Bonus Lecture – Augustine Part 2

Contents of Lecture
1. Augustine on the stages of the soul’s journey to God.

2. Greek technical terms of the Nicene doctrine of Trinity explained – God is three Persons (hypostasis) in one Essence (ousia)

3. General Scheme of Augustine’s Book On the Trinity
1 – 4 : An interpretation of Scripture on the basis of the co-equality of the Person’s in the Godhead.
5 – 7 : The Formulation of the Catholic Faith in terms of the logical and metaphysical categories of contemporary Greek Philosophy (especially Neo-Platonism)
8 – 15 : An ‘Advancing Inquiry’ into the nature of the Trinity as seen within the human soul.

“Psychological Trinities” in the human mind that correspond to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
• lover, loved object, the lover’s love for that object (255 [VIII.5.13])
• the mind, its knowledge, its love (272–5 [IX.1])
• the mind’s remembering itself, understanding itself, and willing itself (298–9 [X.4])
• memory, understanding, and will (374–82 [XIV.2–3)
• the mind’s remembering God, understanding God, and willing God (383–92 [XIV.4–5])

4. Augustine’s theology of the Triune God
The Unity of the Godhead
The Equality of the Persons
Nature of the Persons
The Three are real or subsistent relations

Appendix: Contents of Augustine Lecture Part 1
Neoplatonic themes in Augustine’s thought.
Points of divergence between the thoughts of Plotinus and Augustine.
Hierarchy of being and knowledge; divine illumination in Augustine’s epistemology.
The Confessions: Structures and Themes. Augustine’s spiritual pilgrimage.