Thus, he understood that his sins were being perceived. Augustine started out the seventh book by showing how he evolved from his previous shameful sins. “I did not think of you, my God, in the shape of a human body, for I had rejected this idea ever since I had first begun to study philosophy, and I was glad to find that our spiritual mother, your Catholic Church, also rejected such beliefs.” (Book VII, Section 1, Page 133) This shows that Augustine is beginning to think more about God and how his sins have been watched throughout his whole life. He is beginning to realize that he has to change his ways in order to reach absolution. In the ninth book, Augustine shows how he was able to finally connect with God through his books and teachings.
If God created everything, then this would mean He has created everything in the past, present and future. As a result, he is aware of the choices and events that will be made by humanity. But how does Saint Augustine know that humans have free will? Evidence of this comes both from the text and The Holy Bible, specifically the book of John and 1 Corinthians. However, it is reasonable
Augustine attempts to inform others about the various enjoyments life has to offer. His big argument is that people can attain true happiness by accepting God into their lives, and refrain from participating in worldly pleasures. He believes that rejecting the temptations of all worldly pleasures is essential in developing a true and fulfilling life devoted to God. The argument to be had here is that some could debate that Augustine’s strict views of steering clear of the pleasures our world has to offer is excessive and can prevent him from attaining a balanced lifestyle. Society views overeating as outrageous and unhealthy, and the same could be said for Augustine’s belief of self restraint.
5. The Confessions is the story of Augustine 's return to God, so it is appropriate that story should begin with Augustine 's tribute of praise to the God he loves. In making a confession of praise, Augustine says, God is as close to him as his own life and experiences, always working for Augustine 's good, even when Augustine is unable or unwilling to recognize that truth. Throughout his youth when he lived a dissipated life of sin, and drifted away from the Church, it may have looked like God was hidden; however he was very much present within the lives of those interacting with Augustine on a daily basis. Many people who helped God be present in Augustine’s life include his mother, St. Monica, his friends, Alypius, Nebridius, Ponticianus, Victorinus and Simplicanus, as well as St. Ambrose.
Justice is one of the most important moral and political concepts. The word comes from the Latin word jus, meaning right or law. According to Kelsen (2000), Justice is primarily a possible, but not a necessary, quality of a social order regulating the mutual relations of men As a result of its importance, prominent and knowledgeable people have shared their views on justice and what it means and how the state is involved in its administration. The likes of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke among others have written extensively on the concept of justice. Plato regarded justice as the true principle of social life.
I will use Augustine and Martin Luther in this paper to compare and contrast the topic of sin and humanity. With that being said, I believe that Augustine and Martin Luther have many similarities when comparing what is sin and humanity. I want to start off by explaining who is Augustine and Martin Luther. Augustine and Martin Luther have been huge an impact on contemporary theology. Augustine was the most highly flavored Latin or Western church father of the Hippo, during the time of 354-430 CE (Jones, p.451).
Every person on this earth wrestles with sin and makes mistakes, but many have a hard time dealing with it. This is why in his book The Confessions, Saint Augustine shares his life with us, filled with mistakes and failure, so that we can relate with him. St. Augustine wrote this book to teach future generations to avoid the mistakes he made and to persuade the readers to turn to God. Augustine began writing this book in 397 A.D, as a mature man reflecting on his younger years, in order to influence readers his age. “Augustine took up his pen to write this book in 397, when he was aged 43”(7).
As if he would not all the rather lament the necessity of just wars, if he remembers that he is a man; for if they were not just he would not wage them, and would therefore be delivered from all wars. For it is the wrongdoing of the opposing party which compels the wise man to wage just wars ”. In all of this, Augustine is not far from and is, in fact, probably drawing upon the ideas of Cicero and the author of Deuteronomy. He goes further than either of them, however, in his condemnation of war itself and in his refusal to allow that the aggressor may be just. For Augustine, war is never a good but only a lesser of evils, and the one who causes the war is always unjust.
He says that it is both intensive and extensive in its reach and implications. Nevertheless, Aquinas’s use of the Aristotelian axiom, which says, “human beings are naturally political animals.” Aquinas gives logical proofs that prove that this is the case. Therefore the morality of the authority of the state’s government and law is controlled by the church, but when law and government are meant to comply not challenge one another. Aquinas did not agree with Augustine in the fact that “Augustine thought that government forms were not important since they were all temporary.” However Aquinas did see the government as helpful working with the common good to benefit all. Aquinas was able to study the way Augustine thought and develop how he could make his own determinations about what he truly believed in.
Joseph II – His belief of tolerance represented the enlightenment ideals A careful student of his people’s problems, Joseph II opposed his own mother - the Empress of Austria- in order to set his enlightenment reforms into action. Influenced by the work of philosophes his strong belief for tolerance characterized the ideals of what enlightenment thinkers had fought for. The ambitious despot emblematized the enlightenment ideals as he enforced laws against capital punishment and inequality, carried out religious tolerance and promoted welfare for his people. After inheriting his family’s throne Joseph represented political reform made for the people as he compelled the government in following his belief of tolerance based on philosophy