A 5 page argumentative essay which paper which examines three ideas Augustine expressed about evil in his autobiographical and theological text, “Confessions.” Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: TG15_TGsaevil.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
the singular exception of St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine was the most revered of all Christian thinkers, and he devoted much of his autobiographical treatise, Confessions, to the consideration of
what constitutes evil. It is recommended that the student who is writing about this topic consider that St. Augustine intended to dispel some of the conventional misconceptions about evil,
such as the conviction that if God is regarded as the creator of everything that exists, and evil is something that exists, then God must be the creator of evil.
St. Augustine vehemently disagreed with this conclusion, and by developing his own ideas about evil, he hoped to prove that evil neither exists because of God nor was created
by him. As Book II of Confessions reveals, St. Augustine was not always the most devout of religious followers; in fact, during his youth, he had often committed sinful
acts. In terms of theology during the time of Augustine (who lived from 354-430 A.D.), Manicheism was the prevailing school of thought in his homeland of North Africa.
Its contention was that the world and everything in it was comprised entirely of either good or evil. There was no "middle of the road" in this extreme religious
philosophy. When Augustine was indulging in his sinful or evil behavior, he maintained that by embracing the Manichaean philosophy, he didnt have to assume any responsibility, because he could
justify it by saying it was the behavior that was evil, not himself. Once Augustine began studying the Bible in earnest, he disputed the Manichaean idea that evil exists
as a "thing." Upon seeing the error of his ways, Augustine became more committed than ever to learning about evil, so that he could educate others and spare them