St.

Augustine (Aurelius Augustinus)

Augustine was born in North African city of Tagaste which is part of the present day Souk-Ahras
in Algeria: His father Patricius was a pagan and his mother was a Christian. Augustin was
raised as a Christian, but was not yet baptized hence, he later attributed the sins of his youth to
this lack of grace During his years as student, he deviated completely from his Christian faith.
He considered Christianity a religion for simple folk for the uneducated and unlettered, whose
Bible sionimitive in style and contradictory He lived for years with a woman who was not his
legal wife and who bore him a child whom he name of Adeodatus meaning God-given.

At Cartage, he became enthusiastic about philosophy after reading Cicero's Hortensius. This
work of Cicero led Augustine to have a passion for learning. However, he was left with
uncertainty as to where to find intellectual satisfaction His Christian ideas became all the more
unsatisfactory for him, because he was not completely satisfied with the answers provided for
him by his Christian belief as to the problem of moral evil With the belief of the Christians that
God is the creator of all things, how can it be possible for a moral evil to arise in the world that is
created by God, who is a Summum Bonum

Since Augustine could not find an answer in the Christianity that he learned in bis youth, he
turned to a group called the Manicheans, a gnostic religion of late antiquity founded and spread
by the Persian Mani. This group was of the belief that there are two basic principles in the
universe, the principle of light of goodness, and the principle of darkness or evil This conflict
was reflected in human life in the conflict between the soul, which is connected to light and the
body which is connected to darkness Augustine attributed his sensual desires to the power of
the evil ones.

Augustine left Africa for Rome, because he was dreaming of developing his career as an orator.
He moved to Milan, where he became a municipal professor of rhetoric, at the University of
Milan.During his stay in Milan, he met and was tremendously influenced by Ambrose who was
then the bishop of Milan Under the influence of his mother and the bidding of Ambrose,
Augustine turned to the Bible Sitting in a garden one day with his friend Alyplus, Augustine
heard the sing-song voice of a child saying over and over" Take it and read, take it and read in
which Augustine did Through Bishop Ambrose, Augustine was able to develop a great
appreciation of Christianity.

Through the sermons of Ambrose, he saw Platonism and Christianity as virtually one being in
Neo-Platonism and philosophical expression of Christianity Eventually Augustine gave up his
profession of thetorid Later he was converted to Christianity arving up his profession of rhetoric
and giving his she totally to the pursuit of philosophywhich he considered as a pursuit towards
the knowledge of God Later, ne became bishop of Hippo.Augustine's View on the Human
Person:

The god that was perceived by Plato, and even by Aristotle, was seen as the absolute and
immutable good, the summum bonum. Augustine believes that God, as dictated by the aid of
the light of Divine Revelation, is the living personal God, the Creator of all things, and the
Supreme Ruler of the universe.

For Augustine, God created the world out of love and the human person is part of this creation.
Augustine believes that God is love. And inasmuch as the human person is created in the image
and likeness of God, morality, therefore, consists in the constant imitation of the divine model.
For Augustine, morality consists in love since it is this love that lead us to imitate God, who is
Love Augustine considered the human person as the imago Dei, because the human person
bears the image of God and the human person's crowning glory resides in his being an imago
DeirIt is for this reason that St. Augustine would consider love as the primary reason of one's
existence, the source of meaning in life. Augustine believes that the human person will always
have the tendency to love because of his incompleteness. All things in the world are good,
because they come from God who is goodness Himself.

The Concept of Evil:

If everything is good, how come there is evil the world? What is the source of evil? Augustine
believed that evil is not actually an existing reality. Rather, evil is not-since it is a deprivation of
something. There are things, which we consider evil simply because
they do not harmonize with other things. Consequently, those things that harmonize with other
things are considered good.

Augustine did not agree with Plato that the cause of evil is simply ignorance. According to him
the world of matter cannot by itself be evil simply because the one who created this is the
summum Bonum Himself. Augustine explained that there could be ome circumstances wherein
a human person does not know the ultimate good or is not aware of God. Although in the said
circumstances, the human person's predicament would be that they were able to do evil simply
because they were placed in a situation where there were alternatives. Hence, the life of a
person would be a matter of choosing whether they are for God or they are against God In this
case, it seemed to be that his predicament would mean that the human person is placed on
forced circumstances However, for St. Augustine, the turning away from God the turning to God
are not forced acts, but rather a voluntary act. Evil or sin, is the product of the will Here,
Augustine disagreed with Plato who said that evil is the product of ignorance.

