St. Augustine: Confessions Critique - Essay Example

St. Augustines Confessions St. Augustines Confessions is one of the most popular Christian works that presents numerous ideasregarding theological attitudes of the medieval ages. St. Augustines Philosophical analysis of the various concepts of religion such as religions, the original sin, salvation, grace and faith have attracted a lot of attention in the public domain. Being a believer and Christian priest, St Augustine provided a deep analysis of the various mysteries of the church, perceiving the weaknesses of human beings and the way they can uphold genuine faith in their Christianity. St Augustine defines the original sin as the greatest manifestation of Man’s pride and disloyalty to God and expresses the need for reunion with God through Christ. He believes that Grace is the manifestation of God’s work through good works that human beings do. Therefore, he calls for Christians to submit completely to God for salvation. An analysis of the St Augustines confessions depicts God as a supernatural being, to whom all human beings should submit unconditionally. To begin with, St Augustine focused on the concept of the original sin that is crucial in the Christian. The original sin refers to the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the garden of Aden. On this, Augustine state that Adam’s sin is transmitted by the “hurtful desire” of human beings (Hollingworth 13-25). In literary works, he notes that the original sin is a manifestation of human disobedience of God because of human pride. He explains that the original sin resulted to the transformation of human beings, as the faced the consequences of their sins. Since Adam and Eve created nature through reproduction, it follows that all human beings carry the sin that their parents committed. This implies that all the descendants of Adam and Eve are born with the original sin. He uses a realistic approach to points out since the first parents are the root of humanity, then all those humanity inherited this sin from their parents. The belief that all humanity bears the original sin is widely accepted in the contemporary Christian community. Therefore, St Augustine’s conception of original sin in the medieval period has shaped modern Christianity. Next, St Augustine provides a detailed analysis of divine grace and the way it affects the lives of Christians. He states that human beings lack the ability to do good or even respond to the will of God without his divine intervention. To Augustine, Grace is the ability of human beings to do good acts that are in accordance with the will of God. Naturally, human beings are at free will to good bad or evil, but God’s grace helps people to good deeds. From a close analysis, the Saint puts a clear line between those who do good acts and those who do bad actions. Those who do good are those that have the divine grace, while those who do evil lack the grace of God. He expresses that “it is certain that we will when we will; but He brings it about that we will good” (Hollingworth 14). Therefore, the divine grace of God helps Christian to will good and to act appropriately. On this note, he categorizes all works of mercy and charity as good works that are inspired by God Grace. This argument of St Augustine is adopted in the medieval age to describe Christians as people who wish well and strive do the right acts in the world. St Augustine view of Salvation has been a controversial topic in the theological arena. As opposed to the idea of other authors who identified salvation by self-help, Augustine presented the idea that Salvation is accomplished by the grace of God. In relation to the concept of original sin, Augustine points out that all human beings are sinners and that they have no ability to appease God. For this reason, even a young child, who dies without cleansing would be doomed to suffer in hell. However, he presents the concept of “salvation by grace” in which he presents the idea that Human beings are only saved through the intervention of the grace of God. God manifested this grace by providing His son to die for the sin of humanity so that human beings may be saved (Hollingworth 17). Therefore, Salvation comes to human through death of Christ. Christians should take heed to the teachings of Christ, which includes being baptized in His name. On this ground, human beings are bound to follow the words of Christ and imitate his good acts. This way, there is hope for salvation for human kind. A controversy evolves as other theologists argue that human beings can be saved through living an exemplary life. However, Augustine opposes this argument on the ground that the original since cannot be erased by any action apart from the grace of God. Lastly, St. Augustine defined faith as the believe of what you don’t see, of which the reward is to see what one believes. The implication of this philosopher is that Christians should believe God, not because they can see him but because they know that he exists. On this note, faith is not founded on substantial evidence but on absolute believe in God. The argument of Augustine is similar to the contemporary believe of the Catholic denomination that refers to the faith in God as a mystery, that is beyond human definition. Christians have to believe a God that they cannot physically see. The reward for faith is to “see what one believes” (Hollingworth 56). Augustine seems to use the teachings of Jesus Christ on how faith is important for human beings to receive miracles. As Jesus performed miracles, he required that the people have faith in God. From this point of view, Faith is an absolute trust for a God that human beings cannot physically identify and that Christians can see the work of God if they possess this faith. In art piece “the last Judgment”, St Augustine focuses on the second coming of Jesus Christ and the final day of Judgment. He alludes to the picture of Jesus Christ and his disciples who would be responsible of judging humanity. He describes that unlike the “first coming of Jesus”, when he came to save the public, his final coming will be meant to judge humanity and to separate sinners and the righteous (Hollingworth 112-132). He explains that salvation will come to those who have faith in God and those who deed the will of God after receiving His divine grace. Therefore, he urges Christians to prepare for this second coming of Jesus to ensure that they do not perish in hell. The art piece relates to the life that St Augustine lived during his time on earth. Augustine lived a holistic life as a preacher in service of God. He dedicated his life to God and the service of the people as part of his faith and preparation for the last judgment. The idea of last Judgment as presented by St Augustine was very significant to the Christians of the medieval period. The concept of heaven and hell was popular from the medieval worldview of Christianity. The people believed at the Jesus would come at end of the world to judge humanity. Those who believe would go to heaven while sinners would be condemned to hell (Hollingworth 129). This is a belief that propagates through generation and is still popular in modern Christianity. On this ground, St Augustine’s philosophical ideas on the last judgment are relevant to both the medieval and contemporary worldview. In conclusion, St Augustine’s confessions present a unique approach of defining the concepts of Christianity. Augustine believes that all human progeny bear the original sin and that only the divine grace of God can save them. The divine grace gives Christians an opportunity to act well and acquire the salvation of Jesus Christ. Faith allows Christians to believe in God and to be candidate of heaven after the second coming of Jesus Christ. Although some authors have criticized the arguments of St Augustine, it is clear that they are still relevant in the contemporary Christian life. Works Cited Hollingworth, Miles. "St Augustine: Confessions." The Journal Of Theological Studies 1 (2014): Academic OneFile. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. Read More