Saint Augustine of Hippo was an influential church father. His autobiography, The Confessions, described his moral struggle, the conflict between his spiritual and intellectual aspirations and his sensual and material self. Knowledge would lead to virtue was taught by many Greek and Roman philosophers and Augustine rejected that idea. He claimed that rational knowledge cannot make someone strong enough to avoid lust or any other evil and that only God’s power and grace would grant that. This became the foundation of all subsequent Western Christian theology, Protestant as well as Catholic. Augustine defined an individual’s will as “the power of the soul to hold on to or to obtain an object without constraint.” The “original sin” was when Adam ate the forbidden apple, corrupting his will, thus passing it to all humans through sexual intercourse. To Augustine, babies were tainted, too. Augustine linked sexuality with sin and concluded that humans have an innate tendency to sin, making their will weak. God restores the strength of the will through grace, such as sacraments, which are rituals of baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, ordination, and matrimony. Sins can also be forgiven if penance is paid, such as confessing and asking for forgiveness from
Saint Augustine of Hippo was an influential church father. His autobiography, The Confessions, described his moral struggle, the conflict between his spiritual and intellectual aspirations and his sensual and material self. Knowledge would lead to virtue was taught by many Greek and Roman philosophers and Augustine rejected that idea. He claimed that rational knowledge cannot make someone strong enough to avoid lust or any other evil and that only God’s power and grace would grant that. This became the foundation of all subsequent Western Christian theology, Protestant as well as Catholic. Augustine defined an individual’s will as “the power of the soul to hold on to or to obtain an object without constraint.” The “original sin” was when Adam ate the forbidden apple, corrupting his will, thus passing it to all humans through sexual intercourse. To Augustine, babies were tainted, too. Augustine linked sexuality with sin and concluded that humans have an innate tendency to sin, making their will weak. God restores the strength of the will through grace, such as sacraments, which are rituals of baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, ordination, and matrimony. Sins can also be forgiven if penance is paid, such as confessing and asking for forgiveness from