Accordingly, Augustine held that if evil is caused by an act of free will, virtue, on the other hand
is the product not of people's will, but of God's grace. The human person is not self-sufficient
physically, emotionally and spiritually. Hence, it is definitely the human person's pride that leads
him away from God's Grace.

Indeed, every human person will always be in constant search for happiness that will satisfy his
desires Hence. he will be seeking for the goods of this world such as money power wealth,
fame, beauty, etc. However, none of these will be able to give each human person the real
happiness and the real satisfaction that he is seeking for
As all human beings seek happiness, such happiness is to be found when the
human person subordinates himself to the Divine Order and by seeking etemal peace,not in
earthly society The indispensable means to obtain happiness is the love of God.

The human person's desire towards the good may also lead him to the possibility that he may
choose to turn away from the good, and cling instead to the goods of this earth; thereby losing
his real end or purpose of existence. The human person's desire for the earthly yearnings is
what Augustine held in his doctrine of disordered love. From this doctrine Augustine held that
human society can be divided between those who love God and those who love themselves and
the world. The society who loves God, Augustine called the Civitas Dei, the City of God,
whereas the society who loves self and world, he called the Civitas Mundi, the City of the World.
Augustine held that each human person should therefore know his own destiny.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

St. Thomas was born in Roccasecca, near Aquino about halfway between Rome and Naples. At
the age of 5, he was sent to monastery. When he was about fourteen, he went to the University
of Naples. During his stay in the city, he was attracted to the way of life of the Dominican friars
at a nearby monastery and decided to enter their order in spite of the objections of his family,
where upon his brothers, in hopes of bringing him to quit the Dominicans, kidnapped him and
held him at Roccasecca for more than a year. His brothers sent into his room one night a very
beautiful woman in order to tempt Thomas and thereby prevent him from going to the
monastery, but Tomas frightened the woman away. Thomas managed to escape from his
brothers and made his way to Paris.

Thomas studied in the school of Albertus Magnus. There he was introduced to the study of
Aristotelianism and completed his theological studies. He was proclaimed a saint by the Church
and has been acclaimed as the Angelic Doctor.

For Aquinas, the existence of God needs to be demonstrated, and demonstration must start
from the sensible world without any prejudice. Such demonstrations are possible and are
accommodated to anyone who is simply capable of reflecting.

There are five ways in which the human intellect can prove the existence of God, all have a
command point of resemblance. The starting point is a consideration of the sensible world
knows by immediate experience.

The Five Ways of Proving God's Existence.

First, thru the sense of experience of motion or change in the universe. It is certain, and evident
to oursense, that in the world some things are in motion. "Whatever is moved is moved by
another. If that which is in motion is moved by another, then this must still need to be put in
motion by another and then by another again. However, this cannot go on to infinity, because
there is a necessity to arrive at a first mover, which is in itself unmoved by another. This First
Mover is understood by everyone as God.

Second, from the nature of the efficient cause. Accordingly, in the world of sense, we find that
there is an order of efficient causes. Aquinas held that there cannot be anything in this world of
senses that is caused by itself, since this will be impossible. However, it is more admissible to
have an Efficient Cause or the First Cause of everything, which is in itself uncaused. This First
Cause is called God.

Third, is taken from possibility and necessity There are things in this world that are possible not
to exist because prior to their existence, they are simply not yet. Moreover, we experience that
there are things which come into existence and eventually pass out of existence This being is
called a contingent being in this case, there should be the existence of necessary being, which
brings the contingent beings into existence. Because nothing can cause its own existence, it
follows that there should be a necessary being-whose existence is explained by itself-which
accounts for possible beings. This necessary being is God.

Fourth, is taken from the gradation of perfection to be found in things. In this world, we observe
that there are things which are better than the others, and there are also things which are less
good than the others, and there are also things which are less good than the others. However,
such "more good" or "less good" are predicated to things in the way as they resemble to
something which is the maximum. Hence, there should be the worst or the best. Now, the
maximum in any genus is the cause of all that genus. In this case, there must also be something
which is to all being the cause of their being goodness and every other perfection and this we
call God.

Fifth, is taken from the governance of the world. We observe that things in the world act towards
a certain end. However, whatever that lacks intelligence cannot move towards an end, unless it
is directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence. Therefore, there should be
an intelligent being that should exist by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and
this being we call God.

