"The Confessions of Saint Augustine"

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses Augustine's work in which he attempts to deal with the dilemma of the existence of God and evil by disputing the claim that evil occurs at all. The author then gives a personal opinion of the problems with Augustine's argument. In conclusion. the author of the paper offers an indisputable solution to Augustine's problematic argument, that God and evil can survive simultaneously and the existence of one does not demand the negation of the other.

From the Paper:

"For Augustine to support his argument, he is forced to reject the conclusion that evil exists, and in order to maintain uniformity in his beliefs, he cannot abandon the characteristics he has already attributed to God (omniscience, omnipotence and benevolence). Augustine believes that there is no evil, but rather, gradations of goodness. In Book 7, Chapter 13, he explains that "I thought of all things, and...I held that the higher things are indeed better than the lower, but that all things together are better than the higher things alone." He also claims that nothing can be completely void of goodness, lest it cease to be entirely. Thus, even in those things which seem to us to be the most base, there must dwell some good. Even sin, he states, is not evil, but a limited form of corruption that we choose for ourselves to bring us closer to redemption. Augustine's argument rests upon these doctrines, and while it is an admirable defense of his God, it is an rationalization that fails him in the end."

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