HIST-308 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Theodicy, Virtue Ethics
9 Mar 2020
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Based on his reading of paul, augustine concluded that christianity was not about virtue ethics. It was instead about realizing the limits of human agency and asking for help from a freely forgiving god: death and salvation. In other words, christ did set a good example, but his life was not itself the primary means of our salvation. Rather, our salvation passes through christ"s saving death and resurrection as the eucharist itself attested: paul and predestination. The seeds for augustinian theology can be found in, for example, paul"s emphasis on christ"s death rather than his life. Similarly, the pauline logic of predestination also found its fulfillment in augustine: predestination and sin. By this logic, original sin leaves us at the mercy of a happily merciful god. This means that god decides who will receive mercy and who will receive punishment, even if all deserve punishment due to sin: divine decision.
