>He explained to Julian of Eclanum that it was a most subtle job to discern what came first: ''Sed si disputatione subtilissima et elimatissima opus est, ut sciamus utrum primos homines insipientia superbos, an insipientes superbia fecerit''. (''Contra Julianum'', V, 4.18; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 44, 795)</ref> The first couple disobeyed God, who had told them not to eat of the [[Tree of the knowledge of good and evil]] (Gen 2:17).<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''On the Literal Meaning of Genesis'' (''[[De Genesi ad litteram']]'), VIII, 6:12, vol. 1, pp. 192–93 and 12:28, vol. 2, pp. 219–220, trans. John Hammond Taylor SJ; [[Bibliothèque Augustinniene|BA]] 49,28 and 50–52; PL 34, 377; cf. idem, ''De Trinitate'', XII, 12.17; [[Corpus Christianorum|CCL]] 50, 371–372 [v. 26–31; 1–36]; ''De natura boni'' 34–35; CSEL 25, 872; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 42, 551–572''</ref> The tree was a symbol of the order of creation.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''On the Literal Meaning of Genesis'' (''De Genesi ad litteram''), VIII, 4.8; [[Bibliothèque Augustinniene|BA]] 49, 20</ref> Self-centeredness made Adam and Eve eat of it, thus failing to acknowledge and respect the world as it was created by God, with its hierarchy of beings and values.<ref group=lower-alpha>Augustine explained it in this way: "Why therefore is it enjoined upon mind, that it should know itself? I suppose, in order that, it may consider itself, and live according to its own nature; that is, seek to be regulated according to its own nature, viz., under Him to whom it ought to be subject, and above those things to which it is to be preferred; under Him by whom it ought to be ruled, above those things which it ought to rule. For it does many things through vicious desire, as though in forgetfulness of itself. For it sees some things intrinsically excellent, in that more excellent nature which is God: and whereas it ought to remain steadfast that it may enjoy them, it is turned away from Him, by wishing to appropriate those things to itself, and not to be like to Him by His gift, but to be what He is by its own, and it begins to move and slip gradually down into less and less, which it thinks to be more and more." ("[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/130105.htm On the Trinity]" (''De Trinitate''), 5:7; [[Corpus Christianorum|CCL]] 50, 320 [1–12])</ref>

Augustine wrote that Adam and Eve would not have fallen into pride and lack of wisdom if [[Satan]] had not sown into their senses "the root of evil" (''radix Mali'').<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Nisi radicem mali humanus tunc reciperet sensus'' ("Contra Julianum", I, 9.42; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 44, 670)</ref> Their nature was wounded, according to Augustine, by [[concupiscence]] or [[libido]], which affected human intelligence and will, as well as affections and desires, including sexual desire.<ref group="lower-alpha">In one of Augustine's late works, ''[[Retractationes]]'', he made a significant remark indicating the way he understood the difference between spiritual, moral libido and the sexual desire: "Libido is not good and righteous use of the libido" ("libido non-est bonus et rectus usus libidinis"). See the whole passage: ''Dixi etiam quodam loco: «Quod enim est cibus ad salutem hominis, hoc est concubitus ad salutem generis, et utrumque non-est sine delectatione carnali, quae tamen modificata et temperantia refrenante in usum naturalem redacta, libido esse non-potest». Quod ideo dictum est, quoniam "libido non-est bonus et rectus usus libidinis". Sicut enim malum est male uti bonis, ita bonum bene uti malis. De qua re alias, maxime contra novos haereticos Pelagianos, diligentius disputavi''. Cf. ''De bono coniugali'', 16.18; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 40, 385; ''De nuptiis et concupiscentia'', II, 21.36; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 44, 443; ''Contra Iulianum'', III, 7.16; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 44, 710; ibid., V, 16.60; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 44, 817. See also {{Cite book |author=Idem |title=Le mariage chrétien dans l'oeuvre de Saint Augustin. Une théologie baptismale de la vie conjugale |publisher=Études Augustiniennes |year=1983 |location=Paris |page=97}}</ref> In terms of [[metaphysics]], Augustine found concupiscence to be not a state of being but a bad quality, the privation of good or a wound.<ref>''Non substantialiter manere concupiscentiam, sicut corpus aliquod aut spiritum; sed esse affectionem quamdam malae qualitatis, sicut est languor''. (''De nuptiis et concupiscentia''), I, 25. 28; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 44, 430; cf. ''Contra Julianum'', VI, 18.53; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 44, 854; ibid. VI, 19.58; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 44, 857; ibid., II, 10.33; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 44, 697; ''Contra Secundinum Manichaeum'', 15; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 42, 590.</ref>

Augustine's understanding of the consequences of original sin and the necessity of redeeming grace was developed in the struggle against [[Pelagius]] and his [[Pelagianism|Pelagian]] disciples, [[Caelestius]] and [[Julian of Eclanum]],{{sfn|González|1987|p=}} who had been inspired by [[Rufinus of Syria]], a disciple of [[Theodore of Mopsuestia]].<ref>[[Marius Mercator]] ''Lib. subnot.in verb. Iul. Praef.'',2,3; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 48,111 /v.5–13/</ref>{{sfn|Bonner|1987|p=35}} They refused to agree original sin wounded human will and mind, insisting human nature was given the power to act, to speak, and to think when God created it. Human nature cannot lose its moral capacity for doing good, but a person is free to act or not act in a righteous way. Pelagius gave an example of eyes: they have capacity for seeing, but a person can make either good or bad use of it.{{sfn|Bonner|1986|pp=355–356}}<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''[http://www.augustinus.it/latino/grazia_cristo/grazia_cristo_1_libro.htm De gratia Christi et de peccato originali]'', I, 15.16; CSEL 42, 138 [v. 24–29]; Ibid., I,4.5; CSEL 42, 128 [v.15–23].</ref>

Pelagians insisted human affections and desires were not touched by the fall either. In the Pelagian view, immorality, e.g. [[fornication]], is exclusively a matter of will, i.e. a person does not use natural desires in a proper way. In opposition, Augustine pointed out the apparent disobedience of the flesh to the spirit, and explained it as one of the results of original sin, punishment of Adam and Eve's disobedience to God.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Against Two Letters of the Pelagians'' 1.31–32</ref>

