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A world without evil, Augustine says,
would be a world without us—rational
beings able to choose their actions.
Just as for Adam and Eve, our moral
choices allow for the possibility of evil.See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Plotinus 331 ■ Boethius 74–75 ■ Pierre Abelard 333 ■
David Hume 148–53
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD
create rational creatures, such as
human beings, he had to give them
freedom of will. Having freedom of
will means being able to choose,
including choosing between good
and evil. For this reason God had
to leave open the possibility that
the first man, Adam, would choose
evil rather than good. According
to the Bible this is exactly what
happened, as Adam broke God’s
command not to eat fruit from the
Tree of Knowledge.
In fact, Augustine’s argument
holds even without referring to
the Bible. Rationality is the ability
to evaluate choices through the
process of reasoning. The process is
only possible where there is freedom
of choice, including the freedom to
choose to do wrong.
Augustine also suggests a third
solution to the problem, asking us
to see the world as a thing of beauty.
He says that although there is evil
in the universe, it contributes to an
overall good that is greater than it
could be without evil—just as
discords in music can make a
harmony more lovely, or dark patches
add to the beauty of a picture.Explaining natural evils
Since Augustine’s time, most
Christian philosophers have tackled
the problem of evil using one of his
approaches, while their opponents,
such as David Hume, have pointed
to their weaknesses as arguments
against Christianity. Calling sickness,
for instance, an absence of health
seems to be just playing with words:
illness may be due to a deficiency of
something, but the suffering of the
sick person is real enough. And
how are natural evils, such as
earthquakes and plagues, explained?
Someone without a prior belief
in God might still argue that the
presence of evil in the world proves
that there is no all-powerful and
benevolent God. But for those who do
already believe in God, Augustine’s
arguments might hold the answer. ■St. Augustine of Hippo
Aurelius Augustine was born
in 354 CE in Thagaste, a small
provincial town in North
Africa, to a Christian mother
and a pagan father. He was
educated to be a rhetorician,
and he went on to teach
rhetoric in his home town,
and at Carthage, Rome, and
Milan, where he occupied
a prestigious position.
For a while Augustine
followed Manichaeism—a
religion that sees good and
evil as dual forces that rule
the universe—but under the
influence of Archbishop
Ambrose of Milan, he became
attracted to Christianity.
In 386, he suffered a spiritual
crisis and underwent a
conversion. He abandoned his
career and devoted himself to
writing Christian works, many
of a highly philosophical
nature. In 395 he became
Bishop of Hippo, in North
Africa, and he held this post
for the rest of his life. He died
in Hippo, aged 75, when the
town was beseiged and
sacked by the Vandals.Key worksc.388–95 On Free Will
c.397–401 Confessions
c.413–27 On the City of GodWhat made Adam
capable of obeying God’s
commands also made
him able to sin.
St. Augustine of Hippo