The Immortality of the Soul; The Magnitude of the Soul; On Music; The Advantage of Believing; On Faith in Things Unseen

486 Pages·2002·6.932 MB·English

by  Saint Augustine

THE FATHERS
OF THE CHURCH
A NEW TRANSLATION
VOLUME 4
THE FATHERS
OF THE CHURCH
A NEW TRANSLATION
EDITORIAL BOARD
HERMIGILD DRESSLER. O.F.M.
Quincy College
Editorial Director
ROBERT P. RUSSELL. D.S.A. THOMAS P. HALTON
Villanova University The Catholic University of America
WILLIAM R. TONGUE SISTER M. JOSEPHINE BRENNAN. I.H.M.
The Catholic University of America Marywood College
FORMER EDiTORIAL DIRECTORS
LUDWIG SCHOPP. ROY J. DEFERRARI. BERNARD M. PEEBLES
SAINT AUGUSTINE
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL
translated by
Ludwig Schopp
THE MAGNITUDE OF THE SOUL
translated by
John J. McMahon, SJ.
ON MUSIC
translated by
Robert Catesby Taliaferro
THE ADVANTAGE OF BELIEVING
translated by
Luanne Meagher, O.S.B.
ON FAITH IN THINGS UNSEEN
translated by
Roy Joseph Deferrari
and
Mary Francis McDonald, O.P.
THE CATHOUC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS
Washington, D.C.
NIHIL OBSTAT:
JOHN M. FEARNS, S.T.D.
Censor Librorum
IMPRIMATUR:
+
FRANCIS CARDINAL SPELLMAN
Archbishop of New York
October, 1. 1947
The nihil obstat and imprimatur are official declarations that a book or pamphlet
is free of doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained therein that those
who have granted the nihil obstat and imprimatur agree with the content,
opinions, or statements expressed.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 77 -081336
ISBN 0-8132-1319-3
Copyright © 1947 by
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS, INC.
All rights reserved
Reprinted 1977, 1984, 1992
First paperback reprint 2002
CONTENTS
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL
Introduction 3
Text 15
THE MAGNITUDE OF THE SOUL
Introduction 51
Text 59
ON MUSIC
Introduction · 153
Text · 169
THE ADVANTAGE OF BELIEVING
Introduction .385
Text · 391
ON FAITH IN THINGS UNSEEN
Introduction .445
Text .449
Index .471