Augustine had served as a "Hearer" for the Manichaeans for about nine years,{{sfn|Brown|2000|p=35}} who taught that the original sin was [[carnal knowledge]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/jcreeves/manichaean_version_of_genesis_2-4.htm |title=The Manichaean Version of Genesis 2–4 |access-date=25 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051029144459/http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/jcreeves/manichaean_version_of_genesis_2-4.htm |archive-date=29 October 2005 }}. Translated from the Arabic text of Ibn al-Nadīm, Fihrist, as reproduced by G. Flügel in ''Mani: Seine Lehre und seine Schriften'' (Leipzig, 1862; reprinted, [[Osnabrück]]: Biblio Verlag, 1969) 58.11–61.13.</ref> But his struggle to understand the cause of evil in the world started before that, at the age of nineteen.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''De libero arbitrio'' 1,9,1.</ref> By ''malum'' (evil) he understood most of all concupiscence, which he interpreted as a vice dominating people and causing in men and women moral disorder. Agostino Trapè insists Augustine's personal experience cannot be credited for his doctrine about concupiscence. He considers Augustine's marital experience to be quite normal, and even exemplary, aside from the absence of Christian wedding rites.{{sfn|Trapè|1987|pp=113–114}} As J. Brachtendorf showed, Augustine used Ciceronian [[Stoicism|Stoic]] concept of passions, to interpret [[Paul the Apostle|Paul's]] doctrine of universal sin and redemption.{{sfn|Brachtendorf|1997|p=307}}

[[File:Peter Paul Rubens - St Augustine.JPG|thumb|''St. Augustine'' by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]]]
The view that not only human [[soul]] but also senses were influenced by the fall of Adam and Eve was prevalent in Augustine's time among the [[Fathers of the Church]].{{sfn|Sfameni Gasparro|2001|pp=250–251}}{{sfn|Somers|1961|p=115}}<ref>Cf. [[John Chrysostom]], ''Περι παρθενίας'' (''De Sancta Virginitate''), XIV, 6; SCh 125, 142–145; [[Gregory of Nyssa]], ''[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/130105.htm On the Making of Man]'', 17; SCh 6, 164–165; and ''[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2907.htm On Virginity]'', 12.2; SCh 119, 402 [17–20]. Cf. Augustine of Hippo, ''[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1309.htm On the Good of Marriage]'', 2.2; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 40, 374.</ref> It is clear the reason for Augustine's distancing from the affairs of the flesh was different from that of [[Plotinus]], a [[Neoplatonist]]{{efn|Although Augustine praises him in the ''Confessions'', 8.2., it is widely acknowledged that Augustine's attitude towards that pagan philosophy was very much of a Christian apostle, as {{harvnb|Clarke|1958|p=151}} writes: ''Towards Neoplatonism there was throughout his life a decidedly ambivalent attitude; one must expect both agreement and sharp dissent, derivation but also repudiation. In the matter which concerns us here, the agreement with Neoplatonism (and with the Platonic tradition in general) centres on two related notions: immutability as the primary characteristic of divinity, and likeness to divinity as the primary vocation of the soul. The disagreement chiefly concerned, as we have said, two related and central Christian dogmas: the Incarnation of the Son of God and the resurrection of the flesh''. Cf. É. Schmitt's chapter 2: ''L'idéologie hellénique et la conception augustinienne de réalités charnelles'' in: {{Cite book |title= Le mariage chrétien dans l'oeuvre de Saint Augustin. Une théologie baptismale de la vie conjugale |author= Idem |year= 1983 |publisher= Études Augustiniennes| location=Paris |pages=108–123}} {{Cite book |title= The Young Augustine: The Growth of St. Augustine's Mind up to His Conversion |last=O'Meara |first=J.J. |year= 1954 |location=London |pages=143–151 and 195f}} {{Cite book |title= Le 'platonisme' des Pères |last= Madec |first=G. |page= 42}} in {{Cite book |title=Petites Études Augustiniennes |author= Idem |year= 1994|series=«Antiquité» 142| location=Paris |pages= 27–50|publisher= Collection d'Études Augustiniennes}} Thomas Aq. STh I q84 a5; Augustine of Hippo, ''[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120108.htm City of God]'' (''De Civitate Dei''), VIII, 5; CCL 47, 221 [3–4].}} who taught that only through disdain for fleshly desire could one reach the ultimate state of mankind.{{sfn|Gerson|1999|p=203}} Augustine taught the redemption, i.e. transformation and purification, of the body in the resurrection.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''"Enarrations on the Psalms"'' (''Enarrationes in psalmos''), 143:6; [[Corpus Christianorum|CCL]] 40, 2077 [46] – 2078 [74]; ''On the Literal Meaning of Genesis'' (''De Genesi ad Litteram''), 9:6:11, trans. John Hammond Taylor SJ, vol. 2, pp. 76–77; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 34, 397.</ref>

Some authors perceive Augustine's doctrine as directed against [[human sexuality]] and attribute his insistence on continence and devotion to God as coming from his need to reject his own highly sensual nature as described in the ''Confessions''.{{Efn|"It is, of course, always easier to oppose and denounce than to understand."{{sfn|Bonner|1986|p=312}}}} Augustine taught that human sexuality has been wounded, together with the whole of human nature, and requires [[Redemption (theology)|redemption]] of Christ. That healing is a process realized in conjugal acts. The virtue of continence is achieved thanks to the grace of the sacrament of Christian marriage, which becomes therefore a ''remedium concupiscentiae'' – remedy of concupiscence.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''De continentia'', 12.27; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 40, 368; Ibid., 13.28; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 40, 369; ''Contra Julianum'', III, 15.29, <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 44, 717; Ibid., III, 21.42, <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 44, 724.</ref>{{sfn|Burke|2006|pp= 481–536}} The redemption of human sexuality will be, however, fully accomplished only in the resurrection of the body.<ref>''[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1501.htm Merits and Remission of Sin, and Infant Baptism]'' (''De peccatorum meritis et remissione et de baptismo parvulorum''), I, 6.6; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 44, 112–113; cf. ''On the Literal Meaning of Genesis'' (''De Genesi ad litteram'') 9:6:11, trans. John Hammond Taylor SJ, vol. 2, pp. 76–77; <abbr title="Patrologia Latina">PL</abbr> 34, 397.</ref>

Augustine also taught that the sin of Adam is inherited by all human beings. Already in his pre-Pelagian writings, Augustine taught that Original Sin is transmitted to his descendants by concupiscence,<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Imperfectum Opus contra Iulianum'', II, 218</ref> which he regarded as the passion of both soul and body,{{efn|In 393 or 394 he commented: ''Moreover, if unbelief is fornication, and [[idolatry]] unbelief, and [[covetousness]] idolatry, it is not to be doubted that covetousness also is fornication. Who, then, in that case can rightly separate any unlawful lust whatever from the category of fornication, if covetousness is fornication? And from this we perceive, that because of unlawful lusts, not only those of which one is guilty in acts of uncleanness with another's husband or wife, but any unlawful lusts whatever, which cause the soul to make a bad use of the body to wander from the law of God, and to be ruinously and basely corrupted, a man may, without crime, put away his wife, and a wife her husband, because the Lord makes the cause of fornication an exception; which fornication, in accordance with the above considerations, we are compelled to understand as being general and universal.'' ("[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/16011.htm On the Sermon on the Mount]", ''De sermone Domini in monte'', 1:16:46; [[Corpus Christianorum|CCL]] 35, 52).}} making humanity a ''massa damnata'' (mass of perdition, condemned crowd) and much enfeebling, though not destroying, the freedom of the will.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|pp=1200–1204}} Although earlier Christian authors taught the elements of physical death, moral weakness, and a sin propensity within original sin, Augustine was the first to add the concept of inherited guilt (''reatus'') from Adam whereby an infant was eternally damned at birth.{{sfn|Wilson|2018|pp=93, 127, 140, 146, 231–233, 279–280}}

