AUGUSTINE & AQUINAS

AUGUSTINE'S CONTRIBUTIONS

• Original sin ruined our relationship with god
• Theory of Illumination
• Hierarchy of existence
• City of god

ORIGINAL SIN & GOD

• The fall is precipitated by human pride
• The fall divided human beings and nature
• Evil resides in human will
• God did not make evil, only good
• Pride= Original sin

ILLUMINATION

• Knowledge is worthy of name
• Certainty not caused by uncertainty
• Objects of knowledge must be exalted
• Objects of knowledge must be directly present to the mind

HIERARCHY OF EXISTENCE

• God is first, humans second, natural world last
• Objective vs. Subjective
• Objective= Truth and Knowledge
• Subjective= Happiness

CITY OF GOD

• City of God defined by its love of god or Armour Dei
• City of man defined by love of self or Armour Sui
• The fall leads us to depraved desires
• Ordo Amoris requires a hierarchical love with god at apex
• Pride is human beings fall from Eden

AQUINAS' CONTRIBUTIONS

• 5 proofs
• Theology as a science
• God's existence being self-evident
• Faith and reason
• Objections to God's existence being self-evident

5 PROOFS OF GOD

• 1) Argument from motion
• 2) Nature of efficient cause
• 3) Possibility and necessity
• 4) Gradation to be found in things
• 5) Governance of the world

THEOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

• All that it treats is divinely revealed
• Includes theoretical and practical
• More certain than lower sciences
• Subject matter = God

GOD'S EXISTENCE BEING SELF-EVIDENT

• Existence included in essence of God
• We do not know God's essence
• Don't know God's existence
• Must infer existence from effects in nature

3 OBJECTIONS

• 1) Knowledge of god is innate
• 2) Concept includes existence
• 3) God is truth
• Cannot deny existence of truth

FAITH AND REASON

• Valid in their own realms
• 1st = theology
• 2nd = philosophy
• 3rd = politics
• 4th = ethics

ANALYSIS ON AQUINAS

• God's existence not self-evident
• 5 proofs try to prove god
• Theology is a science, superior to others

ANALYSIS ON AUGUSTINE

• The fall was caused by human pride
• Will more like devil than god
• God only creates good, devil corrupts