n INTRODUCTION
HE PROBLEM of the soul's immortality has ever ar
. . rested the attention of serious thinkers.l The very
hours before his death, Socrates, 'the best, the' wisest
and the noblest man,' spent with his friend Crito in discussing
this persistent and fascinating subject. To Augustine of Hippo
belongs the distinction of having been the first philosopher
in the Christian Tradition of the West to compose a formal
treatise on the immortality of the soul. In his S oliloquia the
2
young Augustine had already exclaimed: 'First of all I should
like to know if I am immortal.'3
Some authors4 do not seem to appreciate the originality of
Augustine's thought on this problem and present his solution
simply as a mere imitation of the Greek philosophers, espe
cially Plato. On the other hand, among those who discuss
more thoroughly Augustine's teachings on the survival of the
soul and who acknowledge its distinctive merits in the history
of philosophy may be included M. Kreutle, G. von Hertling,5
W. P. O'Connor,s and M. Grabmann.7
I Cf. Roy W. Sellars. The Principles and Problems of Philosophy (New
York 1926) 472.
2 Cf. M. Kreutle. 'Die Unsterblichkeitslehre in der Scholastik von
Alkuin bis Thomas von Aquin' 341: 'Der erste Denker. der sich
im Abendland mit der Unsterblichkeit der Seele ueschiiftigte. wal
Augustinus. dessen feuriger Geist unwiderstehlich nach der Erkenntnis
des eigenen Ich verlangte und sich vor allem fUr das Schicksal desselben
nach dem Tode des Leibes interessierte:
3 Soliloquia 2.1.1.
4 J. F. Nourrisson. W. Heinzelmann. F. Worter. A. Stockl. W. Turner.
G. Papini. and others.
5 G. von Hertling: Augustin (Mainz 1902).
6 W. P. O·Connor. The Concept of the Human Soul according to St.
Augustine (Cath. Univ. of America Diss. 1921) 57-66.
7 M. Grabmann. Grundgedanken des Heiligen Augustinus ilber Seele
und Gott (Koln 1929) 52-66.
3
4 SAINT AUGUSTINE
Augustine's reasons for the immortality of the soul are
basically rooted first, in the human mind, and second, in
Christian teaching. While his psychological8 and theological
reasons were to be developed and perfected in some of his
later writings, such as De civitate Dei and De Trinitate,9
the rational demonstration is stressed in the prime of his
intellectual and spiritual awakening. His fifth work, De im
mortalitate animae, is devoted expressly to the solution of this
problem.
When Augustine, in later years, describes10 this treatise as
an imperfect and 'obscure' draft that, without his knowledge
and intention, had come into the hands of others, it is more
the form than the content that receives his censure. Although
medieval and modern scholarship has done a great deal for
the development of psychology, the science of the soul,
Augustine's De immortalitate animae has lost nothing of its
peculiar value and charm in the course of time.l1 In spite of
its aphoristic and unpolished form, it is, for the spontaneity
and the philosophical spirit of the young author, appraised
by somel2 as the most interesting work Augustine wrote in
his youth. Medieval thinkers13 were attracted by its precious
and timeless thoughts on being, life, substance, thinking,
truth, vir~ue, eternity, and time. Its careful perusal will
afford also to the modern reader, who is fond of dialectics,
psychology, or even psychoanalysis, hours of delight and
inspiration. E. Gilson14 refers to it quite frequently, and
8 The desire to survive is fundamental and common to all men. Cf.
De civ. dei 11,27, I.
9 Cf. De civ. dei 10, 29.1 and De Trin .. 13.4.7 ff.
10 Retractationes 1.5.1. The Retractationes contain Augustine's own record
and a personal review of his prOlific literary career.
II J. McCabe, Saint Augustine and His Age (London 1910) 164.
12 W. Heinzelmann, Augustins Lehre von der Unsterblichkeit 31 n. 20.
13 Cf. P. Pomponazzi, De immortalitate animae (Messina-Roma 1925) 122_
14 E. Gilson, Introduction d l'Etude de Saint Augustin 65ff. and" passim
(Paris 1943).
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 5
scholars like J. Barion, E. Przywara, and others regard it as
a valuable source.
The Immortality of the Soul is also of great interest for an
understanding and an evaluation of Augustine's personal
development. Augustine's philosophical progress is closely
connected with his personal experience; his philosophy grows
and develops in the same rhythm as his restless mind strives
for the truth, and as his heart, with an ever increasing flame,
burns for happiness.
This short work was written at Milan shortly after Augus
tine's return from Cassiciacum, where he had written the
following books: Contra Academicos (Answer to Skeptics),
15
De beata vita (The Happy Life), De ordine (Divine Provi
dence and the Problem of Evil) and Soliloquia (Soliloquies).
In Contra Academicos he refutes skepticism and proves the
existence of an incontestable truth; De beata vita deals with
tlie longing for happiness in everyone's soul, that happiness
which finds its fulfillment only in the possession of God, the
highest Truth and supreme Good; in De ordine he praises
this God, the Ordo Ipse, who in His love has created and
well ordered the world and everything in the world, from the
brook that flows with an ever changing rhythm, up to man,
the most perfect creature on earth. Each man, as an animal
rationale mortale, is endowed16 with the faculty of reason
ing (ratione uti ). He is made in the image of God, and
thus, by a sacred indissoluble bond, united with his Creator
and the soul of his fellow man. In De ordine17 Augustine has
15 The translations of these four hooks are contained in the first
volume of St. Augustine's works in this series.
16 De ordine 2.11.32. For the difference between rational and 'rationable,'
d. L. Schopp, The Happy Life 9. In De moribus ecclesiae Catholicae
1.27.52 we find the definition: 'Man is a rational soul using a
mortal and earthly body,' which later (De Trinitate 15.7.11) was
replaced by: 'Man is a rational substance consisting of soul and body.'
17 De ordine 2.18.47.