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The Role Of Evil In Confessions Of Augustine Of Hippo

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Over the course of human history many philosophers and theologians have grappled with the question of what is evil. One of the most influential of these thinkers was Augustine of Hippo. Augustine, revered as a Saint in the Roman Catholic Church, tackled this question of what is evil as well as a whole multitude of issues that continue to face people and the creation that surrounds them. For Augustine though, this question of evil, what it is, and where it comes from plays an interesting role when he begins to question his own beliefs at that time in his life. This question of evil is one Augustine sought out to answer which in turn provided some grounds for thinkers to come. In his book Confessions, Augustine lays a ground work for what evil is and provides some solutions to this question. First, one must understand the ideas surrounding physical things as well as non-physical things. Augustine states that creation, that is all created things in this world, are part of that physical realm as well as the non-physical one. Those in the physical are confined to a space while the …show more content…

The Manicheans were a group that Augustine affiliated with in his earlier years as they posed some very qualifying philosophical questions for him. Augustine fell into the Manichaean tradition of thinking that God is some sort of being with physical aspects and existing in a physical place. This also included evil as some sort of physical or material thing. The understanding of creation is that of good, but within it is a force of both goodness and not evil This evil is what causes creation to sin or turn away from the good. Augustin did admire the rhetoric and way in which the Manicheans presented their teachings, but when questioned on topics such as scripture, astronomy, and the divine essence, he found their answer to not be very strong or able to be

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Augustine has many diffenrt definitions of what is evil but “evil must always be understood as a defect, a corruption, or a perversion of what was created good”(Lawhead 132). One of Augustine’s problems of evil is that of moral evil. Moral evil is “human perversity” or “genuine evil”(Lawhead 132) because all other evil is apparently evil but “moral evil is the product of the human will”(Lawhead 132). The Monster has been deprived true goodness and love ever since his creation because his creator hated him from the moment he saw him. The Monster according to Augustine would be part of moral evil.

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