St. Augustine proves the existence of God through a priori and a posteriori arguments. The
more convincing arguments for Augustine will be those a priori proofs drawn from the presence
within us of this special illumination. In fact, the presence of this illumination is proof of the
existence of God. Such a priori argument can be reduced to the following formula: We are
conscious of possessing within ourselves ideas and formal principles which are by nature
universal and necessary, outside the confines of time and space, eternal.

The universal principle are communicated to us by Him, by the Wisdom of God, the Word of
God As we said above, Augustine also appeals to a posteriori, arguments, when for instance,
from change and the imperfections of beings the rises to the perfect being, the being above all
change, God.
The Nature of Human Person

St. Thomas believed that human nature has both its source and ultimate end in God He
believed that God is not only the final end of human being, but He is also the very ground of the
existence of both the human being and the world The moral end of a person is not simply a
natural end towards which he/she by nature tends. It is the good in which a person, in his
innermost being years for and makes manifest to him in synderesis and conscience

For St. Thomas, conscience is the concrete particular judgement by which in a given particular
situation, a person knows what he or she ought to do. On the other hand, synderesis, is more
general. i.e., it is the intellectual habit or disposition by which, the human person, in any given
situation, is in possession of the fundamental principles of morality-do good and avoid evil. In as
much as God created the human person in His own image and likeness, it follows that the
human person is also to be considered good because the Creator is the surfimum Bonum or the
Highest Good. This case, it is necessary that the human person should be following his/her
nature as good in order to achieve the real purpose of his/her existence.

The Happiness of the Human Person:

St. Thomas held that the human person's ultimate happiness consists in contemplating God and
not in gods of the body. In this case, the human person's ultimate happiness consists only in
wisdom and not in any other sciences. This is because the contemplation based on the
sciences has the lowest things for their object. But happiness must consist in an operation of the
intellect in relation to the highest object of intelligence. In this case, the human person's ultimate
happiness consists in wisdom based on the consideration of divine things.

ST. BONAVENTURE:

St. Bonaventure was born Boanorea in 1221. He entered Franciscan Order. He

studied at the University of Paris. The Three Degrees of Knowledge of St. Bonaventure:

1st Degree is knowledge of the particular of the individual. for this first degree of knowledge,
sensible experience, corresponding to the physical senses, is indispensable St. Bonaventure
was born at Boanorea in 1221. He entered Franciscan Order. He studied at the University of
Paris. The Three Degrees of Knowledge of St. Bonaventure:

2nd Degree consists in knowledge of the universal, of ideas, and of all that we acquire by
reflecting upon ourselves This knowledge does not come from abstraction as suggested by
Aristotle and Aquinas, but from illumination. This illumination is for

Bonaventure the result of an inmediate cooperation of God. 3rd Degree is the understanding of
things superior to ourselves-God. This kind of knowledge can be obtained through the eye of
contemplation.
The Nature of Man.

For Bonaventure, the soul is of its very nature form and matter and as a consequence is a
complete substance independent of the body. The body in turn is composed of matter and form
(vegetative and sensitive form), but it aspires to being informed by the rational form In this
aspiration and coordination and unity of the individual consists.

With regards to the faculties of the soul, Bonaventure, in accord with St. Augustine,
distinguishes three: the will, the understanding and the intellective memory. For Bonaventure,
the faculties are expressions of one and the same soul, which is endowed with three diverse
activities; between the soul and its faculties there is merely a logical distinction. In
Aristotelianism, the faculties are qualities of the soul and really distinct.

from it. Bonaventure holds that among the faculties of the soul, the will has primacy over the
other faculties; therefore it is necessary to love in order to understand.

This law is applied also to our knowledge of God: it is necessary to be united to God through
faith and grace in order to know Him and His attributes. The process of this knowledge is
described in the Itinerarium mentis in Deum. There are three grades or steps through which the
soul ascends to God:
● • The first grade is called "vestigium" which is the imprint of Himself that God has
stamped on material things outside ourselves
● The second grade is "imago" or the reflection of the soul upon itself, by which, seeing the
threefold faculties of the soul-will, intellect, and memory- man discerns the image of God
● . The third grade is "similitudo" - or the consideration of God Himself. By Considering
the idea of the most perfect being, we can conceive the unity of God, and from the
concept of infinite goodness, we can reach the considerations of the Trinity.