The Folly of Sin

I wasn't sure what I would make of Augustine after reading the short introduction to his life and thought in Who Are We. On one hand, transitioning from philosophy to "...the will, rather than reason, [as] our dominant feature" (Pojman 75) found me at ease in familiar territory. On the other, I wasn't sure what to make of the Great Chain of Being and Just War theory.

There is a warmth and candor present in The Confessions despite the passage of time and translation of the original language. As Augustine recounts his spiritual journey, I couldn't help but get the sense that he is telling the story of the whole human race. He must have been a great man.

Sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same. Augustine's description of adolescence isn't that different from what young people go through today: "My one delight was to love and be loved" (Augustine 23) illustrates the question am I capable of love. "Someone cries 'Come on, let's do it'—and we would be ashamed to be ashamed" (31) is a great description of peer pressure if I ever heard one.

In Book Two, Chapter IV, Augustine describes a long list of sins and explains that each of them is a shallow reflection of an attribute of God. He states: “…the soul is guilty of fornication when she turns from You and seeks from any other source what she will find pure and without taint unless she returns to You. Thus even those who go from You and stand up against You are still perversely imitating You” (Augustine 29).

The great tragedy of our sin is that we're trying to fulfill a genuine desire with a counterfeit that can never ever satisfy.

WORKS CITED

Augustine, F.J. Sheed (trans.). The Confessions of Saint Augustine. Kansas City, MO: Sheed & Ward, 1970.

Pojman, Louis P. Who Are We?: Theories of Human Nature. New York, NY: Oxford, 2006.