Although Augustine's anti-Pelagian defence of original sin was confirmed at numerous councils, i.e. [[Council of Carthage (418)|Carthage (418)]], [[First Council of Ephesus|Ephesus]] (431), [[Council of Orange (529)|Orange]] (529), [[Council of Trent|Trent]] (1546) and by popes, i.e. [[Pope Innocent I]] (401–417) and [[Pope Zosimus]] (417–418), his inherited guilt eternally damning infants was omitted by these councils and popes.{{sfn|Wilson|2018|pp=221, 231, 267, 296}} [[Anselm of Canterbury]] established in his ''[[Cur Deus Homo]]'' the definition that was followed by the great 13th-century Schoolmen, namely that Original Sin is the "privation of the righteousness which every man ought to possess," thus separating it from ''concupiscence,'' with which some of Augustine's disciples had identified it,{{sfn|Bonner|1986|p=371}}{{sfn|Southern|1953|pp=234–237}} as later did Luther and Calvin.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|pp=1200–1204}} In 1567, [[Pope Pius V]] condemned the identification of Original Sin with concupiscence.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|pp=1200–1204}}

==== Predestination ====
{{Main|Augustinian soteriology}}Augustine taught that God orders all things while preserving human freedom.{{sfn|Levering|2011|p=44}} Prior to 396, he believed [[predestination]] was based on God's foreknowledge of whether individuals would believe in Christ, that God's grace was "a reward for human assent".{{sfn|Levering|2011|pp=48–49}} Later, in response to [[Pelagius]], Augustine said that the sin of [[pride]] consists in assuming "we are the ones who choose God or that God chooses us (in his foreknowledge) because of something worthy in us", and argued that God's grace causes the individual act of faith.{{sfn|Levering|2011|pp=47–48}}

Scholars are divided over whether Augustine's teaching implies [[double predestination]], or the belief God chooses some people for damnation as well as some for salvation. Catholic scholars tend to deny he held such a view while some Protestants and secular scholars have held that Augustine did believe in double predestination.{{sfn|James|1998|p=102}} About 412, Augustine became the first Christian to understand predestination as a divine unilateral pre-determination of individuals' eternal destinies independently of human choice, although his prior Manichaean sect did teach this concept.{{sfn|Widengren|1977|pp=63–65, 90}}{{sfn|Stroumsa|1992|pp=344–345}}{{sfn|Wilson|2018|pp=286–293}}{{sfn|van Oort|2010|p=520}} Some Protestant theologians, such as [[Justo L. González]]{{sfn|González|1987|p=44}} and [[Bengt Hägglund]],{{sfn|Hägglund|2007|pp=139–140}} interpret Augustine's teaching that grace is [[irresistible grace|irresistible]], results in conversion, and leads to [[perseverance of the saints|perseverance]].

In ''On Rebuke and Grace'' (''De correptione et gratia''), Augustine wrote: "And what is written, that He wills all men to be saved, while yet all men are not saved, may be understood in many ways, some of which I have mentioned in other writings of mine; but here I will say one thing: He wills all men to be saved, is so said that all the predestinated may be understood by it, because every kind of men is among them."<ref name="St. Augustine of Hippo" />

Speaking of the twins Jacob and Esau, Augustine wrote in his book ''On the Gift of Perseverance'', "[I]t ought to be a most certain fact that the former is of the predestinated, the latter is not."<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''On the Gift of Perseverance'', Chapter 21</ref>

==== Sacramental theology ====
[[File:Vittore carpaccio, visione di sant'agostino 01.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|''[[St. Augustine in His Study (Carpaccio)|St. Augustine in His Study]]'' by [[Vittore Carpaccio]], 1502]]

Also in reaction to the Donatists, Augustine developed a distinction between the "regularity" and "validity" of the [[sacrament]]s. Regular sacraments are performed by clergy of the Catholic Church, while sacraments performed by schismatics are considered irregular. Nevertheless, the validity of the sacraments does not depend upon the holiness of the priests who perform them (''[[ex opere operato]]''); therefore, irregular sacraments are still accepted as valid provided they are done in the name of Christ and in the manner prescribed by the Church. On this point, Augustine departs from the earlier teaching of [[Cyprian]], who taught that converts from schismatic movements must be re-baptised.{{sfn|González|1987|p=}} Augustine taught that sacraments administered outside the Catholic Church, though true sacraments, avail nothing. However, he also stated that baptism, while it does not confer any grace when done outside the Church, does confer grace as soon as one is received into the Catholic Church.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Augustine of Hippo|title=St. Augustine's Writings Against The Manichaeans And Against The Donatists|edition=eBook |year= 2012|publisher=Jazzybee Verlag|isbn=978-3-8496-2109-4}}</ref>

Augustine believed that in a [[real presence of Christ in the Eucharist]], saying that Christ's statement, "This is my body" referred to the bread he carried in his hands,<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Explanations of the Psalms'' 33:1:10 [405]</ref><ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Sermons'' 227 [411]</ref> and that Christians must have faith the bread and wine are in fact the body and blood of Christ, despite what they see with their eyes.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Sermons'' 272</ref> For instance, he stated that "He [Jesus] walked here in the same flesh, and gave us the same flesh to be eaten unto salvation. But no one eats that flesh unless first he adores it; and thus it is discovered how such a footstool of the Lord's feet is adored; and not only do we not sin by adoring, we do sin by not adoring."{{sfn|Jurgens|1970|p=20|loc = §&nbsp;1479a}}

Presbyterian professor and author John Riggs argued that Augustine held that Christ is really present in the elements of the Eucharist, but not in a bodily manner, because his body remains in [[Heaven in Christianity|Heaven]].{{sfn|Riggs|2015|p=15}}

Augustine, in his work ''On Christian Doctrine'', referred to the Eucharist as a "figure" and a "sign".<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''On Christian Doctrine'', Book II, Chapter 3; Book III, Chapter 9; Book III, Chapter 16</ref>{{sfn|Ambrose|1919|p=35}}

Against the [[Pelagians]], Augustine strongly stressed the importance of [[infant baptism]]. About the question whether baptism is an absolute necessity for salvation, however, Augustine appears to have refined his beliefs during his lifetime, causing some confusion among later theologians about his position. He said in one of his sermons that only the baptized are saved.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''A Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed'', Paragraph 16</ref> This belief was shared by many early Christians. However, a passage from his ''City of God'', concerning the [[Apocalypse]], may indicate Augustine did believe in an exception for children born to Christian parents.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''City of God'', Book 20, Chapter 8</ref>

