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chRiSTian. p h i l o s o p iff Sigr Yale Divinity School ne gilsoq ,__IM hristianPhilosophy inthe ' Authorof Histoi AVintage Book V396 $2.45 J xrhe- chRisTian. philosophy op Sainx57^JGusTirie- eTienne gilsoq iisiory or Christian philosophy and on St. Thomas would expect, this studyofAugustineisoutstanding initssophistication,witand profundity, in the,aptness of the illustrations from common experience, inthe masteryofvoluminoussources (the notes and bibliography cover one hundred arid thirty-four pages), and most impressive ofall,in the marvelous adroitnesswith whichM. Gilson gatherstogether intoa coherent whole the, free-flowing 'open system'.of Augustinian thought...." —PhilipDeasy,Commonweal ". ..an enlightening and most satisfying introduction." —FrancisE.McMahon,America ".. tfor theserious student who wishes tounderstand Augus tine and his philosophy [thisbook] becomes required read ing. ..-." A ' —ErnestT.Thompson,Preshyte overedition from Random Ho CoverdesignbyAnitaKarl AVintage Book THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY OF SAINTAUGUSTINE THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY OF SAINT AUGUSTINE BY Etienne Gilson DIRECTOR OF STUDIES, PONTIFICAL INSTITUTE OF MEDIAEVAL STUDIES, TORONTO Translated by L. E. M. Lynch sr. Michael's college, university of Toronto Vintage Books A DivisionofRandom House NEW YORK NIHILOBSTAT ArmandA.Maurer, CensorDeputatus IMPRIMATUR J(cid:141)* JamesC.Cardinal McGuigan,D.D.,ArchbishopofToronto first vintage books edition, September, 1967 ©Copyright, 1960,by EtienneGilson All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copy right Conventions. Distributed in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Manufactured in theUnited StatesofAmerica VINTAGE BOOKS arepublishedby Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and Random House, Inc. TO theProfessorsandStudents intheDepartmentofPhilosophy, Harvard University FOREWORD first the Christian philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and now the Christian philosophy of Saint Augustine. Are there, then, two Christian philosophies?Indeed thereare,andmore than two, but it so happens that the Church has raised the Christian philosophy of Thomas Aquinas to the rank of her common doctrine. Forthis reason, every Christian who cares to philosophize should study it first and foremost. But this he cannot do for long before he becomes conscious of the presencein it of another form of Christian philosophy, namely that of Saint Augustine. Such expressions as "And this is the reason why Augustine says . . ." or "As Augustine says. . ." are not in frequent from the pen of Thomas Aquinas, nor are they without sig nificance. Obviously, Thomas Aquinas isanxious to make it clear that even though their philosophical languagesmay differ ever so widely, when itcomes to matters of faith he has nothing to say which has not been said already by Augustine or, at least, could not be said by him now. This fundamental agreement, despite occasionalverbal differences, is easy to account for. The doctrines of St. Augustine and St. Thomas representthe outstandingachievements of humanreasonin its attempt to understandthemeaningofdivinerevelation. The only avenueopen to them for the accomplishment of this task was to use as a means of investigation the truest philosophy known to them in their own time, for indeed, to them, philosophy was the most complete expres sion of rational knowledge about the highest objects of the human mind. One reason for the difference between the two doctrines lies in the fact that the two great doctors set about their task with different phil osophical equipment. In Thomas Aquinas's own words, Augustine followed Plato as far as the Christian faith allowed, while Aquinas himself employed the philosophical technique of Aristotle in his at tempt to arrive at arational interpretation of the truths of Christian ity. As a result of this initial difference, one and the same religious truth was expressed in two different philosophical languages; but a deeper distinction can be observed between them. The Christian revelation is the word of God. This means that in it, vii VUI FOREWORD GodhasimpartedtomaninformationaboutHimselfwhichisdifferent in kind from the highest and most perfect type of merely human knowledge. Scripture makes us share, however imperfectly, in the knowledge which belongs to God Himself. Owing to Scripture, we become capableof knowingGod in somewhat the same way He knows his own essenceand, through it, all else besides. For this reason, there issimply no proportion between the natural knowledge attainable by reasonand the supernaturalknowledgeobtained by faith in the word of God. The highest form of wisdom accessible to man is theological wis dom, but no single theology could possibly exhaust the truth con tent of Scripture. Indeed, if this were possible, it would mean that the human mind could attain a knowledge of God which would be equal in perfection to the knowledge of God Himself. Hence a plural ity of Christian theologies,eachof which representsadistinct attempt on the partof humanreasonto gaina finiteview of an infiniteobject. These attempts are not all equally successful, nor are we left to our selves in the task of determining their respective values. The only authority to consult in this matter is that of the Church. It is well known that the Church has singled out the theology of Thomas Aquinas as the norm of her own theological teaching, but this ex ceptional honor conferred upon the doctrine of the Summa Theo- logiae in no way disqualifies the other theological interpretations of Christian dogma. It means that, unless otherwise specified, the theo logical teaching of Thomas Aquinas is, at the same time, that of the Church. Other theologiesmay be right also,and no doubt many of them are. There is more than one Doctor of the Church and the en cyclical letter Aeterni Patris mentions with honor more than one namel The long and short of it issimply that, in matters of theology, one cannot beright againstSaint Thomas Aquinas. In this respect, the position of Saint Augustine is an exceptional one. Thomas Aquinas, far from intending to do away with his prede cessors,was most anxious to incorporate in the body of his own doc trine whatever truth was to be found in them. In the title of his chief work, the word "theology" did not mean "my own theology," or "theology asI understand it"; to him, Summa Theologiae meant the sum and substanceof theology itself asset forth alreadyin the many and varied works of the sacred writers of all times, especially the Fathersof the Church. Fromjhis point of view, the theology of Saint ^Thomas was intended to systematire.*lEnTcUi^puuauLL. iht1 already ex isting theology__ofj^ie_Clm^ is the " mi whytheChurch fras ™*a» *t v»^ nwn tj^glppy Now, as Saint