Augustine's Teachings on
Human Nature

(Incomplete)

Brief Bio

Augustine of Hippo was born in modern day Algeria in 354 and is considered one of the most influential people in Christian theology.
Initially, he was inspired by Manichaeism which is a dualistic religion that teaches that the world is in an eternal struggle between Light and Darkness.
He later became drawn to Neoplatonism before converting to Christianity in 386.
Augustine was pretty wild in his youth, as he talks about in his Confessions. Most famously, he stole a pear tree as a teenager and had struggled with ideas of lust.

Before the Fall (pre-lapsarian humanity), Augustine believed Adam and Eve were created good, rational, and rightly ordered.
Their desires were properly aligned under reason, and reason was properly aligned under God. There was no inner psychological conflict.
Even bodily desires, including sexual desire, were under rational control.
They had posse non peccare, which is the ability not to sin. But, humans were free which meant they were capable of sin.
"Man in paradise was able not to sin, but not unable to sin" (On Rebuke and Grace)
The Fall of humanity brought the two elements of body and soul into combat with one another. This meant that now, we have non posse non peccare, we are incapable of not sinning.
Augustine developed his Doctrine of Original Sin, meaning that the sin of Adam is transmitted to all of humanity, as if it were a genetic trait. This means that all of humanity is inclined to sin due to our corrupted nature.
"All men were in that one man, since all were that one man" (City of God)

Cupiditas is disordered love, which means loving the wrong things in the wrong way.
Concupiscence is the psychological condition that pulls humans towards desiring lower goods, it is a corrupted inclination.
Caritas is rightly ordered love. This means love directed towards God first and then towards other things in the correct proportion.
Augustine believed that sin was about disordered love because it makes humanity love themselves first (pride).
This concept is called the Ordo Amoris (order of loves).
Humans are not able to achieve Caritas themselves because they are so corrupted. Only Grace can do this.
So, the journey of human sin goes something like:

Perfect harmony in the Garden of Eden → Pride → The Fall → Disorder within the Soul → Concupiscence → Cupiditas

Only Grace can restore Caritas.

Because of how corrupted we are due to the Fall, we are not able to not sin.
The Fall fundamentally altered how humanity functions and the only way to restore any sort of harmony is by God gifting you Grace.
Grace is a divine gift which allows only chosen ones to maintain a non-sinful life and enter heaven.
This links to the idea of Exclusivism. Salvation is only attainable through God.
So, if God chooses who to gift His Grace to and it is only through God that you can be saved, this means that entrance into heaven is predetermined.
Augustine believes that all of humanity deserves to be damned because of Original Sin. Those gifted Grace will be saved and they are therefore the Elect.
So, salvation is not something earned or even attainable, it's given by God.

I like to call Pelagius Augustine's sworn enemy. He's best known for challenging a lot of Augustine's thoughts. There is a painting of Augustine standing on a book that says "Pelagius"!
Pelagius believes that humans are NOT born with Original Sin and that we are free to make our own decisions. Sin is only caused by individual choice.
This is important because it means we have moral responsibility. Morality is attainable through education and discipline. The Bible is full of commandments to do good things. Why would God prescribe actions to those who cannot follow them?
Pelagius still believed that God's Grace was important, but he did not believe that it was necessary to do good.
The idea of predestination is unfair. Original Sin means that we are incapable of freely choosing our own actions, it does not seem right for a God to pass judgement on a life that was not freely chosen.