=== Philosophy ===
[[File:Nuremberg chronicles - Augustine (CXXXVIr).jpg|thumb|Saint Augustine in the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'' ]]

==== Astrology ====
Augustine's contemporaries often believed [[astrology]] to be an exact and genuine science. Its practitioners were regarded as true men of learning and called ''mathematici''. Astrology played a prominent part in Manichaean doctrine, and Augustine himself was attracted by their books in his youth, being particularly fascinated by those who claimed to foretell the future. Later, as a bishop, he warned that one should avoid astrologers who combine science and [[horoscope]]s. (Augustine's term "mathematici", meaning "astrologers", is sometimes mistranslated as "mathematicians".) According to Augustine, they were not genuine students of [[Hipparchus]] or [[Eratosthenes]] but "common swindlers".{{sfn|Van Der Meer|1961|p=60}}{{sfn|Bonner|1986|p=63}}{{sfn|Testard|1958|pp=100–106}}<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Confessions'' 5,7,12; 7,6</ref>

==== Epistemology ====
[[Epistemology|Epistemological]] concerns shaped Augustine's intellectual development. His early dialogues ''Contra academicos'' (386) and ''De Magistro'' (389), both written shortly after his conversion to Christianity, reflect his engagement with sceptical arguments and show the development of his doctrine of [[divine illumination]]. The doctrine of illumination claims God plays an active and regular part in human perception and understanding by illuminating the mind so human beings can recognize intelligible realities God presents (as opposed to God designing the human mind to be reliable consistently, as in, for example, Descartes's idea of clear and distinct perceptions). According to Augustine, illumination is obtainable to all rational minds and is different from other forms of [[sense perception]]. It is meant to be an explanation of the conditions required for the mind to have a connection with intelligible entities.<ref name=encyclopedia>{{Cite encyclopedia| last=Mendelson| first=Michael| title=Saint Augustine| url=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/augustine/| encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy| access-date=21 December 2012| date=24 March 2000}}</ref>

Augustine also posed the [[problem of other minds]] throughout different works, most famously perhaps in ''[[On the Trinity]]'' (VIII.6.9), and developed what has come to be a standard solution: the argument from analogy to other minds.{{sfn|Matthews|1992|p=}} In contrast to Plato and other earlier philosophers, Augustine recognized the centrality of [[Philosophical problems of testimony|testimony]] to human knowledge and argued that what others tell us can provide knowledge even if we do not have independent reasons to believe their testimonial reports.{{sfn|King|Ballantyne|2009|p=195}}

==== Just war ====
{{See also|Just war theory}}
Augustine asserted Christians should be [[pacifists]] as a personal, philosophical stance.<ref>[http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/septemberweb-only/9-17-55.0.html "A Time For War?"] ''Christianity Today'' (9 January 2001). Retrieved on 28 April 2013.</ref> However, peacefulness in the face of a grave wrong that could only be stopped by violence would be a sin. Defence of one's self or others could be a necessity, especially when authorized by a legitimate authority. While not breaking down the conditions necessary for war to be just, Augustine coined the phrase in his work ''The City of God''.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120728203512/http://www.crusades-encyclopedia.com/augustineofhippo.html Augustine of Hippo]. Crusades-encyclopedia.com. Retrieved on 28 April 2013.</ref> In essence, the pursuit of peace must include the option of fighting for its long-term preservation.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120728203512/http://www.crusades-encyclopedia.com/augustineofhippo.html St. Augustine of Hippo], Crusades-Encyclopedia</ref> Such a war could not be pre-emptive, but defensive, to restore peace.<ref>[http://www.jknirp.com/mattox.htm "Saint Augustine and the Theory of Just War"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103033459/http://www.jknirp.com/mattox.htm |date=3 November 2013 }}. Jknirp.com (23 January 2007). Retrieved on 28 April 2013.</ref> [[Thomas Aquinas]], centuries later, used the authority of Augustine's arguments in an attempt to define the conditions under which a war could be just.<ref>[http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/politics/pg0029.html "The Just War"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423100800/https://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/politics/pg0029.html |date=23 April 2021 }}. Catholiceducation.org. Retrieved on 28 April 2013.</ref>{{sfn|Gonzalez|2010|p=}}

==== Free will ====
Included in Augustine's earlier [[theodicy]] is the claim God created humans and angels as rational beings possessing [[free will]]. Free will was not intended for sin, meaning it is not equally predisposed to both good and evil. A will defiled by sin is not considered as "free" as it once was because it is bound by material things, which could be lost or be difficult to part with, resulting in unhappiness. Sin impairs free will, while grace restores it. Only a will that was once free can be subjected to sin's corruption.{{sfn|Meister|Copan|2013|p=}} After 412, Augustine changed his theology, teaching that humanity had no free will to believe in Christ but only a free will to sin: "I in fact strove on behalf of the free choice of the human 'will,' but God's grace conquered" (''Retract''. 2.1).{{sfn|Wilson|2018|p=285 }}

The early Christians opposed the deterministic views (e.g., fate) of Stoics, Gnostics, and Manichaeans prevalent in the first four centuries.{{sfn|McIntire|2005|pp=3206–3209}} Christians championed the concept of a relational God who interacts with humans rather than a Stoic or Gnostic God who unilaterally foreordained every event (yet Stoics still claimed to teach free will).{{sfn|Dihle|1982|p=152}} [[Patristics]] scholar Ken Wilson argues that every early Christian author with extant writings who wrote on the topic prior to Augustine of Hippo (412) advanced human free choice rather than a deterministic God.{{sfn|Wilson|2018|pp=93–94, 273–274}} According to Wilson, Augustine taught traditional free choice until 412, when he reverted to his earlier Manichaean and Stoic deterministic training when battling the Pelagians.{{sfn|Wilson|2018|pp=281–294}} Only a few Christians accepted Augustine's view of free will until the Protestant Reformation when both Luther and Calvin embraced Augustine's deterministic teachings wholeheartedly.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Luther |translator1-last=Krodel |translator1-first=Gottfried |editor1-last=Lehman |editor1-first=Helmut |title=Luther's Works |volume=48 |date=1963 |publisher=Fortress Press |page=24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Calvin |first1=John |translator1-last=Cole |translator1-first=Henry |title=Calvin's Calvinism |article=A Treatise on the Eternal Predestination of God |date=1927 |publisher=Sovereign Grace Union |location=London |page=38}}</ref>

