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Augustine:

Philosopher and Saint

Professor Phillip Cary

T HE T EACHING C OMPANY ®

Phillip Cary, Ph.D.

Eastern College

Prof. Phillip Cary is Director of the Philosophy Program at Eastern College, as well as Scholar in Residence at the

Templeton Honors College at Eastern College in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. He received his undergraduate training

in Philosophy at Washington University (MO) and earned his Master’s degree and Ph.D. in Religion at Yale

University, where he studied under Professor George Lindbeck. He has previously taught at Yale University, the

University of Hartford and the University of Connecticut. He was the George Ennis Post-Doctoral Fellow at

Villanova University, where he taught in Villanova’s nationally acclaimed Core Humanities program. He has

published several scholarly articles on Augustine, the doctrine of the Trinity and interpersonal knowledge. His

book, Augustine ’ s Invention of the Inner Self is due to be published by Oxford University Press in 2000. Professor

Cary produced the popular Teaching Company course, Augustine: Philosopher and Saint.

A Note on Citations

Because there are so many different editions of Augustine, Plato, and Plotinus, references to their writings in the

"Readings" for each lecture do not use page numbers (which would be different for each edition) but a standard

reference system.

For Augustine , the citations refer to book number (if there is one) then chapter number, then paragraph number (if

there is one). For example, " Confessions 7:10.16" means Confessions , book 7, chapter 10, paragraph 16. (In most of

Augustine's treatises, the paragraphs are numbered from the beginning of each book not the beginning of each

chapter; therefore you seldom get a reference like 7:5.1, but you often get a reference like 3:1.1—or even 3:2.2 if

the paragraphs and chapters coincide, which they sometimes do.) Some editions don't number the paragraphs; so if

you're using the Hackett edition of the Confessions , for example, you should ignore the number 16 in the above

reference and just look for book 7, chapter 10. Also, be aware that if you're using the Nicene and Post-Nicene

Fathers series, the editor of the anti-Pelagian works in that series calls the paragraphs "chapters," so that a reference

to On the Spirit and the Letter 29.50 refers to what that edition labels chapter 50.

For Plato , citations refer to marginal page numbers. Most editions of Plato's dialogues should have these standard

page numbers printed at the side or in the margin of the text.

For Plotinus , citations are by book and treatise. Enneads (pronounced "N-E-ads") is the name of Plotinus's

collected works. Each Ennead is one treatise. There are fifty-four of them grouped into six books, with nine treatises

in each book. ( Ennead is Greek for "group of nine," as quartet is English for "group of four.") Thus, for example,

Enneads 1:6, Plotinus's treatise "On Beauty," is the sixth Ennead or treatise in the first book of the collection. All

modern editions divide the treatises up into paragraphs, so if you read much about Plotinus you will start seeing

citations like " Enneads 1:6.8," which means paragraph 8 of the treatise "On Beauty."

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Professor Biography ...........................................................................................1

A Note on Citations ............................................................................................2

Course Scope and Objectives ............................................................................4

Lecture 1: Church Father..................................................................................5

Lecture 2: Christian Platonist ...........................................................................7

Lecture 3: Confessions : The Search for Wisdom.............................................9

Lecture 4: Confessions : Love and Tears.........................................................12

Lecture 5: Confessions : The Road Home .......................................................15

Lecture 6: Augustine's Career as a Christian Writer ...................................18

Lecture 7: Faith, Love, and Grace ..................................................................20

Lecture 8: Evil, Free Will, Original Sin, and Predestination .......................23

Lecture 9: Signs and Sacraments ....................................................................26

Lecture 10: The Inner Self ...............................................................................29

Lecture 11: The Trinity and the Soul .............................................................31

Lecture 12: The City of God............................................................................34

Timeline .............................................................................................................37

Glossary .............................................................................................................39

Biographical Notes............................................................................................44

Bibliography......................................................................................................45

Augustine: Philosopher and Saint

Scope:

In this lecture series we examine the life, works, and significance of Augustine, the most influential Christian writer

outside of the Bible. We look at him both as Church Father (interpreter of the Bible and teacher of Christian

doctrine) and philosopher (one who has given us new concepts of the human heart and its depths). After an

introductory look at these two contexts of his work (i.e., as Church Father in lecture 1 and as Christian Platonist

philosopher in lecture 2) the series proceeds in three parts.

The first four lectures are devoted to a study of Augustine's life. We look at the Confessions , his great spiritual

autobiography, from three angles: an intellectual angle (spotlighting his passionate search for truth), an emotional

angle (focusing on the love that drives this search, and the aching sense of loss, grief, and yearning the Confessions

evokes in order to show how love can go wrong), and a religious angle (in which the search for truth leads him to

Christ, and the Christian life is conceived of as a journey toward our heavenly home). We then survey Augustine's

life following the events narrated in the Confessions , especially his career as a Christian writer.

Next a series of three lectures explains key concepts of Augustine's thought, all related to his epochal doctrine of

grace. We examine how Augustine relates the human qualities of Faith and love to the divine gift of grace (in

lecture 7); how his doctrine of grace addresses troublesome issues like the origin of evil, Original Sin, and

predestination (in lecture 8); and how he relates the inward gift of grace to the external side of human life in his

teachings about signs, words, sacraments, and the Church (in lecture 9).

The final three lectures address Augustine's concept of persons, both human and divine. We look at Augustine's

distinctive concept of the human soul as a private inner world (lecture 10), then at his distinctive way of relating his

concept of the soul to the doctrine of the Trinity, which is the orthodox Christian concept of God (lecture 11), and

finally at his understanding of God's relationship to specific human communities in history (lecture 12).

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of these lectures, the student should be able to:

1. Describe the relation of philosophy to Christian doctrine in Augustine's thought.

2. Explain why, for Augustine, love is inseparable from the life of the intellect (and vice versa).

3. Discuss how sin would make you feel if you were in Augustine's shoes.

4. Explain what religion has to do with happiness, according to Augustine.

5. Explain why Augustine came to believe in both free will and predestination and why he thought they were

not inconsistent with each other.

6. Explain what Augustine thinks evil is and where he believes it comes from.

7. Discuss the relation of inner and outer in Augustine's thought.

8. State the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity.

9. Discuss at least two problems with or objections to Augustine's thought and how Augustine might try to

solve them.

Augustine - Philosopher and Saint.pdf

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