Abstract
St. Augustine is the preeminent early Christian thinker whose views continue to serve as a model for contemporary Christian thinking on moral and political issues. The heart of Augustine's thought is his conception of the faithful Christian whose life is informed by a quest for self-knowledge about one's place in the order of creation. Wisdom is acquired by perfecting love for the Creator and His creation. In The Confessions, this love is the cause of Augustine's pilgrimage back to the Creator from the human things. In The City of God, it is the principle according to which Augustine makes his famous distinction between the true city of God and the false cities of man. When this love becomes habitual, it permits one to act, as Augustine says in De Libero Arbitrio, or On Free Choice of the Will, in accord with the dictates of the eternal law.
Recommended Citation
Powers, Patrick J.C.
(1994)
"St. Augustine’s Transformation of Platonic Political Philosophy, Christian Will and Pagan Spiritedness in De Libero Arbitrio ,"
University of Dayton Review: Vol. 22:
No.
3, Article 14.
Available at:
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/udr/vol22/iss3/14
Comments
Issue contains the subject matter of the 1994 Philosophy Colloquium, which had the theme "Augustine on Human Goodness: Metaphysics, Ethics and Politics." It was held April 7-9, 1994.