The [[Catholic Church]] considers Augustine's teaching to be consistent with free will. He often said that anyone can be saved if they wish.{{sfn|Portalié|1907b}} While God knows who will and will not be saved, with no possibility for the latter to be saved in their lives, this knowledge represents God's perfect knowledge of how humans will freely choose their destinies.{{sfn|Portalié|1907b}}

=== Sociology, morals and ethics ===
==== Natural law ====
Augustine was among the earliest to examine the legitimacy of the laws of man, and attempt to define the boundaries of what laws and rights occur naturally, instead of being arbitrarily imposed by mortals. All who have wisdom and conscience, he concludes, are able to use reason to recognize the ''lex naturalis'', [[natural law]]. Mortal law should not attempt to force people to do what is right or avoid what is wrong, but simply to remain just. Therefore "[[an unjust law is no law at all]]". People are not obligated to obey laws that are unjust, those that their conscience and reason tell them violate natural law and [[natural rights|rights]].<ref>{{Cite web| url = https://lawexplores.com/the-philosophy-of-law-in-the-writings-of-augustine/#Fn23| title = Augustine on Law and Order – Lawexplores.com}}</ref>

==== Slavery ====
Augustine led many clergy under his authority at Hippo to free their slaves as a "pious and holy" act.<ref>Augustine, "Of the Work of Monks", n. 25, in Philip Schaff, ed., ''A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church'', volume 3, p. 516. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1956.</ref> He boldly wrote a letter urging the emperor to set up a new law against slave traders and was very much concerned about the sale of children. Christian emperors of his time for 25 years had permitted the sale of children, not because they approved of the practice, but as a way of preventing [[infanticide]] when parents were unable to care for a child. Augustine noted that the tenant farmers in particular were driven to hire out or to sell their children as a means of survival.<ref>''The Saints'', Pauline Books & Media, Daughters of St. Paul, Editions du Signe (1998), p. 72</ref>

In his book, ''The City of God'', he presents the development of slavery as a product of sin and as contrary to God's divine plan. He wrote that God "did not intend that this rational creature, who was made in his image, should have dominion over anything but the irrational creation – not man over man, but man over the beasts". Thus he wrote that righteous men in primitive times were made shepherds of cattle, not kings over men. "The condition of slavery is the result of sin", he declared.<ref>Augustine, ''The City of God'', Ch. 15, p. 411, Vol. II, ''Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers'', Eerdman's, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Reprinted 1986</ref> In ''The City of God'', Augustine wrote he felt the existence of slavery was a punishment for the existence of sin, even if an individual enslaved person committed no sin meriting punishment. He wrote: "Slavery is, however, penal, and is appointed by that law which enjoins the preservation of the natural order and forbids its disturbance."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120119.htm|title=Church Fathers: City of God, Book XIX (St. Augustine)|website=www.newadvent.org|access-date=31 July 2018}}</ref> Augustine believed slavery did more harm to the slave owner than the enslaved person himself: "the lowly position does as much good to the servant as the proud position does harm to the master."<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal|url=https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/300|last=Oort|first=Johannes Van|date=5 October 2009|title=Augustine, His Sermons, and Their Significance|journal=HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies|volume=65|pages=1–10}}</ref> Augustine proposes as a solution to sin a type of cognitive reimagining of one's situation, where slaves "may themselves make their slavery in some sort free, by serving not in crafty fear, but in faithful love," until the end of the world eradicated slavery for good: "until all unrighteousness pass away, and all principality and every human power be brought to nothing, and God be all in all."<ref name=":0" />

==== Jews ====
Against certain Christian movements, some of which rejected the use of [[Hebrew Scripture]], Augustine countered that God had chosen the [[Jews]] as a special people,{{sfn|MacCulloch|2010|p=8}} and he considered the scattering of Jewish people by the Roman Empire to be a fulfilment of prophecy.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''City of God'', book 18, chapter 46.</ref> He rejected homicidal attitudes, quoting part of the same prophecy, namely "Slay them not, lest they should at last forget Thy law" (Psalm 59:11). Augustine, who believed Jewish people would be converted to Christianity at "the end of time", argued God had allowed them to survive their dispersion as a warning to Christians; as such, he argued, they should be permitted to dwell in Christian lands.{{sfn|Edwards|1999|pp=33–35}}<ref>Richard S. Levy ed. ''Antisemitism: A historical encyclopedia of prejudice and persecution'' (2 vol ABC-CLIO, 2005) vol 1 pp 43–45.</ref><ref>. Paula Fredricksen, ''Augustine and the Jews: A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism'' (Yale UP, 2010).</ref>

The sentiment sometimes attributed to Augustine that Christians should let the Jews "survive but not thrive" (it is repeated by the author [[James Carroll (author)|James Carroll]] in his book ''Constantine's Sword'', for example){{sfn|Carroll|2002|p=219}} is apocryphal and is not found in any of his writings.{{sfn|Van Biema|2008}}

==== Sexuality and the sexes ====
For Augustine, the evil of sexual immorality was not in the sexual act itself, but in the emotions that typically accompany it. In ''On Christian Doctrine'' Augustine contrasts love, which is enjoyment on account of God, and lust, which is not on account of God.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''On Christian Doctrine'', 3.37</ref> Augustine claims that, following the Fall, sexual lust (''concupiscentia'') has become necessary for copulation (as required to stimulate male erection), sexual lust is an evil result of the Fall, and therefore, evil must inevitably accompany sexual intercourse (''On marriage and concupiscence'' [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nicene_and_Post-Nicene_Fathers:_Series_I/Volume_V/On_Marriage_and_Concupiscence/Book_I/Chapter_19 1.19]<ref>[https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/De_Nuptiis_et_Concupiscentia_ad_Valerium Latin text]: "Carnis autem concupiscentia non est nuptiis imputanda, sed toleranda. Non enim est ex naturali connubio veniens bonum, sed ex antiquo peccato accidens malum." (Carnal concupiscence, however, must not be ascribed to marriage: it is only to be tolerated in marriage. It is not a good which comes out of the essence of marriage, but an evil which is the accident of original sin.)</ref>). Therefore, following the Fall, even marital sex carried out merely to procreate inevitably perpetuates evil (''On marriage and concupiscence'' 1.27; ''A Treatise against Two Letters of the Pelagians'' 2.27). For Augustine, proper love exercises a denial of selfish pleasure and the subjugation of corporeal desire to God. The only way to avoid evil caused by sexual intercourse is to take the "better" way (''Confessions'' 8.2) and abstain from marriage (''On marriage and concupiscence'' 1.31). Sex within marriage is not, however, for Augustine a sin, although necessarily produces the evil of sexual lust. Based on the same logic, Augustine also declared the pious virgins raped during the sack of Rome to be innocent because they did not intend to sin nor enjoy the act.{{sfn|Russell|1945|p=356}}<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''City of God'', Book I, Ch. 16, 18.</ref>

