Augustine’s pathway to conversion is one enclosed by a lot of internal tussles. His conversion to Christianity was not an easy one for him since he had many attachments to his old life and his many problems in regards to belief. He takes a winding road to conversion but eventually ends up as one of the most important Christian theologians in history. Augustine starts his life off like most in his day as a pagan and takes an interesting path to Christianity by converting to Manichaeism before finally converting to Christianity. While Augustine is a Manichee, he finds numerous faults in the Christian doctrine such as he finds it too simplistic and he feels like there is too much evil in the world to have an omnipotent, all good God. Augustine is strongly influenced by Aristotle and Plato’s views and has his views altered by Aristotle’s writings. He comes into numerous answers to his rational problems and his answers are very resounding.
Augustine has numerous barricades to his transformation to Christianity. The first difficulty he encounters is getting over the yearnings of the flesh. He has a very tough time doing this because of how tempting the desires of the flesh are. Before he gives up his physical desires he has a mistress for about ten years. This unnamed women even bears him a son, Adeodatus who dies at age 17. He is so used to the desires of the flesh this is a major barrier in his conversion. The second block to his conversion is the interference of the competing religious sects. His initial conversion is to Manichaeism not to Christianity. He falls into this group during his search for the truth. His search for the truth is prompted by the readings of Circero and his search leads him to take a further look into the Christian Bible. Augustine was turned off by the simplicity and the awkwardness of it so he turned to a different sect of Christianity called Manichaeism. Augustine is attracted to their doctrine that says that everything has a good and an evil force. He finds this much more sophisticated than the simple Christian principle.
Generally, diverse ideas of good and evil exist. Numerous authors, writers, and thinkers use thoughts that came before them as the building block for their own ideas. Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher, and his idea of good and evil published in The Phaedrus provided context for many other great writers. For example, Saint Augustine challenges the ideas of Plato in his book, Confessions. Augustine also rejects the principle beliefs of the Manicheans and their perspective of evil. All of these texts and beliefs provide context for modern pieces, such as George Lucas’ Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope. Through works such as Augustine’s Confessions, Plato’s Phaedrus, Lucas’ Star Wars, Episode IV, and even the general ideas of the Manicheans, we find many interpretations of good and evil and see how they each relate.
One-way Plato provided context for Augustine’s idea of good and evil is Plato’s concept of the dual-natured souls, a concept that Augustine challenges. Plato’s text explains the soul through the allegory of the chariot. He illustrates the soul as the trinity of a charioteer and two horses, “one of which is noble and good and of similar stoke, while the other is of the opposite tock and opposite in character” (Plato, 1956). The charioteer was made to portray the pilot of our soul, reflecting our intellect. The good horse represents the good part of our soul and the bad horse represents the bad part of our soul. Both the charioteer and the good horse are attracted to the plain of truth. The plain of truth is characterized by total enlightenment, true knowledge, justice, and beauty. The bad horse is attracted to earthly desires, such as lust, sex, power, or wealth. Plato believed the soul to be dual natured, equally good and evil. Augustine, however, disagreed, as he believed the soul was totally good as it was created by God, who only creates good. Augustine stated that “for you, evil does not exist, and not only for you but for the whole of your creation as well, because there is nothing outside it which could invade it and break down the order which you have imposed on it” (Augustine, 1954). Augustine rubbishes Plato’s idea of the dual-natured soul since he trusts the soul is good and only good. Plato trusts half the soul is fundamentally bad while Augustine does not believe any part of the soul is bad. God, who is good, created our soul, therefore our soul is completely and entirely good.
