classics digests, reflections and reviews
Peace is Desired by All, but not For All If there is no man who does not wish to be joyful, neither is there any one who does not wish to have peace. For even they who make war desire nothing but victory,—desire, that is to say, to attain to peace with glory. … For even they who intentionally interrupt the peace in which they are living have no hatred […]
Read moreFor, among those beings which exist, and which are not of God the Creator’s essence, those which have life are ranked above those which have none; those that have the power of generation, or even of desiring, above those which want this faculty. And, among things that have life, the sentient are higher than those which have no sensation, as animals are ranked above trees. And, among the sentient, the […]
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Day as Knowledge and Night as Ignorance And first of all, indeed, light was made by the word of God, and God, we read, separated it from the darkness, and called the light Day, and the darkness Night; … For the knowledge of the creature is, in comparison of the knowledge of the Creator, but a twilight; and so it dawns and breaks into morning when the creature is drawn […]
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In his Confessions, Augustine writes that he studied Platonism before converting to Christianity. Of all philosophies, Platonism most approximates Christianity, so the former serves to prepare his mind for the latter. But perhaps more importantly, familiarity with both enables him to discern the preeminence of Christianity over philosophy. Augustine devotes the last three books of Part I of City of God, Books VIII to X, to a discussion of Platonism. […]
Read moreChrist is Mediator, not because He is the Word, for as the Word He is supremely blessed and supremely immortal, and therefore far from miserable mortals; but He is Mediator as He is man, for by His humanity He shows us that, … the blessed and beatific God, having Himself become a partaker of our humanity, has afforded us ready access to the participation of His divinity. For in delivering […]
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Socrates The first who directed the entire effort of philosophy to ethics, all who went before him having expended their greatest efforts in the investigation of nature. However, it cannot be certainly discovered whether Socrates did this because he was wearied of obscure and uncertain things, and so wished to direct his mind to the discovery of something manifest and certain, which was necessary in order to the obtaining of […]
Read moreThe ancient Greeks and Romans were very religious. Religion permeated every aspect of social and political life. For almost everything in human existence, from childbirth to marriage to death, there is a pagan deity in charge of it. It is as though they believed that every aspect of human life is so dignified, mysterious and wonderful that it is worthy of the special care of a god. Augustine, while critiquing […]
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