Augustine was not terribly difficult
to read, but he was not the easiest to read either. He likes to talk in what I consider a
backwards kind of way. He goes back and
forth in a way of explaining himself.
You will understand more in the quotes within this paper. The fact that Augustine went from talking
about science to talking about philosophy is baffling. He does a good job at explaining himself and
supporting his arguments though, which made him an interesting read.
In “Augustine, On the Immortality of the Soul” he explains that science is
important. He also explains that one
cannot live without science which is true on quite a few levels. He proves his point by saying, “If we exist
who reason, that is, if our mind does, and if our mind cannot reason rightly
without science, and if without science no mind can exist except as a mind
without science, then science is in the mind of man.” When he starts talking about the mind he
almost makes it sound as though the mind is the soul, but he does not exactly
come out and say that. He does kind of
hint at it when he explains, “For whatever dead thing is said to be abandoned
by life, is understood to be deserted by the soul. Moreover, this life which deserts the things
which die is itself the mind, and it does not abandon itself; hence the mind
does not die.”
When reading “Book II” by Augustine
I could not help but notice that almost throughout the entire thing he kept
asking his friend, Presbyter Peter, what he found to be so enlightening that
the young writer, Victor, had pointed out to him. He also seemed to continuously try to explain
to Presbyter Peter that he technically should have known everything that Victor
had said in his books so there really should not have been anything warranting
a kiss of gratitude. Close to the end of
the book Augustine then turns toward Victor and starts pulling things out of
Victor’s books that are either wrong or disturbing to even have in the
book. One example of such would be a
chapter by Augustine of him ranting to Victor about how it is not possible to
get into heaven without being baptized and he was wrong for telling people that
they would get into heaven even if they were not baptized. Victor also tries to tell people that
unbaptized infants will not make it to heaven exactly, but they will be placed
in beautiful heaven-like mansions and be taken care of. This statement does not seem that damaging, if
anything it could bring parents comfort, but at the same time it is harmful
because it is giving the parents a false reality. Augustine then becomes angry because Victor
is not using scripture right when he quotes or references it in his book.
As you can tell Augustine has quite
a bit to be upset about and at the same time nothing to be upset about. If people wish to follow someone who is
giving them false hope then that is up to them.
It is not Augustine’s responsibility to protect society. However, Augustine telling Presbyter Peter
about mishaps of Victor’s book was probably a good idea, at the same time as
not since Presbyter Peter seems to favor Victor at this current time. It would be interesting to find out if
Presbyter Peter ever talked to Victor about his book again and whether
Augustine got his answer from his friend.
It is interesting that he went from a scientific outlook to a religious
outlook. I wonder what happened between
the time of his first book and the time of his second book which made him not
reference or think of referencing science to Presbyter Peter in some way shape
or form. What was also interesting was
the way he spoke in Book I over Book II.
He reworded everything over and over again in Book I, but not in Book II,
at all.
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