Augustine And Love

Title	Augustine And Love
# of Words	1004
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.02

Augustine And Love

Word Count: 1056

April 14, 2000

Seminar 021

How does Augustine define love?

     Augustine states continuously that he was not yet in love, but was in love with love.  This statement doesn’t make sense to me.  I don’t believe that someone can be in love with something, if he or she doesn’t understand what love is.  “I was not yet in love, but I was in love with love, and from the very depth of my need hated myself for not more keenly feeling the need.” (pg. 35)  How can Augustine hate himself if he doesn’t know what loves feel like?  I think a lot of Augustine’s statements about love are interesting.  Augustine has some very good points about love, but he contradicts himself also.  Is Augustine saying he wasn’t in love or he doesn’t understand love?  Both of these statements make me wonder how can he be in love with love, if he isn’t in love.
     After stating this, Augustine continues to support his statement by talking about friendship.  Is the friendship Augustine mentions lustful or sincerely about love?  “Thus I polluted the stream of friendship with the filth of unclean desire and sullied its limpidity with the hell of lust.” (pg. 35)  Obviously Augustine is letting the idea of love turn straight to lust.  He talks about unclean desires, but he says he wants to be clean and courtly.  Maybe Augustine has the wrong idea about love.  Love is when you care deeply about someone and will do anything for them.  Thinking about sexual desires and physical attractions are defining lustful ideas.  Is Augustine talking about different kinds of love?
     Augustine states that he wants to be forgiven for the corruption of his soul so he can love God again.  He also states whatever pleases you, you should love Him who created it.  “If material things please you then praise God for them, but turn back your love upon Him who made them.” (pg. 60)  He continues this thought by saying we should love God for he created the world and without God we wouldn’t be able to love anything in this world.  He also states that God made the world and didn’t leave.  So is Augustine implying that if someone makes something and abandons it, that he or she shouldn’t be loved?
     I think Augustine is implying that only those who create something and stay around should be loved.  I agree with Augustine about this.  If God would of created the world and left, I would of thought he created the world by mistake.  By sticking around or admitting to creating the world, I feel as if God is able and willing to deal with whatever circumstances that may come His way.  Augustine tells sinners to return to their heart and abide to God.  Is Augustine saying that God doesn’t create evil?  Or is he saying that sinners learn to love evil and evil takes over their hearts?  If God created everything, didn’t he create ev...

This is ONLY a preview of the article. If you would like to view the entire document, you must subscribe to Academic Library. Please register below now!

Subscribe to Academic Library

When you subscribe to the Academic Library, you get 24-hour access to the online database containing full-text articles written by thousands of scholarly students. For only $8.95 per month, you receive unlimited monthly access to view and download all of our 40,000 articles available online. That is less than the price of one textbook!
This price includes:

24-hours-a-day, 7 days a week unlimited access on any computer with Internet access

Complete access to all 40,000 articles, essays, and research papers

Ability to view and download virtually unlimited number of documents

Ability to browse through perfectly arranged catalog of articles

Superior search and relevancy ranking techniques using Google SiteSearch and our local search engine

Instant access to the online database after registration

You can pay by credit card, checking account. You get instant access after registration:

You will be billed $ 8.95 every 30 days (recurring billing) starting on the day you subscribe.
Your credit card will automatically be renewed for your convenience until you cancel.

If you are already registered, please click here to login.


	Home \| Register \| Login \| FAQ \| Forgot Password \| Privacy Policy \| Disclaimer \| Close Account \| Contact Us \| Logout Copyright 1998-2007 Academic Library. Academic Library is designed only to assist students and researchers in the preparation of their own work. Anybody who use our services are responsible not only for writing their own papers, but also for citing Academic Library as a source when doing so. By accessing and using this page you agree to the Disclaimer. If you wish to cancel your subscription to Academic Library, please click here.