Before the Fall, Augustine believed sex was a passionless affair, "just like many a laborious work accomplished by the compliant operation of our other limbs, without any lascivious heat",<ref>''On marriage and concupiscence'' [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nicene_and_Post-Nicene_Fathers:_Series_I/Volume_V/On_Marriage_and_Concupiscence/Book_II/Chapter_26 2.26], [http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/02m/0354-0430,_Augustinus,_De_Nuptiis_Et_Concupiscentia,_MLT.pdf Latin text]: "Sine qua libidine poterat opus fieri conjugum in generatione filiorum, sicut multa opera fiunt obedientia caeterorum sine illo ardore membrorum, quae voluptatis nutu moventur, non aestu libidinis concitantur."</ref> that the seed "might be sown without any shameful lust, the genital members simply obeying the inclination of the will".<ref>''On marriage and concupiscence'' [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nicene_and_Post-Nicene_Fathers:_Series_I/Volume_V/On_Marriage_and_Concupiscence/Book_II/Chapter_29 2.29], [http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/02m/0354-0430,_Augustinus,_De_Nuptiis_Et_Concupiscentia,_MLT.pdf Latin text]: "sereretur sine ulla pudenda libidine, ad voluntatis nutum membris obsequentibus genitalibus"; cf. ''City of God'' 14.23</ref> After the Fall, by contrast, the penis cannot be controlled by mere will, subject instead to both unwanted impotence and involuntary erections: "Sometimes the urge arises unwanted; sometimes, on the other hand, it forsakes the eager lover, and desire grows cold in the body while burning in the mind... It arouses the mind, but it does not follow through what it has begun and arouse the body also" (''City of God'' 14.16).

Augustine censured those who try to prevent the creation of offspring when engaging in sexual relations, saying that though they may be nominally married they are not really, but are using that designation as a cloak for turpitude. When they allow their unwanted children to die of exposure, they unmask their sin. Sometimes they use drugs to produce sterility, or other means to try to destroy the fetus before they are born. Their marriage is not wedlock but debauchery.<ref>''On marriage and concupiscence'' [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nicene_and_Post-Nicene_Fathers:_Series_I/Volume_V/On_Marriage_and_Concupiscence/Book_I/Chapter_17 1.17], [https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/De_Nuptiis_et_Concupiscentia_ad_Valerium Latin text]: "Aliquando eo usque pervenit haec libidinosa crudelitas vel libido crudelis, ut etiam sterilitatis venena procuret et si nihil valuerit, conceptos fetus aliquo modo intra viscera exstinguat ac fundat, volendo suam prolem prius interire quam vivere, aut si in utero iam vivebat, occidi ante quam nasci. Prorsus si ambo tales sunt, coniuges non sunt; et si ab initio tales fuerunt, non sibi per connubium, sed per stuprum potius convenerunt."</ref>

Augustine believed Adam and Eve had both already chosen in their hearts to disobey God's command not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge before Eve took the fruit, ate it, and gave it to Adam.<ref name="ReferenceC">Augustine of Hippo, ''City of God'', 14.13</ref>{{sfn|Clark|1996|p=}} Accordingly, Augustine did not believe Adam was any less guilty of sin.<ref name="ReferenceC" />{{sfn|Clark|1986|pp=139–162}} Augustine praises women and their role in society and in the Church. In his ''Tractates on the Gospel of John'', Augustine, commenting on the [[Samaritan]] woman from John 4:1–42, uses the woman as a figure of the Church in agreement with the New Testament teaching that the Church is the bride of Christ.<ref>{{bibleverse|John|4:1–42}}</ref> "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."<ref>{{bibleverse|Eph|5:25}}</ref>

Augustine believed that "woman has been made for man" and that "in sex she is physically subject to him in the same way as our natural impulses need to be subjected to the reasoning power of the mind, in order that the actions to which they lead may be inspired by the principles of good conduct".<ref>{{cite book |last1=May Schott |first1=Robin |title=Discovering Feminist Philosophy Knowledge, Ethics, Politics |date=2003 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |page=32}}</ref> Women were created as a "helper" to men for Augustine.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Deborah F. |first1=Sawyer |title=Women and Religion in the First Christian Centuries |date=2002 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=152}}</ref>

==== Pedagogy ====
[[File:Sandro Botticelli - St Augustin dans son cabinet de travail.jpg|thumb|''[[Saint Augustine in His Cell (Botticelli)|Saint Augustine in His Study]]'' by [[Sandro Botticelli]], 1494, [[Uffizi Gallery]]]]
Augustine is considered an influential figure in the history of education. A work early in Augustine's writings is ''De Magistro'' (On the Teacher), which contains insights into education. His ideas changed as he found better directions or better ways of expressing his ideas. In the last years of his life, Augustine wrote his ''Retractationes'' (''Retractations''), reviewing his writings and improving specific texts. Henry Chadwick believes an accurate translation of "retractationes" may be "reconsiderations". Reconsiderations can be seen as an overarching theme of the way Augustine learned. Augustine's understanding of the search for understanding, meaning, and truth as a restless journey leaves room for doubt, development, and change.{{sfn|McCloskey|2008|pp=}}

Augustine was a strong advocate of [[critical thinking]] skills. Because written works were limited during this time, spoken communication of knowledge was very important. His emphasis on the importance of community as a means of learning distinguishes his pedagogy from some others. Augustine believed dialectic is the best means for learning and that this method should serve as a model for learning encounters between teachers and students. Augustine's dialogue writings model the need for lively interactive dialogue among learners.{{sfn|McCloskey|2008|pp=}}
He recommended adapting educational practices to fit the students' educational backgrounds:
* the student who has been well-educated by knowledgeable teachers;
* the student who has had no education; and
* the student who has had a poor education, but believes himself to be well-educated.

If a student has been well educated in a wide variety of subjects, the teacher must be careful not to repeat what they have already learned, but to challenge the student with material they do not yet know thoroughly. With the student who has had no education, the teacher must be patient, willing to repeat things until the student understands, and sympathetic. Perhaps the most difficult student, however, is the one with an inferior education who believes he understands something when he does not. Augustine stressed the importance of showing this type of student the difference between "having words and having understanding"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guthrie |first=James W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oNobAAAAIAAJ&q=Encyclopedia+of+Education:+AACSB-Commerce |title=Encyclopedia of Education: AACSB-Commerce |date=2003 |publisher=Macmillan Reference  |isbn=978-0-02-865594-9 |pages=160 |language=en}}</ref> and of helping the student to remain humble with his acquisition of knowledge.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Under the influence of [[Bede]], [[Alcuin]], and [[Rabanus Maurus]], ''De catechizandis rudibus'' came to exercise an important role in the education of clergy at the monastic schools, especially from the eighth century onwards.{{sfn|Howie|1969|pp=150–153}}

