St Augustine on Evil St Augustine became a
St. Augustine on Evil St. Augustine became a Bishop in N. Africa, in Hippo. He welcomed and baptised many new converts into the Church. Not all of them understood the faith they were entering. Here are some questions they might have asked him – how would he reply? - Was Jesus really human? How can I live a good life? Do unbaptised babies go to heaven? Did God create evil? Why is there evil and suffering? Explain what “the Enchiridion” is, & why Augustine wrote it. **If you lived in a time when a lot of Christians had died for their faith, what other questions might you have? As a favour to a friend, St. Augustine decided to write a book that would explain some of these questions. He called it “the Handbook of Christian faith, hope, love” = the Enchiridion
St. Augustine has 4 things to say about evil in the Enchiridion. Answer the questions for the five things Augustine says about evil - take turns to get the 4 different info sheets. (nos. 3&4 are together on one sheet) **What do you think would be the most important thing for a new Christian to understand about evil? Why?
Why do you think explains the difference between these two things happening (or rather, not happening in the 2 nd case)? ?
The Magisterium The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) – official teaching of the Church - took up Augustine’s view about evil. “Original Sin is a deprivation of original holiness and justice” (free will is deprived of its original goodness) But in the Saints, God’s grace has restored it… This brings together two of Augustine’s ideas – Original Sin and evil as deprivation: - Our will is corrupted away from its original goodness –we are deprived of the original goodness God wanted for us – only God can heal this. - This corruption explains why we are more inclined towards evil. (*Augustine/ the Church are NOT saying that we are just evil! Some branches of Christianity do say this…!) Padre Pio died in 1968. Why isn’t his body corrupted? 1. Write out what the Church teaches about what Original Sin is. 2. Explain how this reflects two of Augustine’s ideas. **How could this explain why some saints bodies’ are incorrupt?
Design a poster to show Augustine’s four teachings about evil.
What did Augustine believe about Evil? PRIVATION OF GOOD OUT OF EVIL/ God’s omnipotence CAN MAKE US BETTER ORIGINAL SIN CONTRAST WITH GOOD/ P. of PLENITUDE
- Slides: 6