Today in class we talked about Augustine, and more generally about Hellenistic cultural influence on Christianity. The question, “what is the motivation of Christian Aplogoists” was raised, and the notion that the conversion of Hellens into Christians might have politico-ideological undertones was something we should be contemplating. Who do you need to convert to make your religion as widespread as possible? The politicians of a certain land! This need to be in constant discourse with the intellectuals of a certain community arose a few times throughout the lecture. What is the point of being an apologist if not to corroborate the universality of Christianity? By seeing the logos in Socrates we find an affirmation of Christianity, through the use of rhetoric no doubt, but still in this we find how Christianity is not exclusive but all inclusive—the only religion.
We started to talk about the distinctions between MONOTHEISM and HENOTHESISM. We find this difference come from the contrasting of a definite one (monotheism) and one in plurality (henotheism). Within all Hellenistic philosophy there is a sense of a ONE, and the way we reach this one typically takes into account the unification of plurality—finding an indefinite one. This underlying affinity towards a one was appropriated into Christianities rhetorical attack against the polytheism they claimed Hellens believed in, which clearly has problems. The Greek desire for unity, which we can see in their conception of the gods as all being a part of Zeus, or the idea that all comes from chaos—we get a unity amongst plurality.
Exegesis of text was one important aspect of the Hellenistic tradition adopted by Christianity. Importance of exegesis as a spiritual exercise manifests itself in the homilies of today—the synthesis of the Old and New Testament to show the unity between the two and ultimately the unity of Christianity. The homily is for intellectual exercise, but in our contemporary society people tend to experience a priest going off on tangents about abortion or the death penalty. Once this breakdown of intellectual exegesis occurs we start to run into the problems of the contemporary Christian—lack of faith. It seems to me that such a simple understanding of scripture can only relinquish the community into a group of solipsistic fundamentalists.
We then turned to Augustine and mentioned some of the influences of Hellenistic philosophy on his own writings. The notion of confession is one such idea that has Epicurean roots. Pleasure of the moment through confessing your deeds, the idea of being clean again and eternally in the present moment is one such idea that influenced the way Christians now view confession. Christianity added the feeling of guilt to be a motivating force behind confession. Guilt of the present moment—the sinfulness of the human being—marred by sin is another idea that has roots in Proclis and the fall from the One. Confession for Augustine is a spiritual exercise.
The story of Augustine stealing peaches was an example used to show a typical human impulse that we all can relate to when we think of our own self. We have all probably had a moment where we did something we knew we shouldn’t do, but the very act of doing the wrong thing was what we desired instead of the end result itself. The idea that Augustine stole the peaches not to fulfill his need to eat, but as a need to fulfill his desire to do “hood rat things” as Latarion Milton would put it. This notion of doing things for the very reason you know you shouldn’t be doing them is an interesting phenomenon, and one that I think we still are grappling with in today’s society. Community helps bring out the face of the other—puts me into my falleness. Is this not Sartre’s conception of Bad Faith?
Augustine originally believe that good and evil both had a presence in the world until 383 where he had a shift in his belief and came to understand evil as a privation of good—something contingent and deriving it’s existence from the good. Evil is a privation of good and the good presupposed evil. The good remains—projects itself out in the world and allows for evil, but a return to the good breaks from this evil. Evil is possible in man through his ability to turn away from the good and to direct his life in ways that go against the good, such as stealing those peaches.
Happiness is wisdom for Augustine. Possesion is not external but the only thing we posses is our autonomy—our self. Here we find a Stoic influence, which tells us that the world outside of me is not me, the only thing I posses is my inner soul. WE ARE COMDEMED TO BE FREE! Conflict between freedom and necessity doesn’t truly exist; we are necessarily free.
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