Weeks 1-10
Thinking about Evil
Dr Lydia Schumacher
Week 1: 20/01/2022
Reading notes:
,The city of God, Book 14, chapter 1-4:
● Augustine elaborates on two types of human societies—those that live by the flesh and
those that live by the spirit.
● He talks about the sin of the first parents (Adam and Eve?) and how it was so bad that it
changed human nature for everyone else as all the descendants were made to suffer sin
and ten death- chapter 1.
● In Augs view, people of the world belong to one of the two groups either God or flesh-
regardless of religion, culture and customs etc.
● While the flesh in and of itself is not evil, those who live by the flesh are evil (Chapter 2).
Augustine quotes Saint Paul (c. 4 BCE–c. 62 CE) to show that the sins of the flesh extend
well beyond such physical sins as drunkenness and fornication to the mental sins of
idolatry, jealousy, anger, and the like.
● Human beings have become like the devil because they live "according to self" rather
than according to God (Chapter 3). The devil did not "stand fast in the truth," which is why
he is "the very father of lies."
● Humans who do not live according to God also end up living a lie (Chapter 4). People sin
because they think things will go better for them if they do, but in fact, they only get
worse.
● When a person loves God and their neighbor, that person is one of goodwill (Chapter 7),
which the Holy Scripture calls "charity."
● Augustine objects to the Stoic view that love and other emotions must be banished if a
person is to become wise (Chapter 8).
● Unlike the Stoics (followers of a school of thought based on tranquility of mind in Greek
and Roman antiquity), Christians who are citizens of the City of God "feel fear and desire,
pain and gladness, in accord with Holy Scripture and sound doctrine" (Chapter 9). For
example, "they fear eternal punishment, and they desire eternal life."
● Despite the fact that good emotions are nothing to be ashamed of, Augustine adds that
some will be unnecessary in the future life (Chapter 9). In the life to come, fear and grief
will be left behind, but not love and gladness.
● The first humans lived according to God's will in paradise until they were corrupted by
"that proud and therefore envious angel" (Satan, or the devil) who had turned away from
the Creator (Chapter 11).
● An evil will must precede an evil action, and the first parents have already slipped into
pride before their fall (Chapter 13). This sin occurs when a person becomes "overly
pleased with himself ... [and] defects from ... immutable good."
● Augustine tackles sexuality in Chapters 16–26. It is his view that prior to the fall, the first
parents could engage in sexual relations for the purpose of having children without any
1
, accompanying feelings of lust. The lust that accompanies sex, along with shame about
sex (because of lust) is an effect of the fall on human nature.
● Augustine asserts that God's foreknowledge means he has predestined a "fixed number
of citizens" to fill his city "even from the condemned human race" (Chapter 26). He
chooses people not by their merits (since everyone was equally condemned), but by
grace. He delivers some but not others.
● Chapter 28 contains a much-quoted passage from this text, which sums up the entire
work: "Two loves, then, have made two cities. Love of self ... made the earthly city, and
love of God ... made the heavenly city."
Soren Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety, pp.41-46:
● Existentialist philosopher who challenged the Augustinian idea that sin is hereditary.
○ Argued that we cannot understand sin or be fully responsible for it if it does not
originate with us.
○ ‘Every individual by his own first sin brings sinfulness into the world.’
○ There's a tension between what we should do, the absurd
○ He basically asks what he's here for, wants to lead his life his way even if it means
hurting people he wants people to take The leap of Faith
● He talks about anxiety in terms of sin, his fundamental argument in his book is to
challenge what Augustine says about sin being hereditary, he thinks that distances us
from the responsibility of sin, how can you take responsibility for something that was
‘handed to you’, you also can’t understand either because you never performed the sin, it
was to be about personal responsibility, he doesn't deny it, he just redfines it for him
original sin is something we personally bring into the world the story of Adam and Eve is
just a metaphor, each one of us can put ourselves in the shoes of Adam and Eve
● Despair is not wanting to be yourself,
you should be yourself and make the
choices that you are comfortable with,
in the world we live in its almost
impossible to not compare yourself to
the next person, God made you to be
you,
you should not try to be more or less
than you are and this is anxiety
according to Keirkg.
