While discussing sin, grace, and human freedom, the thoughts of Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and Martin Luther all differed due to their historical context as well as the thoughts of those who came before them, even though their ideas on grace were similar. Augustine of Hippo believed that God gave humans freedom, however that freedom and human desires were damaged by sin, and only the grace of God can restore humans back to the freedom for which they were created. He believed in the idea of sin that was both inherited (from the disobedience of Adam and Eve) and personal; however, Augustine though that the heavenly city was where sin would be overcome. Augustine wrote all of his thoughts after the sack of Rome by the Visigoths. The
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Ontological primacy of goodness can be described as goodness being first and real in the order of being. Sin or evil is a defect of goodness, but evil is not a force on its own. This idea of good as a force and evil as a defect differed from Augustine’s earlier life with the small religious group Manichaeism. Manichaeism believed that the two forces of the world were good and evil, with each force being coeternal and equal to the other (in-class notes 10/24/17). According to Augustine, “man was created right, in the sense that he was to live not according to his own self but according to his maker, that is, to do the latter’s will instead of his own” (Augustine City of God 101). Augustine also writes that “although bad things are permitted to exist in order to show how the righteous Creator with his perfect foresight can make good use of them, nevertheless good things can exist without bad” (Augustine City of God 102), confirming his thoughts that good triumphs over evil and is more real than evil. Augustine stresses that human desires have been damaged through the original fall. Augustine states that “the decision of the will is …show more content…
However, the crusades allowed for some strange consequences: cities, the merchant class, capitalism, and trade for both goods and intellect, which allowed the works of Muslims, Jews, and even Aristotle to be encountered. With the crusades dying down, universities arose where students and teachers participated with through lectures and public disputes. From the university, a naturalistic view of the world arose, where the world was a natural system that could be understood with reason alone, without the aid of revelation. Scholasticism arose, which sought to harmonize faith and reason together. Thomas Aquinas, a scholastic, believed that we were still damaged by sin, however he believed that humans could still live a virtuous state on their own, but God’s grace elevates humans and perfects nature. Aquinas thought that there was a natural order called nature and a supernatural world. God’s freely given power, grace, elevates humans to the supernatural world, revealed by God. The difference between the two worlds though however is that “the supernatural order is known by faith, and the natural order is known by reason” (Cory 281). God’s grace elevates humans from virtue and reason to faith and the beatific vision (happiness). There is a certain virtuous state that humans can reach on their own without faith,
Ontological primacy of goodness can be described as goodness being first and real in the order of being. Sin or evil is a defect of goodness, but evil is not a force on its own. This idea of good as a force and evil as a defect differed from Augustine’s earlier life with the small religious group Manichaeism. Manichaeism believed that the two forces of the world were good and evil, with each force being coeternal and equal to the other (in-class notes 10/24/17). According to Augustine, “man was created right, in the sense that he was to live not according to his own self but according to his maker, that is, to do the latter’s will instead of his own” (Augustine City of God 101). Augustine also writes that “although bad things are permitted to exist in order to show how the righteous Creator with his perfect foresight can make good use of them, nevertheless good things can exist without bad” (Augustine City of God 102), confirming his thoughts that good triumphs over evil and is more real than evil. Augustine stresses that human desires have been damaged through the original fall. Augustine states that “the decision of the will is …show more content…
However, the crusades allowed for some strange consequences: cities, the merchant class, capitalism, and trade for both goods and intellect, which allowed the works of Muslims, Jews, and even Aristotle to be encountered. With the crusades dying down, universities arose where students and teachers participated with through lectures and public disputes. From the university, a naturalistic view of the world arose, where the world was a natural system that could be understood with reason alone, without the aid of revelation. Scholasticism arose, which sought to harmonize faith and reason together. Thomas Aquinas, a scholastic, believed that we were still damaged by sin, however he believed that humans could still live a virtuous state on their own, but God’s grace elevates humans and perfects nature. Aquinas thought that there was a natural order called nature and a supernatural world. God’s freely given power, grace, elevates humans to the supernatural world, revealed by God. The difference between the two worlds though however is that “the supernatural order is known by faith, and the natural order is known by reason” (Cory 281). God’s grace elevates humans from virtue and reason to faith and the beatific vision (happiness). There is a certain virtuous state that humans can reach on their own without faith,