Saint Augustine and Plato also have related interpretations of what good and evil is in overall. Moral, as Plato describes it, is “a lover of honor conjoined with judiciousness and a sense of what is respectable and is a companion of what is truly reputable” (Plato, 1956). We know the good horse is attracted to total enlightenment, true knowledge, justice, and beauty. Augustine, similarly, sees good as “beauty…a true eternity of truth… power of reason” (Augustine 36). Both Plato and Augustine see good as true beauty, justice, truth. Their ideas of evil are also similar. Evil is the complete opposite of good, according to Plato. The bad horse in Plato’s allegory is attracted to earthly desires, the opposite of the plain of truth the good horse is attracted to. Augustine believes evil is the absence of good, the “substance of perversion of the will when it turns aside from (God)”. Both Plato and Augustine see evil is either the opposite of or absence of good.
Additional way Plato provided context for Augustine’s idea of good and evil is seen through their differing views of the soul moving from good to evil. Plato believes the charioteer, who is the “intellect, pilot of the soul” (Plato, 1956), maintains or loses control, causing the soul to fluctuate between good and evil. The intellect is constantly battling between good and evil, thus the “driving in our case in inevitably difficult and troublesome” (Plato, 1956). Augustine, on the other hand, believed that free will choices gave humans the capability of doing good or evil, expressing this belief by saying “when I choose to do something or not to do it, I was quite certain that it was my own self” (Augustine, 1954). They are in a bit of agreeance, as they both believe we have the choice. They both believe we strive for good. The intellect, in Plato’s theory, strives towards the plain of truth. Augustine believes we will strive to do of God’s will.
Augustine’s view of the soul moving from good to evil also contrasts from the Manichean view. Manicheans believe two outside forces influence us, causing an individual to act either good or evil. They have faith that the soul is the noble part. Made of light, and the bad part is the body, composed of dark earth. We, as humans, are a battleground for these good and evil forces and are “under the domination of the foreign power” (Manichean). Augustine rejects this completely as he states that “we do evil because we choose to do so of our own free will”. Augustine believes we do everything at our own free will. An individual does evil because we choose to, not because some outside force is making out them.
Another way Augustine rejects the ideas of the Manichean is through their differing views on good and evil. A key point of Manichaeism is that there is no “omnipotent good power” (Manichean). The Manicheans place God on the same level as Satan by saying, “evil by denying the infinite perfection of God and postulating the two equal powers mentioned previously” (Manichean). Augustine rejects this innately, as he believes God is all-powerful. He specifically disagrees with the Manichean idea that God is imperfect, stating, “My soul did not dare to find fault with my mind”. He also believes that God is “the God of all” (Augustine, 1954), refusing to concede God being leveled with Satan in any way. They both, of course, include God in their theories of good and evil. However, they disagree entirely as Augustine believes God is the highest being, incorruptible in himself, and the Manicheans believing God is defeatable.
The Manichean idea of outside forces is also reflected in Star Wars. As mentioned previously, the Manichean believe outside forces of good and evil influence us and our decisions and actions. Ben Kenobi portrays an outside force in the movie. When stumbling on a stormtrooper and being asked for identification, Kenobi used the force to manipulate the trooper to let them go. “We don’t need to see his identification...You can go about your business,” the stormtrooper repeated after Kenobi (Stat). Kenobi acted as an outside force, exploiting the trooper, causing him to not do his job. This is similar to the Manichean view of outside forces as they cause one to be “under the domination of the foreign power” (Manichaeism, 2014).
Conclusion
The existence of evil in the world is a very serious and one of the most discussed topics in all of theology. Many different theories have been put forth trying to explain it and many contradict each other. This is the case with Manichaeism and Christianity. These two groups believe very different things when it comes to the existence of evil if a good and loving God exists. St. Augustine, a Christian, believes that evil is not its own force just the absence or corruption of God’s goodwill. The book of Job partially agrees with Augustine on this matter because they share the common belief that humans can’t understand what God’s plan is. This theory is directly opposed to Manichaeism who believes that evil is its own force which is constantly struggling against good.
Works Cited
Augustine. (1954). The confessions. London: Burns " Oates.
Manichaeism. (2014). Manichaeism. From Manichaeism: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Manichaeism
Plato. (1956). Phaedrus. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Educational Pub.
