ST. AUGUSTINE
·
Birth
354
·
A
pastor/preacher
·
Writings
are geared to help the people in his audience be able to understand
·
UNDERSTANDING OF GOD:
o
Not
completely Christian
o
Believes
in spoiling the Egyptians
§ Doesn’t know true object of his pursuit
(in Christianity)
o
First
to introduce faith into philosophy:
§ Reason is only part of the journey.
§ Reason will only get you so far, you
also need faith.
§ Faith is a belief in a god who has
revealed himself
§ Faith and reason complement each
other-both necessary
·
SENSES:
o
Give
you a degree of knowledge (lowest degree of knowledge)
o
Not
simply appearances
o
Reliable
but limited
o
For
everything we come to know, it creates a soul-ish image that we know
o
Every
time we think of it, we judge the characteristics or categories of it
o
Categories
= eternal things
o
Anything
good and beautiful can reflect us to God – Same with order = Wants to see how it leads us to God
o
Points
us to general truth = points us to God
·
DOCTRINE OF ILLUMINATION:
o
Augustine-
§ Doesn’t want to rely on this.
§ Even knowing the ability to know is
something we rely on God for
§ Believes that knowledge is made
possible by God
§ Believes that all things are
illuminated for us by God
o
Plato-
§ We know because when we were immortal
souls
§ When we fell, we forgot that
knowledge
§ We can find that knowledge
§ How can we know? Ideas had to be
birthed out
o
Aristotle-
§ How can we know? Particulars lead to
actuals
*God is that which we are trying to
know
·
THE GOOD LIFE:
o
Knowing
God
o
Finding
oneself in the presence-peace- of God
o
Seek
the face of God
·
BELIEVES ABOUT GOD:
o
Existence:
§ Our existence
· Dependent on him
· Because of His existence
· Changing-temporal
§ God’s existence
· Eternal—we don’t have the words to
describe because no one has experienced it
· Not encased/bound by his creation
o
Time
nor space
· Infinite
o
What
we can know about God
§ Taking what God has given us, we can
know things about God
§ Knowing God is not just a knowledge
of God
§ The more we know about God, the more
we participate in God’s nature
o
The
Dance (Salvation):
§ Three-person dance (Trinity in Love)
and Jesus asks you to dance with them
§ Participating in that love
o
Not
the intellect that needs dominance, but the will
§ Purify will that will guide reason to
it’s object
§ Will = love
§ We will always love/have love
§ We have a love within us that craves
an object that is infinite/boundless
· When this love is attached to
something shallow(thing/person), it will only be filled for a short time
· Anything we love reflects something
on us—fills some need
· Only one thing that will fully fill that
love—God
*This thought opens up the pure will
for all people
·
LOVE:
o
We
love God
o
We
learn to love through God
o
God
is the only thing that we fully love for himself
§ Love of people
· only through God
· love from a reference to God
§
H.W:
Initial test
- Posted
online – Exam Questions
- two
paragraphs
- Due
Thursday (Hard Copy)
PIP
IDEA:
Photography
-
Look for inspirational art
-
Representational Art
-
Using a philosophical idea and portraying
it in the arts