2
Thinking about Evil
Dr Lydia Schumacher
Week 1: 20/01/2022
Reading notes:
,The city of God, Book 14, chapter 1-4:
● Augustine elaborates on two types of human societies—those that live by the flesh and
those that live by the spirit.
● He talks about the sin of the first parents (Adam and Eve?) and how it was so bad that it
changed human nature for everyone else as all the descendants were made to suffer sin
and ten death- chapter 1.
● In Augs view, people of the world belong to one of the two groups either God or flesh-
regardless of religion, culture and customs etc.
● While the flesh in and of itself is not evil, those who live by the flesh are evil (Chapter 2).
Augustine quotes Saint Paul (c. 4 BCE–c. 62 CE) to show that the sins of the flesh extend
well beyond such physical sins as drunkenness and fornication to the mental sins of
idolatry, jealousy, anger, and the like.
● Human beings have become like the devil because they live "according to self" rather
than according to God (Chapter 3). The devil did not "stand fast in the truth," which is why
he is "the very father of lies."
● Humans who do not live according to God also end up living a lie (Chapter 4). People sin
because they think things will go better for them if they do, but in fact, they only get
worse.
● When a person loves God and their neighbor, that person is one of goodwill (Chapter 7),
which the Holy Scripture calls "charity."
● Augustine objects to the Stoic view that love and other emotions must be banished if a
person is to become wise (Chapter 8).
● Unlike the Stoics (followers of a school of thought based on tranquility of mind in Greek
and Roman antiquity), Christians who are citizens of the City of God "feel fear and desire,
pain and gladness, in accord with Holy Scripture and sound doctrine" (Chapter 9). For
example, "they fear eternal punishment, and they desire eternal life."
● Despite the fact that good emotions are nothing to be ashamed of, Augustine adds that
some will be unnecessary in the future life (Chapter 9). In the life to come, fear and grief
will be left behind, but not love and gladness.
● The first humans lived according to God's will in paradise until they were corrupted by
"that proud and therefore envious angel" (Satan, or the devil) who had turned away from
the Creator (Chapter 11).
● An evil will must precede an evil action, and the first parents have already slipped into
pride before their fall (Chapter 13). This sin occurs when a person becomes "overly
pleased with himself ... [and] defects from ... immutable good."
● Augustine tackles sexuality in Chapters 16–26. It is his view that prior to the fall, the first
parents could engage in sexual relations for the purpose of having children without any
1
, accompanying feelings of lust. The lust that accompanies sex, along with shame about
sex (because of lust) is an effect of the fall on human nature.
● Augustine asserts that God's foreknowledge means he has predestined a "fixed number
of citizens" to fill his city "even from the condemned human race" (Chapter 26). He
chooses people not by their merits (since everyone was equally condemned), but by
grace. He delivers some but not others.
● Chapter 28 contains a much-quoted passage from this text, which sums up the entire
work: "Two loves, then, have made two cities. Love of self ... made the earthly city, and
love of God ... made the heavenly city."
Soren Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety, pp.41-46:
● Existentialist philosopher who challenged the Augustinian idea that sin is hereditary.
○ Argued that we cannot understand sin or be fully responsible for it if it does not
originate with us.
○ ‘Every individual by his own first sin brings sinfulness into the world.’
○ There's a tension between what we should do, the absurd
○ He basically asks what he's here for, wants to lead his life his way even if it means
hurting people he wants people to take The leap of Faith
● He talks about anxiety in terms of sin, his fundamental argument in his book is to
challenge what Augustine says about sin being hereditary, he thinks that distances us
from the responsibility of sin, how can you take responsibility for something that was
‘handed to you’, you also can’t understand either because you never performed the sin, it
was to be about personal responsibility, he doesn't deny it, he just redfines it for him
original sin is something we personally bring into the world the story of Adam and Eve is
just a metaphor, each one of us can put ourselves in the shoes of Adam and Eve
● Despair is not wanting to be yourself,
you should be yourself and make the
choices that you are comfortable with,
in the world we live in its almost
impossible to not compare yourself to
the next person, God made you to be
you,
you should not try to be more or less
than you are and this is anxiety
according to Keirkg.
2
