Reaction paper: Augustine's Enchiridion

Peebles, Bernard M., translator. Augustine of Hippo. Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Charity. Fathers of the Church, volume 4. New York: Fathers of the Church, Inc., 1947. Pages 369-472.

I read this work because Augustine is historically and theologically important, and this book was recommended as the most concise introduction to his teachings. Peebles calls it Augustine's "only systematic treatment of the Church's doctrine as a whole." Almost all of the book is about the faith, discussing doctrines in the sequence of the Apostles' Creed.

It was interesting reading, partly from the diversity of doctrines and partly from curiosity in whether this historical personality taught this or that. A few items of interest: · The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father (section 9). Filioque isn't used.

· Evil is a privation of good (11); diminution of good is an evil (12). These distinctions show a sharp thinking, as does the next:

· Evil and good co-exist in humans (14); God judged it better to bring good out of evil than not to permit evil to exist at all (27). God would not permit evil at all unless he could turn it for good (100).

· Every lie is a sin, though some lies are better than others (18, 22).

· Sin injures the sinner more than it does the victims (17).

· When God says that he wants to save all humans, he only means humans of all types (103).

· Adam was capable of not dying; the resurrected saints will be incapable of dying -- thus they will have a different type of immortality (105-106).

· The merits of humans are the gift of God, so if he saves us on the basis of merits, it is really grace (107).

Augustine admitted ignorance on a few things -- a touch of humility lacking in many other writers, and an odd thing to include in a handbook of faith:

Whether or how one inherited the sins of all ancestors (47).

Angelic ranks and corporeality (58).

Speculation about purgatory (69).

There were a few things I'd disagree with, such as:

Man was created to replace fallen angels (29) -- as if angelic sin surprised God!

The resurrected body will be spiritual, but will be a body, albeit without flesh (91).

And then there were the Catholic doctrines of original sin and infant baptism (52), forgiveness being given through the Church (64-65), alms propitiating God for past sins (70), and sex in marriage is a sin, a concession (78).