St. Augustine and the Problem of Evil from a Christian Basis Essay

St. Augustine and the Problem of Evil from a Christian Basis In his Confessions, St. Augustine writes round a large number of topics that continue to have relevance today. The text edition documents the development of Augustines faith and his Christian philosophy, and one thing of special(a) interest is his argument for the nature of savage. Christianity predicates several important ideas that Augustine builds upon in his philosophy, and indoors its context, he presents a thorough, compelling argument against the problem of barbarous that identifies evil as a misperception. Augustine first characterizes God based on how he experiences Gods presence and qualities. Augustine searches for Him unsuccessfully in the tangible world, and the physical universe for that matter, and then decides that he must look within himself to line up God. His description of God illustrates the ideas in Christianity that God is omnipotent and entirely good, or all-loving. I entered and with my souls eye, such as it was, saw to a higher place that same eye of my soul the immut adapted light higher than my intellectual It transcended my mind It was superior because it make me, and I was inferior because I was made by it. (Augustine, 123) Augustine clearly conveys the magnitude of God and his greatness, which exceed the comprehension of humanitys mind. This is perhaps the most important quality of Gods being, which properly coincides with His descriptions in Christianity, because it establishes a scale for measuring the qualities of God that He instilled in his creations. Augustine next discusses three aspects that define God for him. Of particular richness is the idea that the Christian God is eternal, so there has never been a time w... ... possible that, as with Augustine, the perception of evil leads people to presuppose about its nature and, ultimately, they begin to learn the uprightness. From that point, they grow until they are able to feed from Gods goodness, and then they achieve the supreme goodness and become one with God. There is, then, no problem in evil because it in fact is good. Ultimately, it is impossible to know exactly the reasons for Gods actions. His qualities are such that He transcends being, and a persons crush effort to understand God can at best puddle him or her approximate understanding. Only through reason and discovery of the truth can a person grow until, finally, he or she is alter by God into His Being. At that point, comprehension of it is no longer necessary. kit and caboodle CitedAugustine. Confessions. Trans. Henry Chadwick. Oxford Oxford UP, 1998.