Saint Augustine: Philosophy, Faith, and Existence

The Proof of God's Existence

Saint Augustine of Hippo (4th-5th centuries) begins with the existence of absolutely certain truths present in the human mind to prove the existence of God. These truths, which he calls "instances of the arbitration of reason," do not come from sensory experience. They are more perfect than man himself, and they are timeless and universal.

Saint Augustine concludes that the origin of such truths is God. If these instances of arbitration do not come from the human mind, then they must originate in a being superior to the mind, a being that is also eternal and perfect. This being is God.

Thus, Augustine demonstrates God's existence through thought itself. This is similar to the proof offered by Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109). However, Aristotelian-influenced thinkers, such as Saint Thomas Aquinas, always begin with sensory experience.

Saint Augustine's proof of God's existence is linked to his theory of Divine Illumination. For Saint Augustine, we live in God and have knowledge of eternal truths. Therefore, the God of Saint Augustine is both immanent and transcendent to the world:

• Immanent: because we live in God.
• Transcendent: to preserve Christian dogma.

For Saint Augustine, God contains the forms, copies, ideas, or reasons (similar to Platonic Ideas) that serve as models for God's creative work. We can understand these reasons or copies through divine illumination because, as mentioned, God is immanent in the world.

The Faith-Reason Relationship

Saint Anselm of Canterbury's words, "*Credo ut intelligam*" (I believe in order to understand), summarize the classical position of the first Scholastics regarding the relationship between reason and faith. This formulation, which clearly prioritizes faith over reason, is tempered by other, weaker formulations where knowledge appears as a preparation for, or a requirement of, faith. Saint Augustine initially opts for this position but ultimately calls for complementarity in the relationship between faith and reason. This complementarity or cooperation is defined by the expression "*Credo ut intelligas, intellego ut credas*" (I believe in order to understand, I understand in order to believe), which includes believing in order to understand and understanding in order to believe:

• Reason helps faith formulate its doctrines in a rational and credible manner for those belonging to other doctrines.
• Faith helps reason by creating a moral transformation in man. In the light of faith, the world appears different; our questions change, and our answers are different.

This complementarity between faith and reason was already suggested in Plato's thought: in the light of the idea of the Good, reason could be transformed and come to know, even when reason alone was insufficient.

Anthropology

For Saint Augustine, God is the end goal of man; we tend toward Him (like the Platonic Good, the final cause of reality). Hence the radical anxiety that characterizes human beings. Nothing satisfies us; we are always seeking moving things because our true destination is to reunite with God.

This could be a second way to prove God's existence. Man is not satisfied with the things of this world because he knows and tends toward a more perfect reality, which cannot be experienced in this world. Therefore, God exists, and we have prior knowledge of His existence.

This proof resembles the Platonic theory of recollection (knowing is remembering). However, Saint Augustine rejected Plato's theory of reminiscence because it contradicts the Christian belief in a single life of the soul (Christianity denies the theory of reincarnation or transmigration of souls).

Cosmology

According to Saint Augustine, God is the cause of the world and creates it from nothing. However, Saint Augustine did not consider himself a fixist and, therefore, supported, in some way, the theory of evolution. God created all things in time and not permanently. So, initially, God created the "seminal reasons" (seeds of life) that would unfold over time, resulting in the different beings we know today.