Augustine believed students should be given an opportunity to apply learned theories to practical experience. Yet another of Augustine's major contributions to education is his study on the styles of teaching. He claimed there are two basic styles a teacher uses when speaking to the students. The ''mixed style'' includes complex and sometimes showy language to help students see the beautiful artistry of the subject they are studying. The ''grand style'' is not quite as elegant as the mixed style, but is exciting and heartfelt, with the purpose of igniting the same passion in the students' hearts. Augustine balanced his teaching philosophy with the traditional [[Bible]]-based practice of strict discipline.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Augustine knew [[Latin]] and [[Ancient Greek]]. He had a long correspondence with St Jerome regarding the textual differences existing between the [[Hebrew Bible]] and the Greek [[Septuagint]], concluding that the original Greek manuscripts were closely similar to the other Hebrew ones, and also that even the differences in the two original versions of the Holy Scripture could enlight its spiritual meaning to have been unitarily inspired by God.<ref>{{Cite journal |first1=Edmon L. |last1=Gallagher |author-link1=Edmon L. Gallagher|title=Augustine on the Hebrew Bible |journal=[[The Journal of Theological Studies]] |volume= 67 |issue=1 |date=1 April 2016 |pages=97–114 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/jts/flv160}}</ref>

==== Coercion ====
Augustine of Hippo had to deal with issues of violence and coercion throughout his entire career due largely to the Donatist-Catholic conflict. He is one of the very few authors in Antiquity who ever truly theoretically examined the ideas of religious freedom and coercion.<ref name="Brown1964" />{{rp|107}} Augustine handled the infliction of punishment and the exercise of power over law-breakers by analyzing these issues in ways similar to modern debates on penal reform.{{sfn|Brown|1964|p=115}}

His teaching on coercion has "embarrassed his modern defenders and vexed his modern detractors,"<ref name="Markus">R. A. Markus, Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of St.Augustine (Cambridge, 1970), pp. 149–153</ref>{{rp|116}} because it is seen as making him appear "to generations of religious liberals as ''le prince et patriarche de persecuteurs.''"<ref name="Brown1964" />{{rp|107}} Yet Brown asserts that, at the same time, Augustine becomes "an eloquent advocate of the ideal of corrective punishment" and reformation of the wrongdoer.{{sfn|Brown|1964|p=116}} Russell says Augustine's theory of coercion "was not crafted from dogma, but in response to a unique historical situation" and is, therefore, context-dependent, while others see it as inconsistent with his other teachings.<ref name="Russell2" />{{rp|125}}

===== The context =====
During the [[Diocletianic persecution|Great Persecution]], "When Roman soldiers came calling, some of the [Catholic] officials handed over the sacred books, vessels, and other church goods rather than risk legal penalties" over a few objects.<ref name="Tilley1996">{{Cite book |last1=Tilley |first1=Maureen A. |title=Donatist Martyr Stories The Church in Conflict in Roman North Africa |date=1996 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-0-85323-931-4}}</ref>{{rp|ix}} Maureen Tilley says this was a problem by 305, that became a schism by 311, because many of the North African Christians had a long established tradition of a "physicalist approach to religion."<ref name="Tilley1996" />{{rp|xv}} The sacred scriptures were not simply books to them, but were the Word of God in physical form, therefore they saw handing over the Bible, and handing over a person to be martyred, as "two sides of the same coin."<ref name="Tilley1996" />{{rp|ix}} Those who cooperated with the authorities became known as ''traditores.'' The term originally meant ''one who hands over a physical object'', but it came to mean "traitor".<ref name="Tilley1996" />{{rp|ix}}

According to Tilley, after the persecution ended, those who had apostatized wanted to return to their positions in the church.<ref name="Tilley1996" />{{rp|xiv}} The North African Christians, (the rigorists who became known as Donatists), refused to accept them.<ref name="Tilley1996" />{{rp|ix, x}} Catholics were more tolerant and wanted to wipe the slate clean.<ref name="Cameron1993">{{Cite book |last1=Cameron |first1=Alan |title=The Later Roman Empire, 284–430 |date=1993 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-51194-1 |edition=illustrated}}</ref>{{rp|xiv, 69}} For the next 75 years, both parties existed, often directly alongside each other, with a double line of bishops for the same cities.<ref name="Tilley1996" />{{rp|xv}} Competition for the loyalty of the people included multiple new churches and violence.{{efn|French archaeology has shown the north African landscape of this time period became "covered with a white robe of churches" with Catholics and Donatists building multiple churches with granaries to feed the poor as they competed for the loyalty of the people.<ref name="Brown1964">{{Cite journal|last=Brown|first= P.|year=1964|title=St. Augustine's Attitude to Religious Coercion|journal=Journal of Roman Studies|volume= 54|issue=1–2| pages=107–116|doi=10.2307/298656|jstor= 298656|s2cid= 162757247}}</ref>}}{{rp|334}} No one is exactly sure when the [[Circumcellions]] and the Donatists allied, but for decades, they fomented protests and street violence, accosted travellers and attacked random Catholics without warning, often doing serious and unprovoked bodily harm such as beating people with clubs, cutting off their hands and feet, and gouging out eyes.<ref name="Frend1">{{Cite book|last=Frend|first=W. H. C.|title=The Donatist Church|date=2020|publisher=Wipf and Stock|isbn=978-1-5326-9755-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QNbaDwAAQBAJ}}</ref>{{rp|172, 173, 222, 242, 254}}

Augustine became [[coadjutor Bishop]] of Hippo in 395, and since he believed that conversion must be voluntary, his appeals to the Donatists were verbal. For several years, he used popular propaganda, debate, personal appeal, General Councils, appeals to the emperor and political pressure to bring the Donatists back into union with the Catholics, but all attempts failed.<ref name="Frend1" />{{rp|242, 254}} The harsh realities Augustine faced can be found in his Letter 28 written to bishop Novatus around 416. Donatists had attacked, cut out the tongue and cut off the hands of a Bishop Rogatus who had recently converted to Catholicism. An unnamed count of Africa had sent his agent with Rogatus, and he too had been attacked; the count was "inclined to pursue the matter."<ref name="Markus" />{{rp|120}} Russell says Augustine demonstrates a "hands-on" involvement with the details of his bishopric, but at one point in the letter, he confesses he does not know what to do. "All the issues that plague him are there: stubborn Donatists, Circumcellion violence, the vacillating role of secular officials, the imperative to persuade, and his own trepidations."<ref name="Markus" />{{rp|120, 121}} The empire responded to the civil unrest with the law and its enforcement, and thereafter, Augustine changed his mind about using verbal arguments alone. Instead, he came to support the state's use of coercion.<ref name="Brown1964" />{{rp|107–116}} Augustine did not believe the empire's enforcement would "make the Donatists more virtuous" but he did believe it would make them "less vicious."<ref name="Russell2" />{{rp|128}}

===== The theology =====
The primary 'proof-text' of what Augustine thought concerning coercion is from Letter 93, written in 408, as a reply to bishop Vincentius, of Cartenna (Mauretania, North Africa). This letter shows that both practical and biblical reasons led Augustine to defend the legitimacy of coercion. He confesses that he changed his mind because of "the ineffectiveness of dialogue and the proven efficacy of laws."<ref name="Marcos">Marcos, Mar. "The Debate on Religious Coercion in Ancient Christianity." Chaos e Kosmos 14 (2013): 1–16.</ref>{{rp|3}} He had been worried about false conversions if force was used, but "now," he says, "it seems imperial persecution is working." Many Donatists had converted.<ref name="Russell2" />{{rp|116}} "Fear had made them reflect, and made them docile."<ref name="Marcos" />{{rp|3}} Augustine continued to assert that coercion could not directly convert someone, but concluded it could make a person ready to be reasoned with.<ref name="Park">{{Cite journal |last=Park |first=Jae-Eun|title=Lacking love or conveying love?: The fundamental roots of the Donatists and Augustine's nuanced treatment of them|journal=The Reformed Theological Review |volume=72 |issue=2|date=August 2013 |pages=103–121 |url=https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=646939318099580;res=IELHSS |access-date=22 April 2020}}</ref>{{rp|103–121}}

According to Mar Marcos, Augustine made use of several biblical examples to legitimize coercion, but the primary analogy in Letter 93 and in Letter 185, is the parable of the Great Feast in Luke 14.15–24 and its statement ''compel them to come in.''<ref name="Marcos" />{{rp|1}} Russell says, Augustine uses the Latin term ''cogo'', instead of the ''compello'' of the Vulgate, since to Augustine, ''cogo'' meant to "gather together" or "collect" and was not simply "compel by physical force."<ref name="Russell2" />{{rp|121}}

In 1970, Robert Markus<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Liebeschuetz |first1=Wolf |title=Robert Markus: Medieval historian noted for his writings on the early Church |date=25 February 2011 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/robert-markus-medieval-historian-noted-for-his-writings-on-the-early-church-2224995.html |publisher=Independent}}</ref> argued that, for Augustine, a degree of external pressure being brought for the purpose of reform was compatible with the exercise of free will.<ref name="Markus" /> Russell asserts that ''Confessions 13'' is crucial to understanding Augustine's thought on coercion; using Peter Brown's explanation of Augustine's view of salvation, he explains that Augustine's past, his own sufferings and "conversion through God's pressures," along with his biblical hermeneutics, is what led him to see the value in suffering for discerning truth.<ref name="Russell2" />{{rp|116–117}} According to Russell, Augustine saw coercion as one among many conversion strategies for forming "a pathway to the inner person."<ref name="Russell2" />{{rp|119}}

In Augustine's view, there is such a thing as just and unjust persecution. Augustine explains that when the purpose of persecution is to lovingly correct and instruct, then it becomes discipline and is just.<ref name="Marcos" />{{rp|2}} He said the church would discipline its people out of a loving desire to heal them, and that, "once compelled to come in, heretics would gradually give their voluntary assent to the truth of Christian orthodoxy."<ref name="Russell2">{{Cite book |last1=Russell |first1=Frederick H. |title=The Limits of Ancient Christianity: Essays on Late Antique Thought and Culture in Honor of R.A. Markus. |date=1999 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=0-472-10997-9 |chapter=Persuading the Donatists: Augustine's Coercion by Words}}</ref>{{rp|115}} Frederick H. Russell<ref name="Russell">{{Cite web |title=Frederick Russell |url=https://sasn.rutgers.edu/academics-admissions/academic-departments/federated-department-history/faculty-emeriti/frederick-russell |website=School of Arts & Sciences-Newark Faculty Emeriti |publisher=Rutgers University Newark |quote=Ph.D., Johns Hopkins}}</ref> describes this as "a pastoral strategy in which the church did the persecuting with the dutiful assistance of Roman authorities,"<ref name="Russell2" />{{rp|115}} adding that it is "a precariously balanced blend of external discipline and inward nurturance."<ref name="Russell2" />{{rp|125}}

Augustine placed limits on the use of coercion, recommending fines, imprisonment, banishment, and moderate floggings, preferring beatings with rods which was a common practice in the ecclesial courts.<ref name="Hughes">{{Cite book |editor1-last=Hughes |editor1-first=Kevin L. |editor2-last=Paffenroth |editor2-first=Kim |title=Augustine and Liberal Education |date=2008 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-2383-6}}</ref>{{rp|164}} He opposed severity, maiming, and the execution of heretics.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Toleration, History of |encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church|year=1912 |publisher=University of Michigan |editor-last=Herbermann|editor-first=Charles George|pages=761–772 [768]}}</ref> While these limits were mostly ignored by Roman authorities, Michael Lamb says that in doing this, "Augustine appropriates republican principles from his Roman predecessors..." and maintains his commitment to liberty, legitimate authority, and the rule of law as a constraint on arbitrary power. He continues to advocate holding authority accountable to prevent domination but affirms the state's right to act.<ref>Lamb, Michael. "Augustine and Republican Liberty: Contextualizing Coercion." Augustinian Studies (2017).</ref>

[[Herbert A. Deane]],<ref>{{Cite news |title=Herbert L. Deane, 69, Ex-Columbia Official |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/16/obituaries/herbert-l-deane-69-ex-columbia-official.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=16 February 1991 |access-date=26 August 2020 |quote=professor emeritus of political philosophy and a former vice provost at Columbia University}}</ref> on the other hand, says there is a fundamental inconsistency between Augustine's political thought and "his final position of approval of the use of political and legal weapons to punish religious dissidence" and others have seconded this view.{{efn|See: C. Kirwan, ''Augustine'' (London, 1989), pp. 209–218; and J. M. Rist. ''Augustine: Ancient Thought Baptized'' (Cambridge, 1994), pp. 239–245.|<ref>H. A. Deane, ''The Political and Social Ideas of St. Augustine'' (New York, 1963), pp. 216–219.</ref>}} Brown asserts that Augustine's thinking on coercion is more of an attitude than a doctrine since it is "not in a state of rest," but is instead marked by "a painful and protracted attempt to embrace and resolve tensions."<ref name="Brown1964" />{{rp|107}}

According to Russell, it is possible to see how Augustine himself had evolved from his earlier ''Confessions'' to this teaching on coercion and the latter's strong patriarchal nature: "Intellectually, the burden has shifted imperceptibly from discovering the truth to disseminating the truth."<ref name="Russell2" />{{rp|129}} The bishops had become the church's elite with their own rationale for acting as "stewards of the truth." Russell points out that Augustine's views are limited to time and place and his own community, but later, others took what he said and applied it outside those parameters in ways Augustine never imagined or intended.<ref name="Russell2" />{{rp|129}}